The Operative: No One Lives Forever Game of the Year Edition

007 has a license to kill; Cate Archer has a license, not only to kill, but to thrill as well.

Sierra, along with a host of cohorts (including Monolith, and Fox Interactive), knew it has something special with its PC program The Operative: No One Lives Forever.

So, in order to get the best mileage out of this program, a new edition has been released. It’s called No One Lives Forever Game of the Year Edition. How obvious. But if you haven’t entered the spy world of Archer and Unity (the organization she works for), forget the original packaging of the game – this is the edition you want.

No One Lives Forever is a role-playing shooter game. You take on the persona of Archer, fearless, sarcastic, and hungry for action. (For a review of the original game, please see http://www.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r13418.htm) You will see the world through her eyes, unless you are watching a cutscene, which nicely sets up the reasons for all the gunplay.

NOLF is also a trip to the past. This program has a very well done 1960s atmosphere, with Archer cast as an Emma Peel character. So, in addition to four new levels inside a volcano (if you thought the action was hot before, just wait until you see the firepower brought to play inside the volcano – it makes jumping out of the plummeting airliner without a parachute seem like child’s play), Sierra has added a music CD called In the Lounge, which contains remixes of the NOLF soundtrack.

But wait, there’s more! For a limited time only, you can get the game with the Official Prima Strategy Guide included. This guide will eliminate the pesky business of having to figure things out for yourself, and set you on the right path. Actually, it will help you if you get stuck, and contains a lot of other valuable information. It really rounds out the game with dossiers on the characters, a list of the intelligence and bonus items in each scene, and a breakdown of the weaponry used in the game.

The additional scenes – a.k.a. an expansion package – have the same flair and style of the original game. Yes, you should be well trained for them by the time you reach them. If anything, they present a varied and intense challenge.

The Game of the Year Edition also includes a map editor, which allows players to create their own missions. That is as nice a feature as the new levels. The editing tools must be installed; they are not an auto-install with the game. This means unzipping the files. However, you must have the full version of the program installed first in order to use the tools.

The Game of the Year Edition is well packaged; there is little doubt about that. While essentially a game expansion pack, this edition takes an already excellent shooter game and moves it forward, adding to the overall enjoyment of the program.

Install: Medium
In order to use the mission/map editor, you will have to do a full install of the game. A full, or normal, install is 1,045 megs. The minimum install is only 420 megs.

Gameplay: 9.3
The map editor is deceptive, because you understand the core elements of the mission. However, the fun of this comes when you swap missions with other NOLF fans. The new levels play out quite nicely.

Graphics: 9
The score from the review of the original game stands. This game has the same basic look as Half-life – very nice, but not stunning like Max Payne (Gathering of Developers).

Sound: 10
Excellent in-game sound that you can now take everywhere with you – thanks to the remix on the musical CD.

Difficulty: 9
The map editor can be a challenge. Game play is linear.

Concept: 9.5
Again, the score from the review of the NOLF original stands. This game takes the shooter genre in another direction successfully.

Overall: 9.6
Tweak out an extra one-tenth of a point for the map editor (which probably should have been included in the original release) and music CD. Although the enemy AI has been boosted, the bad guys still don’t seem that adaptive or smart. However, that doesn’t deter from a first-rate entertaining game wrapped in a fresh package. The action is non-stop, the scripting is clever, and the game is addictive.