THE OPERATIVE: NO ONE LIVES FOREVER

Who Wants to Live Forever?

Your Mission: Assume the role of Cate Archer, a beautiful but deadly Operative working for UNITY - a super secret organization fighting to free the world from the clutches of H.A.R.M. From tense subterfuge to in-your-face combat, No One Lives Forever ups the ante for plot-driven, 1960's-influenced spy action with killer weapons, vivid international locales and deadly arch villains. Equipped with an arsenal of powerful weapons and ingenious gadgets, you must unravel a mystery that will lead you halfway around the world in a desperate search for answers.

Try not to blow your cover... or your cool.

• 15 missions across 60 levels. Unique situations worthy of any super spy - skydive from a plummeting airliner, fight off killer sharks and explore twisted jungles!
• Ride motorcycles and snowmobiles through vast, realistic landscapes and environments rich with texture and detail.
• Choose your weapons carefully; an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9mm silenced automatic or an M79 grenade launcher and a silent but deadly crossbow with a sniper scope.
• Use stealth to take down the enemy from a distance or charge in with guns blazing.
• Smart enemies move and react with striking realism. Watch them seek cover, respond to suspicious sounds or launch coordinated attacks.
• Multiplay for up to 16 players. Take your chances in an all-or-nothing Good vs Evil multiplayer game or go head-to-head in Deathmatch mode. Choose from over 30 different characters.
• Featuring LithTech 2.5 3D Game Operating System.

~ from the back or the original release box

 
Monolith Productions (not to be confused of Monolith Software of Xenoblade Chronicles fame) has some classic games under their belt. Most recently they've given us the Middle-Earth duo of games that innovated with their Nemesis system, but thanks to Warner Bros for never letting anyone else use that incredible gameplay mechanic. It's probably their fault too that the legal wranglings behind The Operative: No One Lives Forever has meant that on-one else can play this incredible game - at least officially. 

To be fair, the truth of who owns this 2000 first-person-shooter is incredibly tangled. Sierra published the game, while both Monolith and Fox Interactive own the copyright according to the legalese on the box. Fox Interactive was acquired by Vivendi Universal in 2003 (who, incidentally became Sierra's parent company a few years prior), which in turn was sold to Activision in 2008 before being bought by Microsoft in the landmark deal that was finalised last year (2023). Fox Interactive's parent company, Twentieth Century Fox is famously now a Disney brand while Monolith Productions themselves are still going under Warner Bros (though it's been 7 years since they've released anything). That's quite the incestuous family tree so it's no wonder Nightdive's attempt to revive it a few years back fell through.

Cate cannot heat during a mission, but she can replenish her shields by finding these Kevlar vests (left).

Your sniper scope has three zoom levels. The updated 'Modernizer' has re-mapped it to the middle mouse button (right).

So what were we missing. Well, quite frankly, one of the best first-person-shooters of its era. Taking obvious inspiration from James Bond and the still-relevant Austin Powers series, No One Lives Forever - or NOLF for short - is groovy action game set in the swinging sixties that's full of light-hearted humour and stealthy spy missions. In fact, it was fairly unique for its time. I believe it was one of the first FPS's to feature a woman in its lead role which apparently wasn't always the case. I suspect a certain raider of tombs may have changed some minds during development. You play as Cate Archer, a buxom operative whose wit is as sharp as her top-heavy polygons; her fashion style as dangerous as her weapon loadout. It works very well too, with the laugh-out-loud comedy satirising not just James Bond and spy movie clichés in general, but also the outdated gender roles of the era. She's an operative of the secretive spy faction known as UNITY and has been thrust out of her sexist secretarial role due to a number of field agents getting systematically killed on the job, and all signs point to the criminal organisation named HARM as the guilt party. So, after a traditional tutorial level you're off to Morocco to protect an American ambassador who may also be in their crosshairs.

Your missions will take you all around the world from Hamburg, Germany to the Tropics of the Caribbean, a vacation resort in the Swiss Alps to the a rocket ship heading to the moon. Of the fifteen levels that make up the main campaign, you'll shoot your way through an enviable variety of locations and set pieces that would put any iteration of Bond to shame. One of the most memorable levels that will stick in my mind involves skydiving out of an exploding plane frantically trying to catch up to your parachute-wearing target while others shoot at you from afar. Another had you don scuba gear and explore a sunken ship - the very one you gunned your way through in an earlier level. Each stage is visually unique, incredibly well realised and fun to play through. Mostly. 

