Welcome to the 60th issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This project is a weekly feature where we share our favourite games and applications with you. The titles we recommend may be "old school" games, a piece of Homebrew, a ROM hack, sleeper hits, an application, etc, but one thing's for certain, we think they are fantastic and deserve your attention!
GBAtemp Recommends!
Developed by Monotlith Products (Blood 1&2, F.E.A.R. Series, Condemned) The Operative: No One Lives Forever was a first person shooter with stealth gameplay that was heavily inspired by the style, humour and spirit 1960's spy TV series and films that graced that decade such as James Bond, Man from U.N.C.L.E, The Avengers, Mission: Impossible etc. You play the English ex-Cat burglar come UNITY agent Cate Archer on a mission to defeat terrorist organisation, H.A.R.M from their latest deadly threat on the world.
When released on the PC twelve years ago, it was hailed as one of the best first person shooters since Half-Life and rightly so. Like Half-Life it was very story driven and had some very good scenes in between gameplay though this game was more like a more advanced GoldenEye (and far better imo) in terms of levels and mission structure. As Cate you travelled the globe during the 60's Cold War era visiting a good variety of locations such as Morocco, Germany, the Caribbean as well as outer space to gather important information, taking out their H.A.R.M. agents and protect certain important people.
The level design was top notch, unlike a lot of FPS games at the time you would never find yourself lost, walking around wondering where to go next it, they were a little more linear than some titles in the genre but they suited the overall spy style as well as keep the story moving onwards. Most missions can be completed in multiple ways to suit the type of gamer you are. Action gamer? Most of the time you can just run in and shoot your way out. Stealth gamer? You can do your sneaking around and get around the missions without firing your gun.
A novel feature of the game was the feminine objects you can use. Among many items there was lipstick that made a great explosive device, perfume can be thrown in which sleeping gas would escape and also there was a robotic poodle which you can use to distract guard dogs.
The atmosphere is really what makes this game stand out from many in the genre, it's funny moments are actually funny and the look, voice acting, music and action really do bring out the 60's spy theme well. The music is very memorable, big bold brassy tune that could easily come from the very best movies and shows of that era. The character and model design was extremely good for the time
Playing this game today, it clearly is a game of it's time however for me this is a good thing. The single player mode is very lengthy (like they were back then) and it new exactly when to ramp up the action and when to slow things down for more stealthy missions.
For those who want to play a well thought out story driven shooter where they actually PLAY most of the game and do more in a game than just shoot your way through. The Operative: No One Lives Forever is a fine example of classic FPS gaming.
Note: The PS2 version was below par, a lot of PC FPS ports weren't done very well back then so I don't recommend that version...of course nowadays it's PC gamers who suffer poor console ports. The version to look out for was the Game of the Year edition (unlike now, back then GOTY games actually won GOTY before these versions were released) which included an extra mission. The sequel No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M'S Way was also fantastic however the spin off Contract J.A.C.K. was a piece of crap.
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release Year: 2000 (PC), 2002 (PS2/Mac)
Developer: Monolith Productions
Published by: Fox Interactive (PC), Universal Interactive/Sierra (PS2)
Designed by: Craig Hubbard
Released For: PC/Mac/PS2
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