Developer: Monolith Productions
Publisher: Sierra Entertainment
Rrp: £3 – £10 (Depending on the seller)
Released: 30th September 2002
Available on Amazon in CD form.
This game holds something of a special place in my heart, I used to love playing it over and over and have fond memories of doing so. The question though is, is that just me looking through rose tinted glasses? Or is there something special about this?
No One Lives Forever 2 (I shall forgo the rest of the title) is a FPS spy parody with some light RPG elements. It’s set in the 1960’s and everything from the aesthetic of title screen to the soundtrack was created with that in mind.
You play as Cate Archer, a spy working for a organisation named U.N.I.T.Y, and while on a mission things start to unravel.
I’ll be honest story-wise it’s kind of all over the place, more of a vehicle to get the player to as many varied locations as possible than to actually explain anything going on. To be honest I’m not sure if this is by design or not, because of the very nature of what it’s parodied. For once I don’t actually mind, because while the story is a bit all over the place it still manages to tell a decent (if somewhat hokey) story.
As with most PC games the escape button takes you to the options screen. On this screen you can not only mess around with settings (as you would expect) but you can also look at your equipment, the inventory any intelligence you’ve gathered and upgrade your characters skills.
The points required to increase your skills are gained by completing missions, gathering various collectibles that you find scattered around the various levels (intelligence reports, briefcases, letters and spy training manuals) and lastly by finding and talking to the “Santa” mechanical Mynah birds.
Which brings me on to one of the great things about this game. It supports a few different play styles, if you want to ‘ghost’ through the levels you can build your character to do exactly that (though sadly you will have to attend at least a few gun fights), if you want to be all gung-ho you can do that too.
Like many games from the period of it’s release, health packs (in the form of bandages and medical kits) and armour are scattered around the levels for you to pick up although you do need to actively choose to find and use them, they won’t just be applied by running over them.
Being a game where you play a spy there were clearly going to be stealth elements to it. In this case the game takes a few notes from the likes of the Thief series and makes it so bodies can be moved and that the material you walk on makes a noise. It also allows you to use multiple ways to enter a given location, though some of these may be well hidden.
Containers and bodies could be searched for Intel and items much like in games like System Shock and Bioshock. Of course not everything on these bodies is actually useful, like a cracked mirror for instance.
It’s the little details that fill this game make the whole experience enjoyable, like the music changing to match each location you go to (which is quite a varied bunch). Or the spy gadgets being designed to look inconspicuous and of the era it’s set in, for example the decoder looks like a makeup kit.
Sadly this enjoyment is slightly marred by the game never truly allowing you to clear an area. The game continue to spawn one or two every so often. While this means your kept on your toes it can be incredibly frustrating if your searching for a item and keep being interrupted.
In its heyday No One Lives Forever 2 was a looker, it wasn’t the best looking by any means but it wasn’t ugly either. Sadly it has aged quite badly, while I still wouldn’t call the game ugly it doesn’t fare well to even some of the indie developments out now.
Incidentally there is a strange quirk within the graphics settings of this game, even if you do select the highest graphical setting its not actually the highest setting, if you go in the options menu you can knock it just a little higher.When it comes to controls this game has to be played with a keyboard and mouse, I tried repeatedly to get my controller to work but to no avail. Personally I can’t see why you’d really want to play with a controller in this case anyway, there are far more actions to be done than the controller can really support. On the keyboard the default control layout is a little strange to use, especially after the near standardisation of certain button bindings. For example to use an object you click the right mouse button and zooming in while a scoped weapon is the ‘Z’ button.
Sadly this game can only bought via Amazon and eBay in a physical format at this current time. There are some rumours that Night Dive are pursuing purchasing the rights to the series but sadly nothing has been confirmed. So for now if you wish to get this game Amazon is probably your best route legally.So… Having played through it again was I viewing this game with rose tinted glasses? Well, yes a little. In my mind the scenes are so much more vivid and the jokes more punchy. That’s not to say this game is bad, just not as good as I remember.
The question remains though, is it good enough to recommend? The answer there is yes, BUT with a caveat. That caveat being that you get this game for less than Bioshock. Bioshock does everything this game does but with more aplomb, with exception of the humour. Then again how many games let you play a super spy in the 1960’s?
