No One Lives Forever is a spy-genre game franchise that first began in 2000. In both the first game and the sequel, you play Cate Archer, master spy of UNITY – a secret British organization, an organization that feels ripped straight out of a typical 1960's spy movie. As Archer, you are sent on various missions around the world, starting in Morocco. Multiple UNITY agents have been killed as the game begins, so Cate gets a quick promotion and sent on assignment to Morocco. The Morocco mission is long, and exciting. Aside from some of the “gimmick” levels involving skydiving without a parachute and a zero-gravity space station, the Morocco mission is perhaps my favorite, in both the mix of humor and large and spacious level design. You soon realize that H.A.R.M. is involved and the game takes off!
I honestly do not know how innovative the game was at the time, but it's hard to find another game that mixed so many different locales, land, air and sea so perfectly. You get a taste of East and West Germany, the Alps, escape from a sinking boat, scuba dive a shipwreck, *free fall from an airplane*, explore tropical jungles, zero gravity space stations and underground lairs. This game pretty much has it all.
What makes the game so unique is that the game doesn't take itself that seriously although the story is played entirely straight. It is riddled with spy genre jokes and Easter eggs referencing other media both film and television of the 1960s. It is the Derek Flint of spy first-person shooters with a bit of James Bond, The Prisoner, Secret Agent, Avengers (Emma Peel in particular of course) and the camp spy action flick, Modesty Blaise. The music is fantastic, and I really really mean it, retro 1960s lounge and action, with it all adjusting to the situation that Cate is currently in. Quiet and at a slow tempo as Cate investigates and slowly scuttles around the level, quick and fast-paced when Cate is in a predicament like when she's trying to avoid a barrage of bullets.
While primitive compared to today's graphics, has exciting environments to look at. The developers really poured their hearts into the production as the level of attention provided to even the little details is superb.The levels are designed in such a way that often you can slip right on by the enemy without even firing a shot, so if you want to act like a real spy, here's your chance. Toss a coin to distract a guard, knock them out with a dart or sleeping gas and then search and disarm them. However, if you really want to go in guns blazing, go for it but do expect a lot of resistance. My method in this game was to carefully plan quick short bursts where I take out the enemy (or a small group of enemy) with my silenced weapons, pick them up or “remove” their bodies using a gadget, and move on. It didn't always work, so my AK-47 would often be pulled out to dispose of those H.A.R.M. agents.
The game had a system of skill points which were often awarded for being careful, not callous. A quick way to rack up points is to carefully scour the levels looking for “intelligence items” which include envelopes, folders, and briefcases. Completing various tasks provided you with additional points, which could all be used to increase agility, strength, the time it takes to use gadgets, and so on.
The game was released for PC and was ported to PlayStation 2 in 2002.
I'll be posting an additional review of the sequel soon, but in the meantime, I would suggest reading the PC Gamer article from 2010 entitled, "Why you must replay No One Lives Forever."
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