I don't recall where I first saw No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way, but on account of its troubled history, it was probably during the early days of researching this 1001 list. Since then, I've been quite interested in finding out about it, because there aren't too many games out there that look like this.
Set in the swinging '60s, cat-burglar turned spy Cate Archer must thwart the evil plans of H.A.R.M. in a globe-trotting, gadget-filled first-person action game. Imagine if Austin Powers was a serious James Bond film, and you're getting closer to what NOLF2 is like.
At least that's my impression based on what I see and read. Playing it is another thing...
Fun Times
Game development and publishing can be a minefield when it comes down to working out who owns what, and who can and can't do this or that with a specific property. The NOLF series wasn't available for purchase anywhere because nobody was quite sure who owned it, and the parties with potential claims weren't overly concerned with putting in the effort to find out whether they did actually have a stake in the games to put them up for sale and make something from them.
Three games were therefore left in limbo, available only on discs, should you be able to find and then successfully run them on modern systems. Fans don't like when that happens, and some of them will go above and beyond to keep forgotten games alive, reviving them for a whole new audience.
Armed with the sourcecode, custom patches and no-CD cracks, NOLF and its sequels are freely available to download in what has to be a legally grey area, and that's exactly how I'm playing NOLF2.
The game begins deep within H.A.R.M.'s lair, as a ninja gets summoned to see the boss, who is obviously on the phone to his mother when we first meet him. They are aware that a spy will be attempting to infiltrate the group, and this ninja's task is simple: stop them.
Stop us.
Cate Archer is a competent woman. A former cat burglar, she's no stranger to danger, but I am a stranger to the default controls. Control key to shoot, yet mouse look is enabled by default? What madness is this? There are buttons on this mouse thing. Point and shoot. Move the pointer, click the shoot button. Simple, no?
I believe I remapped half of the controls before just abandoning the rest. If memory serves, I can now only peek to the left. I'm sure that won't cost me...
What is NOLF2 then? It's only after the fact that I realise these comparisons, but I suppose it plays a little like Deus Ex, a little like Thief... we are skulking around the level with the ability to crouch, sneak, search through and pick up bodies. We can peek around corners and assess the situation ahead, and we can throw items to distract guards, pulling them out of their routines and into more useful locations for us to deal with.
The controls feel fine, though I thought the movement was awfully slow until I realised I had pressed Toggle Sneak instead of Sneak. It's a good job everything is customisable because you'll get up to a good few things as an international spy.
Finding pieces of intel or otherwise doing something of note will net you skill points. I'm used to games offering 1 skill point, rather than 100, but the costs to increase your stats, health, endurance and so on are on the high side. Designing the type of character you want is, therefore, possible, but I'm not sure how much variation there will ever be in a game that requires you to act like a sneaky spy...
The first section serves as a welcome tutorial, and you'll work out what type of game it is by the controls as much as the tips that come from a mechanical bird named Santa. I'm going to need to look up why that's a thing...
As well as finding notes everywhere, complete with letterheads coming from your own spy agency (you've done an outstanding job of keeping those secret, guys), the downed opponents you search through often have all manner of oddities for you. I'm sure some of them, at least, have a purpose, but they are so out of the blue that I don't know how to feel about them.
Are they there to make these generic ninjas more rounded as characters, or more human than grunts? Are all these items going into a massive inventory on my bag, to have an inexplicable use later on? Will I regret not having a movie ticket when I really, really need a movie ticket?
I don't have time to worry about these things. My mission has been stapled to a wooden post nearby. We are to decode some messages, no doubt also stapled in plain sight, to find out where to meet this Hatori fella. Right. Onwards.
Our contact left behind a present - a decoder disguised as a compact make up mirror - allowing us to finally interact with these mysterious messages. Like searching bodies, decoding messages takes a little time, so be out of sight while you point your '60s spy tech at the typed notes, and watch as they get descrambled before your very eyes... ooooooh.
Frustrations
This level wasn't huge, and wasn't hard to navigate, especially when I dealt with all the guards. What was problematic was its open nature. You can tackle things however you'd like, going whichever way appealed to you the most. While there weren't many places to end up here, I still got lost looking for my contact.
After decoding a couple of messages, I stumbled into some postboxes matching the colours I'd been told to look out for and essentially bumbled my way into this objective. This guy was right next to me in the first cutscene. Why the hell couldn't we have just gone through this village together? Why all the secrecy? Well, no, not secrecy. Why all the ridiculous notes stapled on every other building?
He tells me that the evil meeting point has been moved, and that to find the new meeting point, I'll need to look out for a place where lots of ninjas have gathered.
Ah...
