''The Operative: No One Lives Forever'' (abbreviated as ''NOLF'') is a
first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
video game developed by
Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington. The company was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games from August 2004 until its shutdown in 2025. It formerly published third-party games in the 199 ...
and published by
Fox Interactive
Fox Interactive was an American video game publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company published games based on 20th Century Fox properties such as ''The Simpsons'' and ''Die Hard'', yet also published several original titles, such as ...
, released for
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
in 2000. The game was
ported
In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desig ...
later to the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
and
Mac OS X
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
in 2002.
A story-driven game set in the 1960s, ''No One Lives Forever'' received critical acclaim for its stylistic representation of the era in the spirit of many
spy film
The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a film genre, genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many Jame ...
s and television series of that decade, as well as for its humor. Players control female protagonist
Cate Archer
Catherine Ann "Cate" Archer, codenamed The Fox, is a player character and the protagonist in the ''No One Lives Forever'' video game series by Monolith Productions. Cate, a covert operative for British-based counter-terrorism organization UNITY ...
, who works for a secret organization that watches over world peace. In addition to a range of firearms, the game contains several gadgets disguised as ordinary female fashion items.
At the time of its release, many reviewers considered ''No One Lives Forever'' was one of the best first-person shooters since 1998's ''
Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.
Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to:
Film
* Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang
* ''Half Life: ...
''. After receiving several
Game of the Year
Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.
Events and ceremonies
British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)
...
awards in the press, a special ''Game of the Year Edition'' was released in 2001, which included an additional mission on a remote island in the South Pacific. ''The Operative: No One Lives Forever'' was followed by a sequel, ''
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way'', in 2002, and a
spin-off
Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media
*Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine
* ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
titled ''
Contract J.A.C.K.'' released in 2003, both developed by Monolith.
A re-release of the game has been hampered by the complicated state of the series'
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
(IP) rights, with even parties assumed to be in possession of the IP having publicly admitted not knowing the precise legal situation of the series.
Gameplay
''No One Lives Forever'' is a
first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
which includes elements of a
stealth game
A stealth game is a type of video game in which the player primarily uses ''stealth'' to avoid or overcome opponents. Games in the video game genre, genre typically allow the player to remain undetected by hiding, sneaking, or using disguises. S ...
. The player takes on the role of Cate Archer, a fresh agent for the secret organization Unity, sent on various missions. Most, but not all, missions can be solved in multiple ways: using sneaking to avoid danger or by going in with direct gunfire.
A stealthy approach can be taken to evade security cameras, guard dogs and other obstacles. Enemies are aware of noise made by the player, including footsteps and weapon fire, and they also react to footprints in the snow, and dead bodies left lying around.
To aid in stealthy approaches, Cate gains access via Unity's "Toy Shop" to a variety of spy gadgetry disguides as female accessories, such as a
barrette
A barrette (American English), also known as a hair slide (British English), or a hair clip, is a clasp for holding hair in place. They are often made from metal or plastic and sometimes feature decorative fabric. In one type of barrette, a cl ...
that can be used for
lock picking
Lock picking is the practice of unlocking a Lock (security device), lock by manipulating the components of the lock device without the original key.
Although lock-picking can be associated with Intention (criminal law), criminal intent, it ...
, sunglasses that include a miniature camera, exploding lipstick, and sleep-inducing perfume.
The game features a wide variety of firearms, ranging from pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, and a briefcase rocket launcher.
Some of the weapons can be loaded with different types of ammunition, including standard
full metal jacket bullet
A full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet is a small-arms projectile consisting of a soft core (often lead) encased in an outer shell ("jacket") of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel, or, less commonly, a steel alloy. A bullet jacket usua ...
s,
dum dum rounds that expand on impact and cause bleeding damage, and
phosphorus-coated tracer bullets that continue to burn upon impact.
Silencers and
scopes can also be fitted on some weapons.
In various sections of the game, the player can ride a motorcycle, or a snowmobile.
Other segments of the game involve
boss fights
In video games, a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character and computer-controlled enemy created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stro ...
. If the player chooses to be stealthy, they can overhear humorous conversations between
non-player character
A non-player character (NPC) is a character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster (or referee) rather than by a ...
s, such as guards, scientists and civilians.
