Absolutely floored by how good the AI in this is. Today, Monolith are probably more well known for Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system or the fact that F.E.A.R.’s AI is so clever it had a short MIT paper written about it, but you can see their talent for this sort of thing on full display in No One Lives Forever too. Ideally, when we wheel out the phrase “feels like it’s from the future,” we should reserve it for special games like this which genuinely outclass stuff being released over two decades later in crucial areas like these.
“Enemy variety” is often conflated solely with the number of different types of enemies a game has, and NOLF’s enemy AI is a good showcase of why that’s misleading. The vast majority of NOLF’s enemies are humans, mostly being differentiated via the weapons they’ve equipped or which parts of their body are armoured (accentuated by a really cool limb-based damage system), but it never, ever feels stale because of how versatile their behaviour is. They can duck, lean, dodge roll, sway from side to side, knock over environmental objects to create some makeshift cover, blindfire over that makeshift cover, work together with other enemies to flank you, even run in a zigzag motion to throw off your aim if there’s no cover nearby, and probably more that I’m not aware of. Combine these kinds of dynamic behaviours with level design that often presents you with more than one path forward plus all of Cate’s weird gadgets, and the sum is a game where any given encounter can play out in any number of ways. Bear in mind that this also came out an entire year before Halo CE flexed on the competition with its similarly brainy AI. The boss fights aren’t quite as flexible as the enemies, but considering how few FPSs even attempt to have bosses at all, it’s nice to have them here for the occasional breather. Y’know?
When it comes to sneaking about in NOLF, enemies are less consistent – their line of sight varies between a few feet and what feels like miles depending on which level you’re playing – but not nearly to the point where stealth should be a point of derision for the game. I can’t imagine looking at NOLF’s stealth with the mindset of “this doesn’t work as well as it could” instead of “it’s impressive that this works as well as it does.” Again, bear in mind that 3D stealth games as we know them had only existed for about two years by the time NOLF came out. Taking that into consideration along with the fact that it’s not even a pure stealth game, it’s ridiculously ambitious. We’ve got different sound levels depending on the type of surface you’re walking on, gradient light/dark levels, various gadgets to misdirect specific kinds of enemies, and don’t get me started on its sound propagation – apart from Thief, this is the only (pseudo)stealth game I’ve played in which you can rely purely on audio to reliably tell where enemies are. It’s pretty conspicuous that you can’t lean around corners (something Monolith themselves must’ve noticed considering they added that in the sequel), and more grapple points to reach higher places would’ve been appreciated, but those are about all it lacks.
What NOLF doesn’t lack is charm. Do you love anything as much as the guys who made this clearly love spy movies, funky basslines and the 1960s? Don’t be so sure. The writing’s so witty at times that one of my favourite parts of the game consists purely of dialogue choices, where you interview one of the clumsier villains who’s clearly in over his head with this whole terrorism business. The swing-y music’s a pleasure to listen to, but it also serves a helpful purpose since it dynamically switches between a bunch of remixes depending on whether or not you’ve been spotted. Cate’s a great protagonist and bounces off the funny, visually distinctive supporting cast really well. It even has a silly post-credits level of dubious canonicity themed around monkeys. Why do games not do fun stuff like that anymore?
Basically, if you’re hankering for an old-ish school single player FPS in the vein of Return to Castle Wolfenstein or Half Life which is absolutely dripping with soulfulness, you owe NOLF your time. The trouble is you can’t buy it anymore, but fortunately there’s a top notch fan revival site where you can download it, the sequel and the spinoff all for free, with support for modern resolutions and glitch fixes among other stuff. I don’t think the publishers will be too bothered if you do considering none of them are sure who owns it anymore. No One Lives Forever™, but thanks to the fans, this series hopefully will.
“Enemy variety” is often conflated solely with the number of different types of enemies a game has, and NOLF’s enemy AI is a good showcase of why that’s misleading. The vast majority of NOLF’s enemies are humans, mostly being differentiated via the weapons they’ve equipped or which parts of their body are armoured (accentuated by a really cool limb-based damage system), but it never, ever feels stale because of how versatile their behaviour is. They can duck, lean, dodge roll, sway from side to side, knock over environmental objects to create some makeshift cover, blindfire over that makeshift cover, work together with other enemies to flank you, even run in a zigzag motion to throw off your aim if there’s no cover nearby, and probably more that I’m not aware of. Combine these kinds of dynamic behaviours with level design that often presents you with more than one path forward plus all of Cate’s weird gadgets, and the sum is a game where any given encounter can play out in any number of ways. Bear in mind that this also came out an entire year before Halo CE flexed on the competition with its similarly brainy AI. The boss fights aren’t quite as flexible as the enemies, but considering how few FPSs even attempt to have bosses at all, it’s nice to have them here for the occasional breather. Y’know?
When it comes to sneaking about in NOLF, enemies are less consistent – their line of sight varies between a few feet and what feels like miles depending on which level you’re playing – but not nearly to the point where stealth should be a point of derision for the game. I can’t imagine looking at NOLF’s stealth with the mindset of “this doesn’t work as well as it could” instead of “it’s impressive that this works as well as it does.” Again, bear in mind that 3D stealth games as we know them had only existed for about two years by the time NOLF came out. Taking that into consideration along with the fact that it’s not even a pure stealth game, it’s ridiculously ambitious. We’ve got different sound levels depending on the type of surface you’re walking on, gradient light/dark levels, various gadgets to misdirect specific kinds of enemies, and don’t get me started on its sound propagation – apart from Thief, this is the only (pseudo)stealth game I’ve played in which you can rely purely on audio to reliably tell where enemies are. It’s pretty conspicuous that you can’t lean around corners (something Monolith themselves must’ve noticed considering they added that in the sequel), and more grapple points to reach higher places would’ve been appreciated, but those are about all it lacks.
What NOLF doesn’t lack is charm. Do you love anything as much as the guys who made this clearly love spy movies, funky basslines and the 1960s? Don’t be so sure. The writing’s so witty at times that one of my favourite parts of the game consists purely of dialogue choices, where you interview one of the clumsier villains who’s clearly in over his head with this whole terrorism business. The swing-y music’s a pleasure to listen to, but it also serves a helpful purpose since it dynamically switches between a bunch of remixes depending on whether or not you’ve been spotted. Cate’s a great protagonist and bounces off the funny, visually distinctive supporting cast really well. It even has a silly post-credits level of dubious canonicity themed around monkeys. Why do games not do fun stuff like that anymore?
Basically, if you’re hankering for an old-ish school single player FPS in the vein of Return to Castle Wolfenstein or Half Life which is absolutely dripping with soulfulness, you owe NOLF your time. The trouble is you can’t buy it anymore, but fortunately there’s a top notch fan revival site where you can download it, the sequel and the spinoff all for free, with support for modern resolutions and glitch fixes among other stuff. I don’t think the publishers will be too bothered if you do considering none of them are sure who owns it anymore. No One Lives Forever™, but thanks to the fans, this series hopefully will.