The Operative: No One Lives Forever
released on Nov 09, 2000
No One Lives Forever is to be a fast-paced, story-driven first-person shooter that delivers over-the-top action, outrageous villains, and wry humor in the tradition of the great 1960's Bond films. You play Cate Archer an undercover operative for MI-Zero. Your mission is to arrange for the defection of a prominent East German biophysicist that goes by the name of Otto Dentz. However things go wrong when a terrorist group known as the HARM abducts Dentz during a flight to England. Assume the role of Cate Archer, an operative working for UNITY, a secret organization fighting to free the world from the clutches of H.A.R.M.. From tense subterfuge to in-your-face combat, No One Lives Forever ups the ante with 1960's-influenced spy action, vivid international locates, and deadly arch villains.
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I played it with a friend and we had a really good time. The humor is super over the top and strongly reminiscent of Austin Powers and, of course, James Bond and the like. The gadgets and different ways to play a level were super varied, stealth also worked surprisingly well and was fun. The English dub was also great and the 60s vibe came across really well. Kate is super likeable and snarky :D and the last mission after the end was awesome, you can tell that the developers really put a lot of love into it.
I mean we're talking about Monolith, the guys who made FEAR, of course they cooked
boss fights suck tho
boss fights suck tho
Kadın James Bond
only good memories. especially dude in the skirt was funny
There isn't much to be said that hasn't been mentioned in other reviews by now, but I figured I'd say my piece as well.
This game is a bit of an anomaly in the realm of FPS games of its time, dedicating itself to a rather nuanced parody of 60s flair and campiness. Apart from few exceptions, the game offers you the choice of generally choosing whether you want to feel like a real spy, stealthing your way through each level or just run through guns blazing and due to early 2000s general clunkiness you can probably imagine the latter is quite a bit easier.
That being said, should you wish you forego the popping of every head you come across you'll find what this game really is, which is purely its own form of comedy. The game takes an interesting approach to rationalizing the lives of the basic henchman, portraying them as often extremely insightful and often overeducated, examples of such being having advanced degrees in their field of study yet being unable to secure proper jobs and instead choosing to make their ends' meet in organized crime working under their meathead bosses. The resulting philosophy often has enemies conversing with dialogue wrapped in topics such as existentialism and mental-wellness, some of which feels more relevant today than it did when the game released. Even the less intelligently portrayed NPCs have an above average wittiness about them and it makes them often feel quite human, to which I often almost felt bad knowing that in some cases it was unavoidable to line their corpses with lead and move on to the next area wondering if I'm the bad guy.
Now I've mentioned jank, and there's definitely plenty of it. While I actually lean heavily toward a stealth preference in this game due to its nature as a well-spoken parody, it actually suffers a lot to be desired as the game itself seems to want to fight against you in some cases, whether it be through the mechanic revolving around the loudness of your footsteps/silenced weapons having absolutely zero impact on the enemy's somewhat superhuman ability to hear you or some particular goons having the most incredible vision of all time, spotting you across the map while you're crouched peaking around the corner half-hidden behind a shipping crate or stack of wooden planks. And as if to accentuate these issues, the gunplay in the game is actually quite nice, especially for an earlier shooter. Every weapon is effective in its own way with punchy sound design and a generally nice feel as enemies always react to getting hit by your well-placed rounds. At times it certainly feels difficult to just continue hiding in the shadows when you know you could just sprint through the area gunning down everything that moves with your choice of SMG and arguably have just as much or even more fun doing it.
Should you find yourself enjoying the game despite its jank though, you'll find its progression quite satisfying as the game introduces new gadgets every so often, many of which are far more useful than others but each and every one being fun in its own right; whether it be a lighter that acts as a cutter's torch for "silently" removing padlocks, or something as simple as a grenade disguised as lipstick. Everything works in a way that amplifies your style of play and can either make you feel like a force to be reckoned with or a superspy and honestly being able to choose most of your loadout before every mission always had me picking different options to see what was enjoyable.