The missions in the game are littered with "intelligence items": briefcases, envelopes, and
manila folder
A manila folder (sometimes referred to as manilla folder) is a file folder designed to contain documents, often within a filing cabinet. It is generally formed by folding a large sheet of stiff card in half. Though traditionally buff, sometimes ...
s containing textual notes which often provide humorous side-notes and helpful hints to the game. The collection of intelligence items is optional.
Special
power-up
In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...
s, called "gear" items are also available for collection during the game, such as "fuzzy slippers" that reduce noise made by movement, earplugs that reduce damage from explosions, and a fire extinguisher that protects the player from burn damage. These gear items are sometimes located in hard-to-reach areas. At the start of each mission, the player can choose which weapons, gadgets and gear to take with them. Some intelligence and gear items cannot be collected on the first playthrough of the game, as the necessary gadgets to reach them are not unlocked until later in the game. If the player wants to collect these items, they have to revisit the mission with the appropriate equipment.
At the end of each mission, the game displays various statistics, as well as any awards and bonuses earned during the mission. Awards are humorous textual notes given for the player's performance during a mission; these include awards for using a very low or a very high number of bullets, or a "Thanks For Not Getting Hurt Award" for avoiding damage. The player also receives a rank, such as "Trainee" or "Super Spy", which is based on the number of intelligence items obtained during the mission. Achieving a high mission rank increases the player's maximum
health
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
, armor and ammo capacity, as well as stealth, the amount of inflicted damage, and the accuracy of their shots.
''No One Lives Forever'' also includes
multiplayer gameplay online or over a
local area network
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of da ...
. There are two multiplayer modes available: standard
deathmatch
Deathmatch commonly refers to:
* A particularly brutal type of hardcore wrestling
* Deathmatch (video games), a free-for-all video game mode
Death Match may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
*'' Tom Clancy's Net Force Explorers: D ...
, and "H.A.R.M. vs. UNITY", a
capture the flag-like mode where each team attempts to sneak into the enemy team's base, finding and photographing a target item, and returning to their own base with the evidence.
Plot
In 1967, the secret international organization Unity, whose purpose is to protect the world from megalomaniacs, discovers over half of their elite agents killed by Dmitrij Volkov, a Russian assassin working for the terrorist organization H.A.R.M. Unity's leaders, Jones and Smith, bring up Cate Archer, a novice and the first female Unity agent, and her mentor Bruno Lawrie to investigate H.A.R.M. Their first mission to Morocco is revealed as a trap set by Volkov, and Bruno is shot while Cate escapes to Unity headquarters. Jones and Smith reveal that Bruno likely was a traitor, helping H.A.R.M. to target their agents, an accusation Cate denies.
Cate is assigned to escort East German biochemist Dr. Otto Schenker to England, but they are ambushed midflight by another H.A.R.M. agent, Magnus Armstrong, who kidnaps Dr. Schenker but allows Cate to live as she is a fellow Scotsman. Back at Unity, Cate is partnered with American Tom Goodman and tasked to recover Dr. Schenker. Their leads take them first to a Hamburg nightclub owned by Igne Wagner, but they narrowly evade another H.A.R.M. attack, revealing Wagner is a H.A.R.M. agent. Cate and Tom then track down a cargo freighter that Unity believe contain chemicals tied to Dr. Schenker's work. They are initially ambushed by Armstrong and other H.A.R.M. agents, resulting in the sinking of the freighter. After escaping, Cate scuba dives to the freighter to obtain the cargo manifest, escaping again from more H.A.R.M. henchmen under Armstrong's and Wagner's orders. The manifest links to a manufacturing firm owned by Baron Archibald Dumas, who claims he has no ties to H.A.R.M. Cate and Tom infiltrate the manufacturing plant. Cate manages to locate the records related to the chemicals being manufactured at the plant before facing off and killing Wagner; while departing, Cate witnesses Tom being shot by Volkov.
Back at Unity headquarters, the recovered documents reveal that Dr. Schenker's work is a biological explosive that can be injected into a target, where it feeds off the body before causing a large explosion. H.A.R.M. begins to use this explosive in public incidents to make demands from the world. Unity has Cate travel to Washington, where she is able to secure Dr. Schenker from H.A.R.M. agents and take him to a secret Unity base. There, Dr. Schenker reveals the antidote for the explosive is stored in H.A.R.M. space station. Cate manages to disguise herself as a member of H.A.R.M. and board the space station, recovering a large sample of the antidote and escaping as the station is imploded by a meteor shower.
