While other super spies waste away their days driving extravagant British sports cars and sipping watered down drinks, a legion of mimes and trailer-park ninjas plot to bring about nuclear war. Thank goodness for Agent Cate Archer.  As a single player sequel to the fan favorite No One Lives Forever, Monolith brings us No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.’s Way, and it’s definitely a worthy follow up. Although there have been some significant gameplay changes from it’s prequel, those that have played the first will find enough familiar ground to feel right at home. 

The first and most notable upgrade found in NOLF2 comes courtesy of Monolith’s Lithtech 3 graphics engine. Although you’ll rarely find yourself awestruck by the visuals, everything does look above average graphically and, as a whole, is more then passable for a late 2002 release. Models look decent for a PC title, but the animation isn’t really extraordinary. This is most noticeable during the between mission cut scenes, in which the in-game models are used. During actual playtime it isn’t nearly as apparent since common guards aren’t expected to deliver as many lip-synching close ups as the top-billed characters. Overall, the visuals are very clean and colorful, if a little less realistic looking then they could be. 

Another new addition is the inclusion of RPG-style elements.  Cate will not be expected to “level up” as if this were a true role playing game, but she will be able to purchase additional skill points to be added to categories such as marksmanship, stealth and stamina.  Every time Cate picks up a piece of intelligence or completes a mission objective, she is awarded a certain number of credits for this purpose. The problem is that credits are so readily available that Cate will nearly have all her stats completely filled out by the end of the game and in general, purchasing an upgrade won’t significantly affect the way you play. Upgrading your skill in the gadgets category will only make the progress bar move slightly faster when picking a lock or welding a door hinge, while upgrading in stamina will simply make your maximum health higher. At no point is the player forced to find an alternate way to complete a mission because they are lacking a critical skill, nor are they ever rewarded for expertise in an area.  The new system is a fun little inclusion, but it’s not very deep and should probably be considered more of a gimmick then a selling point.

Other changes of note are the methods of avoiding guards and the searching of bodies for items, both of which are upgradeable skills for Cate to purchase. When you fall an enemy, they won’t litter the ground with all their belongings like in most shooters. Likewise you can’t raid the body by simply running over the model; instead you must approach the body and press the Use key to search for its belongings. You’ll find a few items by simply pressing the key once, but holding the key will bring up a progress bar that will find some apparently better hidden items once it has had time to fill.  This adds a great deal of strategy to the action, especially when in the middle of a fire fight and running low on ammo.  If the action is less then heated, a body can be hefted over Cates shoulder and carried to a more secluded location. Not so coincidentally, if you’re looking to maintain a low profile, you’ll need to clean up after yourself by hiding your victims before their comrades find them. Once the guards have been alerted, whether it is by spotting Cate herself or by finding a body, Cate’s best option to evade them is to find a shadowed area to hide in. When she reaches a hiding spot, yet another progress bar begins to fill, and when completely full Cate becomes next-to-invisible to passers by.  Typical guard amnesia soon sets in and they’ll soon return to their patrols. That’s not to say that the AI in the game isn’t good; it's about on par for a typical shooter. 

Although the original No One Lives Forever wasn’t heralded for revolutionizing the gameplay of the first person shooter genre, it was instantly recognized for it’s tongue-in-cheek humor and the inventive mission design.  Instead of running into a room with guns blazing, it was more typical for a player to creep up to corners hoping to trigger a usually clever scripted conversation from guards on the other side. And who can forget the famous skydiving mission from the original? Thankfully players can expect more of the same from this edition. Scripted guard conversations seem to be harder to come by, but there is still plenty of humor to be found by reading the intelligence items scattered throughout the world, and there is more then one memorable mission scenario to be experienced. You haven’t lived until you’ve ridden shotgun on a tricycle to a man wearing a kilt. 

What this all boils down to is a very impressive single player gaming experience with limited replay value because of the lack of multiplayer options. Fans of the genre and especially fans of the first will be very pleased.

MINIMUM SPECS - Windows 98/ME/2000/XP; DirectX 8.1 or higher (included); Pentium III 500 MHz or higher; 128 MB RAM (256 MB for XP); 1.4 GB hard drive space for installation plus additional space for Windows swap file and saved games; 4X CD-ROM drive; DirectSound compatible 16-bit sound card with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver; 32 MB Direct3D compatible video card with Hardware T & L, 32-bit color support, and DirectX 8.1 compatible driver

REVIEWER'S SPECS - Windows XP; AMD Athlon 2100+ XP; 512 MB PC2100; GeForce 3 64MB; Sound Blaster Live! Value