A conversation to ween information from a British Baron can go down some weird paths (left).

Pick up confidential intel to uncover snippets of info and extra points too (right).

I say mostly because I do have one big gripe with the game - stealth. I'm not really a fan of how it's implemented here. Enemies react to sound, whether it be your footsteps on a hard floor or the sound of an AK-47. Almost instantly, they will sound the alarm alerting others to your presence who will then descend on you post haste. The game gives the impression that there is multiple ways to play, the silent but deadly affair or the John Wick approach, but in truth there is only the former - for the majority of levels at least. Once the alarm goes off, you may get a game-over screen claiming that your cover is blown or, depending on the level, you can carry on. Your objectives will now be updated with a new task; silence the alarm, though for the life of me I cannot figure out how to do so. Neither a lengthy google session, YouTube let's plays or the official strategy guide were any help so unless I'm completely dumb I don't think you can return to the shadows once you've been seen. It wouldn't be an issue except that sometimes the levels cannot be completed because of this. So, stay stealthy and spam those quick saves 'cos you're gonna need them.

You do have a lot of assistance to remain unseen. In between levels you will often return to base to get the skinny on a new tech gadget that will, unsurprisingly, feature heavily on your next mission. Having these tutorial stages take place just before you're likely to need them is a great way to introduce new mechanics without frontloading the beginning of the game with too much information. You will be given a variety of new-fangled doohickeys including a hair clip that doubles as a lockpick or poisoned knife, a cigarette lighter that's also a welder, a lipstick grenade and a mechanical love dog. At various points, you will need all of these but you can only take a certain amount of items with you at the beginning of each stage. Thankfully, there is a default loadout - which is what I mostly stuck with - and any necessary items are barred from being swapped out. I found the perfume bottle full of sleeping gas to be the most useful, as it can take out a large group of goons before they can reach for that bastard alarm.

Your hair pin can pick key-based locks which those with codes require different types of gadgets (left).

Wear your sunglasses to snap classified documents or, when upgraded, view lasers and landmines (right).

With Cate's ample skill set, you won't be sticking to stealthing and shooting. There's also some jumping too. Don't get too horrified by the prospect of first-person platforming as it's not too bad here, but you will have to think a little more vertically than you might otherwise on more than the odd occasion. The levels are designed open enough that it's not always clear what to do or where to go next emphasising exploration and emergent gameplay. If you are a little lost, look for platforming crates, climbable walls or hidden trapdoors below your feet. Chances are you've missed something like this. Few stages are actually timed, despite the urgency of the plot, so you're safe to take as much time looking around as you please. Later stages also include vehicles such as a motorbike or snowmobile, and the levels open up dramatically to accommodate them. Unfortunately, you cannot shoot and drive so any exhilarating momentum you might have built up gets cut short as you have to hop off your ride to kill a few people or flip a few switches. These potential highlights end up being the lowlights of the game. 

For the most part, though, the levels are intelligently designed. There's even one section in Berlin that has you wander around seedy bars and apartments in search of an informant turning it into something of an adventure game for a time. And many conversations include a choice of responses that lead to different outcomes. It fits very well, though I suspect impatient action-heads will baulk at the lengthy and verbose (yet often very funny) cutscenes. I wouldn't though, and almost every element of The Operative: No One Lives Forever is a blast in more ways than one. All in all, I'd say it's an absolute classic. And a groovy one at that.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the NOLF Modernizer Patch to run on modern systems. First Release Manual, GOTY Manual & Budget Release Reference Card included. Soundtrack & Strategy Guide available as a separate download. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

  16.12.2024 - Patch - Includes dgVoodoo for those having issues without an Nvidia graphics card.

                                    Unzip to install directory. Read PatchNotes.txt for more info.

File Size: 564 Mb.  Install Size: 1.13 Gb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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The Operative: No One Lives Forever is © Monolith Productions, Inc & Twentieth Century Fox
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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