Cate brings the antidote to Unity, and then seeks out the list of infected people. She suspects that Dumas' wife, Baroness Felicity Dumas, is the mastermind given her access to the manufacturing plant, and travels to the Dumas' château in the Swiss Alps. There, she is captured by Armstrong, and the Baroness gloats that Cate has already been infected by Wagner several days earlier. Dismayed by the Baroness' plans, Armstrong decides to defect from H.A.R.M. and helps Cate escape to locate the Baroness' secret lair, where Cate finds more antidote as well as the list of infected people. As she leaves the château via a
gondola lift
A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate suppo ...
, Volkov appears and the two have a gun duel, which causes an avalanche and sends Volkov over a cliff edge. At the village at the base of the mountain, the Baroness tries to stop Cate, but Cate again wins in a gun fight. The Baroness reveals she also injected herself and only has a short time to live, and Cate rushes through the village to get the civilians to safety before the Baroness explodes.
Jones and Smith congratulate Cate on a job well done. She visits Bruno's grave, but is ambushed by Tom, who reveals he was the true traitor within Unity. Cate subdues Tom and arrests him, but then Smith arrives and shoots Tom before aiming his gun at Cate. Jones arrives, along with Bruno, revealing that Smith was the true traitor within Unity, taking revenge for being pulled off field work by joining H.A.R.M., killing the real Tom years earlier and replacing him with a H.A.R.M. doppleganger. Smith tries to shoot Cate but she has the upper hand and kills Smith.
In a
post-credits scene
A post-credits scene (also known as a stinger, end tag, or credit cookie) is a short teaser clip that appears after the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV show, or video game has run. It is usually ...
, it is revealed that Volkov survived the avalanche and reports back to H.A.R.M.'s mysterious Director, a middle-aged drunk man who Cate has seen several times in different countries during the game.
Production
Development
Work on ''No One Lives Forever'' started in 1998, after the release of Monolith Productions' previous game, ''
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division''.
Craig Hubbard, game designer for ''Shogo'' and ''NOLF'' expressed that ''Shogo'' "(although critically successful) fell embarrassingly short of original design goals", and "it is a grim reminder of the perils of wild optimism and unchecked ambition" exercised by the relatively small development team.
The team (which included approximately 18 core members during development of ''NOLF'')
was determined not to make the same mistakes again with their next game.
Describing the pressure on Monolith, Hubbard said that they "were still trying to live down the stigma" of their 1998 game, ''
Blood II: The Chosen'', which had been prematurely released buggy and unpolished, and that the company "had a lot to prove, both to ourselves and the gaming public."
Signing a contract with a
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
was a very difficult task for Monolith. Development had been going on for months, and the project had been approved by different publishers four times, before they were able to actually sign a deal with one.
During this long time for finding a publishing partner, ''No One Lives Forever'' "mutated constantly in order to please prospective producers and marketing departments. The game actually started off as a
mission
Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to:
Geography Australia
*Mission River (Queensland)
Canada
*Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality
* Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* ...
-based,
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
-inspired,
paramilitary
A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934.
Overview
Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person
* Action principles the heart of fundamental physics
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video gam ...
thriller
Thriller may refer to:
* Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television
** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre
Comics
* ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
intended as a
spiritual sequel
A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue th ...
to ''Shogo'' and ended up as a 60s spy
adventure
An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...
in the tradition of ''
Our Man Flint
''Our Man Flint'' is a 1966 American spy-fi comedy film that parodies the ''James Bond'' film series. The film was directed by Daniel Mann, written by Hal Fimberg and Ben Starr (from a story by Hal Fimberg), and starred James Coburn as maste ...
'' and countless other 60s
spy movies and shows."
This final theme for the game was settled on through discussions with
Fox Interactive
Fox Interactive was an American video game publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company published games based on 20th Century Fox properties such as ''The Simpsons'' and ''Die Hard'', yet also published several original titles, such as ...
, the final publisher of ''NOLF''.