The game suffers from a slow start, the first few levels showcasing the absolute worst of the game as you slog through moment to moment and it's obvious a lot of the creativity that lies in this game is backloaded but I promise it's worth it and the lovely Kit Harris portrays the protagonist Cate Archer in such a charming way that I found myself waiting for her lines more often than anyone else's.
All in all I highly recommend giving this game a shot, you may just find a diamond in the rough.
This game is a bit of an anomaly in the realm of FPS games of its time, dedicating itself to a rather nuanced parody of 60s flair and campiness. Apart from few exceptions, the game offers you the choice of generally choosing whether you want to feel like a real spy, stealthing your way through each level or just run through guns blazing and due to early 2000s general clunkiness you can probably imagine the latter is quite a bit easier.
That being said, should you wish you forego the popping of every head you come across you'll find what this game really is, which is purely its own form of comedy. The game takes an interesting approach to rationalizing the lives of the basic henchman, portraying them as often extremely insightful and often overeducated, examples of such being having advanced degrees in their field of study yet being unable to secure proper jobs and instead choosing to make their ends' meet in organized crime working under their meathead bosses. The resulting philosophy often has enemies conversing with dialogue wrapped in topics such as existentialism and mental-wellness, some of which feels more relevant today than it did when the game released. Even the less intelligently portrayed NPCs have an above average wittiness about them and it makes them often feel quite human, to which I often almost felt bad knowing that in some cases it was unavoidable to line their corpses with lead and move on to the next area wondering if I'm the bad guy.
Now I've mentioned jank, and there's definitely plenty of it. While I actually lean heavily toward a stealth preference in this game due to its nature as a well-spoken parody, it actually suffers a lot to be desired as the game itself seems to want to fight against you in some cases, whether it be through the mechanic revolving around the loudness of your footsteps/silenced weapons having absolutely zero impact on the enemy's somewhat superhuman ability to hear you or some particular goons having the most incredible vision of all time, spotting you across the map while you're crouched peaking around the corner half-hidden behind a shipping crate or stack of wooden planks. And as if to accentuate these issues, the gunplay in the game is actually quite nice, especially for an earlier shooter. Every weapon is effective in its own way with punchy sound design and a generally nice feel as enemies always react to getting hit by your well-placed rounds. At times it certainly feels difficult to just continue hiding in the shadows when you know you could just sprint through the area gunning down everything that moves with your choice of SMG and arguably have just as much or even more fun doing it.
Should you find yourself enjoying the game despite its jank though, you'll find its progression quite satisfying as the game introduces new gadgets every so often, many of which are far more useful than others but each and every one being fun in its own right; whether it be a lighter that acts as a cutter's torch for "silently" removing padlocks, or something as simple as a grenade disguised as lipstick. Everything works in a way that amplifies your style of play and can either make you feel like a force to be reckoned with or a superspy and honestly being able to choose most of your loadout before every mission always had me picking different options to see what was enjoyable.
The game suffers from a slow start, the first few levels showcasing the absolute worst of the game as you slog through moment to moment and it's obvious a lot of the creativity that lies in this game is backloaded but I promise it's worth it and the lovely Kit Harris portrays the protagonist Cate Archer in such a charming way that I found myself waiting for her lines more often than anyone else's.
All in all I highly recommend giving this game a shot, you may just find a diamond in the rough.
This game is comedy at its heart, and so, it really demands that you play stealthy, not because of XP boosts or extra loot, but because otherwise you're going to miss all the anecdotes, and ridiculous dialogue that the enemies share. But it's also not really a stealth game--you'll either have to learn the enemy patrols or save scum your way through it--it's definitely a comedy from the 2000s, and so some of its comedy hasn't aged well, but the script, cutscenes, music, and main voice roles are all wonderful. This game is a cult classic for a reason, and I hope it gets a remake sooner than later.