The Operative: No One Lives Forever

[frogbeastegg]

Approximately half of the people worldwide who played this great series used to visit here (that's 4 people, then) so posting this is kind of a civic duty.

The Operative: No One Lives Forever retrospective. Here's a youtube link to the intro music which is required listening while reading the article.

For those who don't know the series, they were spoof spy action stealth-um-ups with shed loads of humour and oodles of style, and a design which pushed the envelope of what was possible. Ah, so many fond memories from the series. Falling out of a plane with no parachute and stealing one from the guy falling below, lipstick bombs, evil mimes, fighting ninjas in a house that's caught in a hurricane (note: flying in the air in a hurricane wizard of oz style), space stations, Cate Archer herself...

The first two games were awesome and barely sold. The third game threw away everything the series was known for and sank without a trace. Monolith focused on making grim and grey misery games and started bringing in cash.

[Boohugh]

Reading that really makes me want to play them again, shame I don't have the discs with me, will have to wait a couple of months until I go home

This is possibly one of the best conversations in video game history!

[Fragony]

The first is my favourite shooter ever, pure genius

que the third???

[frogbeastegg]

que the third???

Contract Jack. It didn't bear the NOLF tag but it was considered to be part of the series by the developers. Never played it myself; they tore out everything I liked about the series, tacked on some stuff I didn't care about, and then to make doubly sure it got panned by just about everyone.

[Forward Observer]

Sometime late last year while I still had two PC with different OS--one with WindowME and one with XP, I was able to load up almost every 1st person shooter I had and play them all almost back to back--in no particular order

NOLF 1 & 2
Max Payne 1 & 2
Doom 3
A vrs P 2
Red Faction
Jedi Knight II--outcast
Fear 1 & 1st expansion
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Halflife II
MOH 1 & 2 plus an expansion
Call of Duty 1,2,&expansions
FarCry


Playing them like this helped me be a little more objective rather than remembering my favorites through the rose colored glasses of time.

Consequently, I have to agree----Of all of those, the 1st NOLF still stands out head and shoulders above the rest for consistently interesting gameplay, great humor, and enormous content. I don't think NOLF II was as good, but it had its moments----that tricycle chase segment shooting at the midget mime on a unicycle comes to mind.

I'd probably rate Max Payne as the next best with maybe Halflife II, Wolfenstein, A vers P 2, & Farcry close behind----but even with all of the technological and graphical advances of the later games they all still fall a bit short of the first NOLF.

Of course this is just my opinion and you know what your proctologist says about opinions.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Hey, there's an entire NOLF thread!

I love these games with a passion bordering on religious zeal. With the possible exception of Civilization, the greatest PC games ever.

Approximately half of the people worldwide who played this great series used to visit here (that's 4 people, then) so posting this is kind of a civic duty.

Four? Yeah, that sounds about right. Such a pity.
NOLF is a bit like The Shawshank Redemption. A commercial failure, but everybody who's seen it is raving about it, thinks it's the best tehy've ever seen.
With the difference, that 'Shawnshank' currently enjoyes a massive status. By now, everybody has seen it at some point. Unlike NOLF. Games just don't have the lifespan of movies. Ten years on, it seems a bit late for the world to finally discover this wonderous gem. NOLF 1 in particular is starting to show its age. Fortunately, its graphics are somewhat cartoony, which always ages more gracefully. I didn't play it for over a year, and am playing it right now, and am as much in love with it as ever.



I've played both 1 and 2 more than I dare to admit. To say that I've played them daily for several years would only be a slight exaggeration.



There is a curious ironic resemblance between NOLF's storyline and NOLF's real life. The story is about some pretty girl struggling to make it in a world dominated by men and machismo. An uncanny resemblance to the real status of NOLF in the macho FPS world then. Alas, whereas Cate wins in the game, in real life she lost.
NOLF is simply impossible to market. Adolescent males skip on a game that uses lipstick and style for a weapon. And the demograph that does enjoy that does not play FPS.

I don't play FPS. I abhor the genre. I could never play Call of Duty. The game fills me with revulsion. I can only stomach NOLF. But it took my best friend well over a year of insisting before I decided to give NOLF a go. Bless him for his persistence.

I really do think Contract J.A.C.K. was some sort of revenge by the developers. NOLF 1 and 2, for all their quality, were always pearls before swine. The games excelled in every respect, got rave reviews, game of the year awards, but never really sold accordingly.
So the developers gave the world what it asked for: a male lead, mindless blood and gore, big gunz aplenty.



I own Contract Jack. I wanted to have it, just for the teenie-weenie off-chance that the game might not be as bad as they said it was. People said Nolf2 wasn't all that good, but I myself think NOLF 2 is genius.
Howver, Jack stinks. It really does. The protagonist is just some swine. Not some James Bond, but Steven Seagall. There is nothing left of NOLF. They really, literally, stripped away everything that made NOLF great - the stealth, the intelligence items, the diversity of action.
In Contract Jack, the player simply moves from one spot to the next, you trigger a new wave of four or five attackers, you mow them down, and move to the next trigger. No exploration, no subtlety, no fun. Even the hilarious commentary of the enemy is gone. All they shout in Jack is 'Eat lead, sucker!', 'Make that son of a @#$%* suffer!'. It is quite off-putting.



Oooooh! Give us NOLF 3! It is essential for the quality of my life.

[Catiline]

It was great. The MP was very good as well.

[Forward Observer]

Here is one of the more elaborate over heard dialogs between H.A.R.M underlings on their place in society

Can you imagine this being even remotely appreciated in a shooter today---

Criminal sociology


P.S. I just noticed this link was also posted in the "what are you playing" thread, but I'll leave it anyway.