(Parts of the initial "paramilitary action thriller" concept evolved into ''
F.E.A.R.
''F.E.A.R.'' is a first-person shooter Horror game#Psychological horror, psychological horror video game series created by Craig Hubbard in 2005. Released on Microsoft Windows, Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, there are three main games i ...
'', another Monolith game, released after the ''NOLF'' series, in 2005.)
Monolith's
producer for the game, Samantha Ryan, said that before the deal was signed, "here was a period where Monolith was two weeks from death. And
Jace Hall
Jason "Jace" Hall is an American film, television and video game producer.
Career
Hall was one of the founders of Monolith Productions and is CEO of record keeping platform Twin Galaxies. His music video "I Play W.O.W" was featured on IGN's ...
closed the deal with Fox Interactive that basically saved the company."
After finally signing a contract with Fox (with whom partnership was announced to the public on August 24, 1999),
the team was able to draft a
mission statement
A mission statement is a short statement of why an organization exists, what its overall goal is, the goal of its operations: what kind of product or service it provides, its primary customers or market, and its geographical region of operation ...
, which stood as a point of reference during every aspect of developing the game.
The game was announced at the 1999
E3 conference show.
While at this time – as described in the mission statement above – the game was already set out to be a spy-themed shooter set in the 1960s, the version that was previewed to the press at this time had many differences to the finished product, with regard to characters, plot and setting.
The game's protagonist was originally set out to be a male character called Adam Church who worked for MI0, "
Her Majesty's Most
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...
".
[Unspecified issue of '']PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
''. Quoted in: However, many of the final gameplay and story elements are known to have been present in this earlier iteration of the game: the H.A.R.M. organization; the
defection
In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...
of an East German
biophysicist
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations ...
for information about a top-secret
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
weapons program; the presence of humor in the game; some locations, such as the sunken cargo freighter; the use of gadgets, such as the rocket-launching briefcase; etc.
By at least July 1999, Monolith has decided to introduce many major changes to the game; the main reason being that the gaming press unexpectedly started comparing the game to
James Bond games, like ''
GoldenEye 007'' (1997).
Hubbard mentioned that their intention was to "make a 60s spy game", and claimed that they "didn't want to make a '
Bond
Bond or bonds may refer to:
Common meanings
* Bond (finance), a type of debt security
* Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States
* Fidelity bond, a type of insurance policy for employers
* Chemical bond, t ...
' style game, so when people were obviously drawing that comparison, we decided to rework things a bit. We wanted to get away from the Bond comparisons that people were making, so we've changed the main character and the back-story a fair amount."
As a result, the player controls a female protagonist in the final game, Cate Archer, who works for an organization called UNITY.
Changing the main character to a woman not only helped the separation of the game from the Bond franchise, but also allowed for "more interesting dramatic possibilities", and the "list of gadgets got a lot more visually interesting".
As Hubbard said, before switching to a female protagonist, he had been "struggling with trying to distinguish him from all the other male superspies from the era—extraordinarily handsome, intelligent, knowledgeable, resourceful, and so on. But a woman with those same characteristics immediately stood out because of the social climate of the time. No matter how qualified she might be, she'd have to overcome some serious barriers just to get a chance to prove herself. And if things didn't go flawlessly on a mission, she'd catch more heat than she deserved."
The female protagonist "went through numerous concept sketches, costume designs, hairstyles, names, and even nationalities."
[ Issue archived at: ] According to Hubbard, it was a challenge to find a look for her that was not only evocative of era, "but also worked as a 3D model."
In the end, the in-game model of Cate Archer was styled after model and actress
Mitzi Martin
Mitzi Martin is an American actress and model, most notable for her roles in the films ''Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'', ''Joe Dirt'', ''Dude, Where's My Car?'', and '' The Island''. Her likeness and image were also used for the charact ...
.
This was a marketing decision made by the publisher, Fox Interactive, which used its
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
casting
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...
department to look for an appropriate model internationally.
Archer's voice was provided by American voice actress Kit Harris, who also did the voice of the Inge Wagner character. Originally, Harris recorded the Scottish protagonist's voice in a stronger
Scottish accent
Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined ...
