Do you like the 60's? Do you like women in tight pants? Do you like women from the 60's, wearing tight pants, holding guns, and saving the world from evil madmen? Of course you do. You just liked them a little a better on the PC…
For the uninitiated, No One Lives Forever is what would happen if a developer made a great first person shooter based on the Austin Powers license, but fell short of securing the character licensing. What you're left with was a game chock full of spy humor/parody, a healthy mixture of stealth and run-and-gun action, and by far the best usage of the Lithtech engine ever.
But that was on the PC. This is PS2. Will the game, as well as the dying Lithtech engine, match up? Having finished the PC version, I can honestly say that there are some things that the PS2 version does just as well as the original, if not better. Graphics, for instance, while not as colorful or vibrant, are a lot smoother and sharper on the console. Granted, those looking for PS2 eye candy have some much better options, but when stacked against the original, the edge goes to the port.
Another area where the PS2 whips all forms of bellbottom-clad ass (or was that the 70's?) over the PC version is the control. Rather than sloppily port the PC code, everything in NOLF has been streamlined for enjoyment on a console, and it works perfectly, or at least as well as you could reasonably expect from a console FPS that doesn't begin with "H" and end with "O". Also included is a very effective auto-aim feature that some die-hards may turn their noses up at. For them, the option to turn it off is there, though I'd love to see them make it past the second mission without it. The bottom line is that I actually found the console version of NOLF easier to control…a blessing or a curse, depending on which side of the tracks you fall on.
While the port certainly gets a lot of things right, there are a lot of cons that one will want to consider when choosing one version over the other, and when doing so, the end result doesn't fare too well for the PS2. No longer do you get to choose your equipment at the start of each level. Yep, rather then select what guns n' gizmos you want to take into battle, the game chooses for you. But that's ok, because none of your gizmos, save the mission-central ones, seem to do much good anyway: it's always faster, easier, and less stressful to pull out a machine gun and pop someone in the head.
And ultimately, that's where NOLF begins its downfall. One of the most appealing features of NOLF is that you can choose how to approach a situation. Either sneak around cameras, carefully dispose of bodies, or just run-and-gun it. You had a choice. In the PS2, if you attempt the stealth approach, you will end up either losing your sanity, or breaking the disc in half because a) the essential stealth gadgets, such as body removal spray and camera jammers, are in short supply, even though the situations that require them still arise; and b) there is no autosave to be had anywhere. This effectively turns the game into a standard run-and-gun game.
No One Lives Forever isn't a bad game in any respect. It's witty, entertaining, and there's lots of mindless shooting fun to be had for those with no other way to experience the title. But once you take into consideration the fact that it's a game very few computers can't run, and that the PC version is far more complex, not to mention available for about half the 50 dollar price of the stripped down port, it can't be helped but to wonder why Fox Interactive even bothered.
-George
Company Line
No One Lives Forever is a story-driven, first person adventure delivering over-the-top action, tense subterfuge, outrageous villains and wry humor in the tradition of the great 1960's spy films and TV shows. Armed with an assortment of conventional and experimental weaponry and gadgets, The Operative, Cate Archer, will explore exotic locales, circumvent devious traps, and contend with deadly agents determined to take her out of the spy trade once and for all.
Six levels of action-packed adventures: Introducing four new levels that are unique to the PlayStation 2 version, featuring Cate in her young days as a thief.
Original engaging story of espionage: Secret-agent action featuring a female operative that takes place in a distinct 1960s setting.
Hours of gameplay in exotic locales around the world: Including the French Alps, the Caribbean, Morocco, Germany, England and a secret Russian space station.
20 outrageous characters: Including a pugilistic Scotsman, a trio of female vixens and a villainously off-key opera Frau, plus a hoards of henchmen.
High speed get-away vehicles: Players take control of motorcycles and snowmobiles to evade capture from enemy agents.
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