I think I know the place. I think I killed the ninjas...
When I returned, they were on high alert and aware of my presence, so I dealt with them as swiftly as I could, chucking shuriken until running out, and then finishing someone off with a crossbow.
And then, of course, there were no ninjas to have a secret ninja meeting. Hmmm. What to do...
I interacted with this and that, even starting an alarm to draw ninjas to me, but nothing worked. I was stuck. Had I confused the game by doing things out of sequence? Would I need to try this level again, properly, but like a proper spy this time, instead of a bumbling idiot?
I quit the game and hopped onto GameFAQs, where it said I could decode a message pinned next to the door if all else failed. Great.
Do you know why I didn't do that? Because I thought it was the other message related to the postbox puzzle. I never found them all, because I didn't need to - grey box closed, red box open, anything else just interact with it until it's successful, got it.
But no. Apparently, that wasn't a message about where to go to meet my contact, but a message for progressing the mission.
Final Word
A little annoyed, I was at least pleased to find out that I hadn't broken the game beyond its capabilities. All I'd need to do was go back and play it properly.
But then to play it properly I'd have to remap all the controls to my liking. And then do all the settings. And then actually bother to read half of these notes, at least. Why everything is explained as a note, I don't know. Even the tip of distracting enemies with thrown objects is on a note that could, in theory, be missed.
Maybe there's a reason why nobody wants to sell No One Lives Forever these days. Perhaps that reason is that, yeah, sure, back then this was a good game, but now? Would it be worth the effort (ignoring that the fans have already made an effort for you)?
I don't like to ignore games because I was stupid in them. NOLF2 does deserve a second chance, and I would like to see what these colourful characters get up to. Cate Archer isn't your usual protagonist, and a 1960's spy film isn't your ordinary game setting.
Control issues aside, it is an approachable enough game to get into, and, for the time being, technically free to play too. There's no reason not to fire it up and see what it's about. I'll have to actually pay attention next time I play, but I intend to, and you should too.
FILLING YOU IN
I've finally gotten around to returning to NOLF2 and, as you probably could have guessed, it was via a (frankly ridiculously) thorough YouTube playthrough. Where do I start?
Let's get the problems out of the way first. The music is awfully repetitive, and while it does change if you're spotted, for example, if all you're hearing in a stage is the same 30 seconds of generic, locally-themed folk music along with the odd sound effect of a flipped light switch, the ruffling of papers, or a gunshot, you're going to go insane at some point.
Couple that repetitiveness with this player's insistance (whether due to OCD or game mechanics, I don't know) on hiding every single downed enemies' body in the shadows, and of searching every single filing cabinent and desk drawer for intel, and of turning off every light and unscrewing every lightbulb just to be sure, and you've got a 10 hour experience that feels like it could - should - last closer to 3.
That's not to say NOLF2 is bad, though. It's hard to know for sure where one player's play-style ends and where a fan revival patch just to get the game to run on modern systems begins, but somewhere in this lengthy walkthrough is a decent spy-flavoured FPS game that doesn't appear to falter, and is written with fun in mind.
Well, your evil villains and their bumbling staff are written with fun in mind. Our heroine Cate Archer and her crew, as well as what you get up to in game, are as straight as you'd imagine a spy to be. It's like having Daniel Craig's Bond up against Austin Power's Dr Evil, but it kinda works.
The unexpected writing is perhaps the only reason to stick with what otherwise looks like a solid gaming experience - assuming you can get it running and set up to your liking - though if this video is anything to go by, it at least holds up visually, even into the mid 2020s when I'm updating this post.
I think if I'd have a lot more patience and skill, I'd be playing this some more. Even though it has been a bit of a slog to watch, and the music is driving me a bit mad, and it might be a pain to get going, I'd recommend checking it out yourself too.
I won't spoil the plot, mostly because I don't know what's going on. There are cutscenes and plenty of in-game notes to read, but those cutscenes are 2 minutes every 2 hours it feels like, so it's easy to lose track of things. Or it's not that good. Maybe I should watch it even closer next time.
FORGET ABOUT THAT
A FAT, OVERLY STEREOTYPICAL SCOTSMAN IS RIDING A TRICYCLE AS WE STAND ON THE BACK TRYING TO SHOOT A DWARF MIME (WHO SPEAKS) ON A UNICYCLE.
So the plot, and characters, get a little more absurd on both sides...
Fun Facts
The Game Developers Choice Award for Excellence in Writing had NOLF2 as a nominee, but it would lose out to Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, which just happens to be the next game on the 1001 list.
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way, developed by Monolith Productions, first released in 2002.
Version played: PC, 2002.
Version watched: PC (AlphaYellow)