. This was changed after a Scottish producer of the game felt that the particular accent used was too lower class, and an inappropriate choice; Harris re-recorded her lines with a "
British bent" instead.
Both the face and the voice of the character were changed in
the game's sequel, where she was voiced by
Jen Taylor
Jen Taylor is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Cortana in ''Halo'' games and the intelligent personal assistant, the voice of Zoey in the ''Left 4 Dead'' franchise and formerly as Princess Peach, Toad and other charact ...
.
Along with the character and plot changes, it was also decided to change the game's
working title
A working title is a preliminary name for a product or project. The usage is especially common in film and TV, gaming, music and publishing. It is often styled in trade publications as (wt) and is synonymous with production title and tentative ...
, ''No One Lives Forever'', to something else, for similar reasons related to the Bond franchise (in particular, the novel ''
Nobody Lives for Ever
''Nobody Lives for Ever'' (published in American editions as ''Nobody Lives Forever''), first published in 1986, was the fifth novel by John Gardner featuring Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. Carrying the Glidrose Publications copyrig ...
''), as well as possible legal considerations.
However, the title instead stayed consistent throughout development.
After the game's release, Hubbard identified the realistic expectations set by the team as a strong point in the game's development, saying that "given our budget, team size, and development cycle, the best we could hope to do was to create a fun, engaging 60s espionage game that would make up in presentation what it lacked in innovation."
Other positive aspects of the process included the aforementioned mission statement, along with the flexible systems used in development, the cohesion of the team, and effective scheduling.
On the other hand, Hubbard cited difficulties in fleshing out the final team, as well as inefficient
pre-production
Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, video game, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the co ...
, delays due to waiting on technology, and the major difficulties in finding a publisher.
Hubbard also mentioned the cinematic cutscenes as lengthy and problematic, partly because of technical difficulties, and partly because of conceptual flaws on his behalf, with regard to
screenwriting
Screenwriting or scriptwriting is the art and craft of writing scripts for mass media such as feature films, television productions or video games. It is often a freelance profession.
Screenwriters are responsible for researching the story, dev ...
.
Regarding gameplay, he said that "ne of the main failings of ''NOLF'' was that it ended up feeling a lot more scripted and linear than it was intended to be".
Hubbard also expressed dissatisfaction with the balance between action and intrigue: "Unfortunately, we came up a little short on intrigue. Stealth was too unforgiving. Once you were spotted, you were playing an action game."
The team paid attention to these points while developing ''No One Lives Forever 2''.
According to Hubbard, the team's "greatest asset was the list of mistakes we made during ''Shogo''. We started this project with a pretty sober view of what we could achieve. As a result, every major feature we outlined made it into the game, as well as a few additional items we came up with during the project."
However, there were still things that the team didn't have enough time to implement.
For example, ''No One Lives Forevers team-based
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
portion was originally going to be a story-driven cooperative gameplay mode (similar to the "Assault" game type in the 1999 first-person shooter ''
Unreal Tournament
''Unreal Tournament'' is a 1999 first-person shooter game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the '' Unreal'' series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Windows, and later released on the P ...
''), including objectives and obstacles for the two teams.
Like the single-player story in the game, this gameplay mode was also going to incorporate humor; for example, in one map, a goal of each team was to find a special watermelon for a mayor in a Moroccan marketplace.
[Forum post by user "Dan", dated October 30, 2004, 08:21 PM. In: ] While this mode was publicly discussed even in July 2000,
it is not present as such in the final product (which
went gold
The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...
on October 20).
The different objectives were changed to a general goal for both teams in all maps: photographing the other team's intelligence item. However, a number of remnants stemming from the earlier gameplay design can be seen in some of the released maps, such as the office of the aforementioned mayor seen in the Morocco map.
[Forum post by user "Dan", dated October 31, 2004, 09:00 AM. In: ] Fully realized co-operative multiplayer was, however, a feature of ''No One Lives Forever 2''.
Technology
''No One Lives Forever'' utilizes the
LithTech
LithTech is a game engine developed by Monolith Productions and comparable with the Quake and Unreal engines. Monolith and a number of other video game developers have used LithTech as the basis for their first-person shooter games.
Monolith i ...
game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...
