After many, many screenshots and lots of talk, No One Lives Forever (NOLF) has finally arrived and it certainly lives up to everyones expectations. NOLF is a spy-based first person shooter, sort of an Austin Powers meets James Bond mix. A little humor here and lots of weapons and gadgets there make for a great game experience and one that is quite different from any other FPS title I have played in recent years. What makes the game so different from the rest of the pack is the wide variety of missions. One mission will have you helping save the embassador while sniping enemies from across the street and in another you'll be avoiding cameras to try and sneak into a complex undetected. Before each mission you'll be given new gadgets and receive training in how to use them via advanced field tactic missions. These are great and ensure that you never enter a mission without knowing how everything works. The gadgets help make the game even more enjoyable. You have lipstick grenades, camera sunglasses, and even a barrette that can double as a lockpick and poison capsule. I won't give out too much here and ruin the surprise of seeing the new gadgets for the first time but they are all unique and certainly well thought out devices.

The story isn't nearly as good as recent FPS titles such as Deus Ex but it isn't entirely bad either. Players assume the role of Agent Cate Archer, a beautiful but deadly operative working for UNITY-a super secret international organization. Archer's lucky break comes as a devastating blow to UNITY, when an assassin identified as the notorious Dmitrij Volkov assassinates over half of UNITY's active undercover operatives around the globe in the space of a week. Volkov, it seems, has ties to a little known organization calling itself H.A.R.M. How H.A.R.M. obtained such intimate knowledge of UNITY's clandestine affairs remains a troubling enigma. When Archer and her mentor, Bruno Lawrie, depart for Morocco to protect a vacationing American ambassador who has been marked for death, little do they know that they are stumbling into a deadly trap that will set an intricate, insidious plot into motion. Can Archer thwart this plot before it's too late? Is there a traitor in UNITY's ranks? And what exactly does "H.A.R.M." stand for, anyway?

It is up to Agent Archer to unravel these mysteries and thwart a conspiracy that threatens the entire free world.

The AI in the game is amazing and the best I've seen in a long time. It's really bad when you can pick off every enemy in sight with a sniper rifle and nobody even moves or twitches a muscle **cough** Soldier of Fortune **cough**. No worries with NOLF though, one shot near an enemy and they take off running, ducking, rolling, anything to get away from the shot. They act incredibly intelligent, ducking behind walls or tables, making for a great challenge even on the easier difficulty levels. They rarely ever just run at you with guns blazing especially if you're returning fire. Another thing that's great about the game is the amount of death animations. Depending on where you shoot them, and the position they are in when you do, will determine just how they die. They could fall forward or back from a shot to the head, fall from a tower, or even roll down a flight of stairs. There's just so much variety here that you'll never get bored playing through the missions and with more than 60 in the game you'll be challenged at every corner.

The graphics were my only real problem at all with NOLF. While the LithTech 2.5 engine would've been great a few years ago, it looks rather dated up against the Unreal and Q3A engines that we've seen in recent games such as Deus Ex and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. This is not to say that the visuals in NOLF are bad, everything looks very well detailed and the player models are extremely well done, just don't expect to be blown away in the visual department.

The sounds and music in NOLF are exceptionally well done, this is another area in which this title truly shines. Talented voice-acting helps carry the story along as you go and some of the in-game dialogue is actually pretty funny. Early in the game you will come across an enemy arguing with a guy trying to sell him his monkey. This was extremely humorous because the guys kept up the argument for quite awhile. You catch a lot of different conversations like this throughout the game and each one will make you crack a smile right before you turn the corner and blow them away. You rarely see this kind of humor in a FPS title and it definitely adds to the fun of playing through the missions. I loved the music as well, there's a wide variety of tunes that help capture the whole spy theme that you'll come to love even if you have never been a fan of the Bond films.

What it comes down to is that NOLF is one of the best FPS titles to come out this year. If it doesn't at least rank as a contender for FPS Game of the Year I will be both surprised and very disappointed. With over 60 missions to play through, too many weapons and gadgets to even attempt to list, and incredible AI, this is one of the most challenging and fun experiences that any FPS fan will love. Though the graphics fall a little short compared to other titles of this genre, everything else is top notch and it's a title that I highly recommend you pick up.

The good points: excellent AI, more than 60 missions, lots and lots of weapons/gadgets, excellent sounds/music

The bad points: graphics can't be compared to many recent titles of this genre, the LithTech engine looks very dated

Sound	10/10
Graphics	8.5/10
Controls	9.0/10
Fun Factor	10/10

Review by Mark Dillon
Video Gamer Guy