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| No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In Harm's Way |
Reviewed by Evan 'Dark
Friend' Lesser |
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In Harm's Way
(PC CD-ROM)
Used & New from $14.98 |
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In Harm's Way Official Strategy Guide
(Book)
Price: $13.99
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Developer: Monolith
Publisher: Sierra
Release Date: 10/01/02
Introduction
 Released
in 2000, the original No One Lives Forever was the first shooter
since Half Life to raise the bar, providing a rare mix unique content, a thoughtful
storyline, and exciting action. Additionally, the folks at Monolith studios actually
created a strong lead character, worthy of being cared about. That lead character,
60's superspy and women's libber, Cate Archer, proved to be the key to a successful
game. A tough lady, with equal strength in her vocabulary as in her karate chop,
gamers did not just play Cate - they became Cate. No One Lives Forever found players
in exotic locales, never or rarely seen in first person shooters. And although
it sounds like a barstool riddle, one level found Cate Archer falling out of an
airplane with no parachute. To land safely on the ground, the player was forced
to both fly and shoot, gunning down an enemy who actually had a chute strapped
to his back. Memorable moments like those pushed No One Lives Forever over the
edge, and won both critical and players' acclaim.
Storyline
 No
One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In Harm's Way finds Cate Archer in full form,
fighting her way to save the world from imminent nuclear war in the midst of the
1960s Cold War between the USA and Russia. Without giving away the plot to new
players, Ms. Archer travels to exotic locations far and wide, including the streets
of India, an underwater base, a desert isle, the Arctic circle, and even lovely
Ohio, USA. Cate meets up with both friends and enemies from her past, and
makes plenty of new ones in the new game. In her travels, Cate uses wacky
(but useful) gadgets and a full array of weapons to dispatch enemies bent on her
destruction. Similar to the first game, the sequel blends tongue-in-cheek
humor into the gameplay sure to elicit frequent chuckles from players. Happily,
the storyline will keep players interested until the game's end.
Graphics
 Powered
by Monolith's newest version of their Lithtech gaming
engine (titled "Jupiter"), the graphics in No One Lives Forever 2 are a noticeable
high point in the game. With rich, detailed textures, smooth animation, and a
wide color spectrum, No One Lives Forever 2 creates a believable
world to play in. Consistency is key, and Monolith pays attention to all
of the small details that help immerse a player into Cate's shoes (boots in most
cases). Falling snow, gorgeous water and smoke effects, swaying grass, and
a tornado so realistic you can feel the wind blow show Monolith at its finest
hour. In particular, character animation is nothing short of stunning. Separate
"parts" for models' eyes and teeth make the characters truly come alive and move
with absolute fluidity. Combined with rumored expert voice acting (see Sound below),
Monolith has done a superior job at creating real characters. Unfortunately,
the games uses the same enemy models over and over, which subtracts from the overall
game. In the real world, people come in all shapes and sizes. It is
always annoying in games when 5 of the same enemy model, with the same weapon,
and the same size, and the same shape, and the same death animations, all appear
on the screen at the same time. With games getting more and more technologically
advanced, I still do not understand why a developer can't have some sort of "randomizer"
that subtly alters the size and shape of enemy and NPC models in the game.
Aside from minor flaws, graphic in No One Lives Forever 2 are top notch.
Best of all, even on my P3 800Mhz and GeForce2 64MB card, running at full detail
at 1024x768 produced perfect graphics with no apparent slowdowns. Big kudos
to Monolith for creating a formidable graphics engine that actually runs perfectly
on 2 year old systems.
Sound
 While
the sound in No One Lives Forever 2 is quite good, many soundcard
issues seem to have plagued gamers. Missing or garbled speech is the number
one complaint, and patches and dialog from Monolith seem to have helped some,
but not all players. I personally experienced these problems, and was never able
to increase the volume of player speech. Word has it that the female voice actor
for Cate Archer has changed for No One Lives Forever 2, but I'd be hard pressed
to confirm that, having not heard much of the game's dialog. Luckily, subtitle
text is provided, so important game clues are not missed. Other than those voice
sound issues, the gameplay sounds are expertly recorded and processed. Cate's
arsenal of weapons sound big and beefy. The crossbow has a delicate but forceful
"twang" when fired, and the shotgun blasts are the best I have heard in recent
memory. Ambient sound like wind, nature, and other background noise is noticeable,
but not as prominent as I would prefer. In particular, the levels that take
place in Siberia were actually too quiet, and could have benefited from blowing
wind, cracking ice, animal noises, etc.
Gameplay
 Not
content to simply re-create the past, No One Lives Forever 2 actually
manages to improve on the already excellent gameplay of the original. Finally
perfected in a first person shooter, the newest Cate Archer spy classic contains
a "stealth" mode of gameplay, where players can truly hide in shadows and behind
corners to escape following enemies. When finding a good hiding spot, a
small "eye" icon appears onscreen and a progress bar details the amount of time
necessary to hold still - then signaling the player is sufficiently hidden.
More than just a "gimmick", stealth missions in No One Lives Forever 2 are intricate,
and well-planned. For that reason, these missions are enjoyable, rather than annoying
in past shooters like Soldier of Fortune 2. Aside from stealth missions,
techniques like lock-picking, decoding clues, welding locks and fences, and planting
explosives actually take time to accomplish. Fully searching killed guards,
storage lockers and boxes, and filing cabinets gives the player additional points
as well as "experience" which speeds up these tasks in the future.
And during those activities, the player can be spotted by roaming guards making
timing of the essence. Undetectable tracking darts fired onto an enemy's
clothing allow the player to keep tabs on enemy movement. Unlike other games,
"run-and-gun" is only occasionally the way out of a level. In
many cases, the player must even obtain information as a mission goal. The
interactivity the player has with both the level surroundings, the enemy, and
NPCs makes No One Lives Forever 2 feel like a real universe, and makes gameplay
truly fun. Game saves are fast, and level loading times are of average to
fast speeds. No complaints there. In addition, the expert level design is a lot
less linear than any shooter in the past 3 years. Overall, gameplay in No
One Lives Forever 2 shows that this is definitely not an easy game, and players
can plan on dying many times before the game is complete. Like the game's
graphics and gameplay, the enemy intelligence in No One Lives Forever 2 also "ups
the ante" in the first person shooter genre. Enemies will roll, crouch, dodge
fire, call for help, investigate noises, and retreat when necessary. While not
groundbreaking, the artificial intelligence in No One Lives Forever 2 is a strong
point of the game, although somewhat predictable after a few hours of solid gameplay.
Final Thoughts
 As
a game, No One Lives Forever 2 accomplishes many things: First,
it nicely shows off the new Lithtech graphics engine, and proves that Monolith
is still a "player" in hi-tech gaming. Second, it raises the bar for single
player first person shooters by combining new gameplay elements and further developing
a "real" lead character. And finally, No One Lives Forever 2 is the first
game in the past 12 months that is actually worth its price, giving players actual
value and replay ability for their hard-earned money. No One Lives Forever
2 is the type of game that players deserve, and that the developers can be truly
proud of. Most other game developers could use both No One Lives Forever
and its sequel as benchmarks for quality in a first-person shooter.
 Pros:
- Cate Archer is back!
- Flowing storyline with good ending
- Stunning graphics and top notch character animation
- Unique gameplay and new features
- Less linear level design than most recent games
 Cons:
- Sound issues problematic
- Game is somewhat short compared to the original
- Enemy AI becomes predictable
- Repetitive enemy and NPC models
Overall:
| Graphics: |
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| Storyline: |
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| Gameplay: |
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| Sound: |
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| Value: |
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| Total: |
8.0 |
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