, which was originally developed by Monolith, and later by its subsidiary, LithTech, Inc. (later known as Touchdown Entertainment). The game is based on LithTech 2.5 (the first game to use this version), with many custom additions and modifications to support the game's design, such as support for vehicles.
According to the game's creators, characters in ''NOLF'' were built from more
polygons
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain.
The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon' ...
than any other PC action game at the time, with Cate Archer's model having approximately 1,700 polygons.
The
artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...
(AI) in ''NOLF'' was significantly advanced at the time of the game's release. Enemy AI can react to eleven different stimuli, including hearing the player's footsteps or weapon firing, seeing the player's footprints in the snow, or hearing an ally scream in pain. The AI can try and investigate the source of these stimuli, by following the footprints for example, and can sound alarms or call for backup. During combat, the AI finds cover positions, and, to some extent, can also use its environment for protection, such as flipping over a table and hiding behind it.
After advancing AI technology in their subsequent games, Monolith likened the way ''NOLF''s AIs pop randomly in and out of cover to a
shooting gallery.
Groups of AI guards make use of a group logic when investigating and combating the player. For example, one guard might start firing at the player, while another runs and calls for backup. The game's AI includes friendly and enemy humans, as well as dogs, sharks, and helicopters.
Design
Influences and humor
In terms of video games, Monolith drew inspiration from a number of
stealth
Stealth may refer to:
Military
*Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles
**Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology
** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology
** Ste ...
/
action game
An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, rhythm games and ...
s, such as ''
Metal Gear Solid
is a franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operative (usually S ...
'' (1998), ''
Tenchu: Stealth Assassins'' (1998), ''
Syphon Filter
''Syphon Filter'' is a third-person shooter video game series created by Bend Studio (formerly Eidetic) and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP ...
'' (1999), and ''
GoldenEye 007'' (1997), because the team was "interested in a blend of stealth and action rather than focusing on one or the other exclusively."
The original release of the 1981 stealth game ''
Castle Wolfenstein
''Castle Wolfenstein'' is a 1981 action-adventure game developed by Silas Warner for the Apple II and published by Muse Software in 1981. It is one of the earliest games based on Stealth game, stealth mechanics. A port to Atari 8-bit comput ...
'' was also cited as being influential.
Thematically, influences behind ''The Operative: No One Lives Forever'' were primarily 1960s spy-themed films, novels, television shows, as well as historical references.
When it was decided that ''NOLF'' was going to be a 1960s spy game, lead designer Craig Hubbard started immersing himself in the subject matter, in order to "develop some fluency" in it.
As he explained, he "was a big fan of early
Bond films
James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Nive ...
, but didn't know a lot about the whole spy craze. So I watched the Derek Flint movies , ''
Modesty Blaise
''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talen ...
'',
Matt Helm
Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916–2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of ...
, ''
Danger: Diabolik'', ''
Avengers
Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe
* Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes
**Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...
'' – anything I could get my hands on."
Other influences included books, such as ''
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' is a 1963 Cold War spy fiction, spy novel by the British author John le Carré. It depicts Alec Leamas, a United Kingdom, British intelligence officer, being sent to East Germany as a faux Defection, defect ...
'', TV shows like ''
The Saint
The Saint may refer to:
Fiction
* Simon Templar, also known as "The Saint", the protagonist of a book series by Leslie Charteris and subsequent adaptations:
** ''The Saint'' (film series) (1938–1943), starring Louis Hayward, George Sanders ...
'', ''
The Pink Panther
''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Clouseau, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the fil ...
'' films, commando movies, such as ''
The Guns of Navarone'', as well as "lots of historical references, encompassing everything from books and documentaries on the spy trade to fashion catalogs and interior-design books."
The basis for the biological explosives plot was the 1967 film ''
Casino Royale''.
According to Hubbard, "the idea was to create a game that would make you feel like a superspy, so we tried to come up with situations, characters, and settings to support that goal."
During the course of the game, the player can hear explicit popular culture references, including the TV series ''
The Prisoner
''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...
'' and ''
The Fugitive'', the Matt Helm films ''
The Silencers'' and ''
The Ambushers'',
and
exotica
Exotica is a musical genre that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon "Si" Waronker, Liberty Records co-founder and board chairman, named after the 1957 Mart ...
musicians
Les Baxter
Leslie Thompson Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, and musician. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica and s ...
and
Sondi Sodsai
Sodsai Pantoomkomol (; ; ) Vanijvadhana (; ;; born 18 March 1934) is a Thai actress, beauty pageant titleholder, and teacher of dramatic arts. Also known as Sondi Sodsai from her acting career in the United States during her studies, she retur ...
.
Other conversations allude to major events of the time, such as the studio years of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
,
and the commercial failure of the
Edsel
Edsel is a discontinued division and brand of automobiles that was produced by the Ford Motor Company in the 1958 to 1960 model years. Deriving its name from Edsel Ford, son of company founder Henry Ford, Edsels were developed in an effort to ...
automobile.
Humor plays an important role in ''No One Lives Forever''. As Hubbard explained, the game's intention is "to make you laugh, but not at the expense of providing a broader, more satisfying emotional experience than a spoof generally allows, so that even if you don't chuckle once, you can still have plenty of fun playing the game. At heart, NOLF is an action/adventure/espionage game with a healthy dose of levity."
Humor is presented mainly via
visual gag
In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretation ...
s, overheard conversations, textual intelligence items, and cutscenes.
The humor includes "situational humor, and even a dash of
absurdity
Absurdity is the state or condition of being unreasonable, meaningless, or so unsound as to be irrational. "Absurd" is the adjective used to describe absurdity, e.g., "Tyler and the boys laughed at the absurd situation." It derives from the Lat ...
and
bathroom humor for good measure. Some of it is subtle, some of it isn't."
The name of UNITY, H.A.R.M., and other fictional organizations mentioned in the game follow the spy genre formula of using
contrived acronyms for organizations (see
List of fictional espionage organizations
Fictional espionage organizations with fancy-sounding acronyms are a common theme in spy fiction. Such acronyms are similarly also common in superhero fiction and science fiction.
Overview
During the 1960s trend for action-adventure spy thr ...
). What H.A.R.M. actually stands for is never revealed, and speculation about its true meaning is used as a
running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...
in the game's sequel.
Regarding comparisons between the game and the ''
Austin Powers
''Austin Powers'' is a series of American satirical spy comedy films created by Mike Myers, who stars as the British spy Austin Powers as well as his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil. The series consists of '' International Man of Mystery'' (1997), ' ...
'' film series, Hubbard pointed out on several occasions that, unlike ''Austin Powers'', ''No One Lives Forever'' is not a
parody
A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...
of the spy genre.
Contrasting the source of the humor in the two series, Hubbard noted that while the game is "campy and silly, the underlying premise borders on apocalyptic. That dichotomy in tone results in a very different style of humor from a parody, where everything is in good fun and nobody, including the characters, takes anything very seriously."
Music
The soundtrack for the original version of ''No One Lives Forever'' (as well as the later
Mac OS X
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
port) was chiefly composed and produced by
Guy Whitmore. The game uses
DirectMusic DirectMusic is a deprecated component of the Microsoft DirectX API that allows music and sound effects to be composed and played and provides flexible interactive control over the way they are played. Architecturally, DirectMusic is a high-level set ...
technology, and its music is an example of an
adaptive score: the music smoothly and flexibly adapts to the situations that players finds themselves in, in order to simulate film
soundtrack
A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...
s. For instance, the music increases in
tempo
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...
or urgency when the player is in a combat situation, or if enemies become aware of the player's presence.
Whitmore's task as composer was "to capture the flavor of the '50s/'60s spy genre, without
infringing on any existing copyrights."
In order to avoid any legal troubles over music from the
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
franchise of films and games, Whitmore was initially asked to refrain from using
brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by Sympathetic resonance, sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. The term ''labrosone'', from Latin elements meani ...
s; a directive he compared to "being asked to produce a
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
album without guitars".
While some of the instrument sounds came from professional collections, others were home-made samples, including solo
cello
The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
sounds performed by
Lori Goldston
Lori Goldston (born ) is an American cellist and composer. Accomplished in a wide variety of styles, including classical, world music, rock and free improvisation, she came to prominence as the touring cellist for Nirvana from 1993–1994 and a ...
, used in the H.A.R.M. theme.
Influences for the score included German composer
Peter Thomas, the soundtrack of the 1968 film ''
Barbarella'', and "an array of Italian composers who did beautiful scores for low budget European erotic films."
Whitmore's adaptive score was not used for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
version of the game. Instead, it featured original music by Rebecca Kneubuhl, and mixed by Gabriel Mann.
The ''No One Lives Forever''
theme song
Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...
was created by Rich Ragsdale. Kneubuhl and Mann also provided vocals for the title theme.
''In the Lounge''
The game was released with bonus
1960s-inspired music on the second CD. The songs available on this album, titled ''In the Lounge'', were not featured in the game, but were specifically written as extra material. The 9 songs were written by Rebecca Kneubuhl (who created the in-game score for the later PlayStation 2 port as well), and were recorded at Asylum Studios.
The CD also features two songs by
independent artists: "Void" by Red Delicious and "El Dorado" by Archie Thompson. These were selected for inclusion as part of a ''NOLF'' online "music search", organized by Fox Interactive and Indiespace.com.
Releases and ports
Original release and Game of the Year Edition
''The Operative: No One Lives Forever'' was originally released for
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
in the United States on November 10, 2000, by Fox Interactive, after it
went gold
The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...
on October 20.
Before the game's release, a
tech demo
A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of sho ...
was released that included four single player missions, with one being a training mission.
After the game's release, another
demo was released, dubbed "Mega Mix Demo", which contained four single player levels and two multiplayer maps.
A number of
patches and map packs had also been made freely available for the game.
After receiving a number of
Game of the Year
Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.
Events and ceremonies
British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)
...
awards, a special ''Game of the Year Edition'' was released on October 4, 2001.
At this point, Fox Interactive co-published titles with a selection of partners, with the "Game of the Year" edition of the title being co-published by
Sierra On-Line
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game ge ...
. This re-released version includes an exclusive mission otherwise not available in the original game, titled "Rest and Relaxation", which is available after the original story. The GOTY edition comes with the game's official
Prima
Prima may refer to:
Media
* ''Prima'' (magazine), a French women's magazine
* Prima (news agency), a human rights news agency in Moscow
* Astro Prima Malaysian pay-TV channel
* Prima Games, an American publishing company of video game strategy ...
strategy guide
Strategy guides are instruction books that contain hints or complete solutions to specific video games. The line between strategy guides and video game walkthroughs is somewhat blurred, with the former often containing or being written around the ...
, and it also contains more multiplayer maps, which were also made available as a download for owners of the original game.
In 2001, Monolith Productions released a set of editing tools for ''No One Lives Forever'' that included the
level editor
A level editor (also known as a map, campaign or scenario editor) is a game development tool used to design Level (video games), levels, maps, campaigns and virtual worlds for a video game. An individual involved with the development of game levels ...
and
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , .
Models can be divided in ...
editor used for development.
The team also released the
source code
In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer.
Since a computer, at base, only ...
for ''NOLF'' (version 1.003 on Windows) that year to "support the fan base by offering the tools to create their own levels".
[''NOLF'' Team ([email protected]) plan file. ]Monolith Productions
Monolith Productions, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington. The company was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games from August 2004 until its shutdown in 2025. It formerly published third-party games in the 199 ...
. June 20, 2001. Archived at: It is available both as a download, as well as on the ''Game of the Year Edition'' CD-ROM.
PlayStation 2 port
On May 11, 2000, at E3, Fox Interactive announced that ''No One Lives Forever'' would be released for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
, although no release date was planned within that time.
On May 2, 2001,
Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Fox Interactive signed a co-publishing agreement for four titles, including the PS2 port of ''No One Lives Forever'', all of which would be released under the company's
Sierra division.
This deal followed an initial January 2001 announcement by Fox where they announced to cease publishing as a standalone unit. The port was initially announced for a Q4 2001 release, but was instead released on April 29, 2002.
The PlayStation 2 version is a
port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...
of the "Game of the Year Edition", but includes three exclusive
flashback levels not available in other releases of the game titled "Nine Years Ago", in which the player controls a younger Cate Archer, when she used to be a
cat burglar
Burglary, also called breaking and entering (B&E) or housebreaking, is a property crime
Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft ...
. Each of the new levels is accessed during several moments in the original story, when Cate is knocked out by Armstrong. All three levels use new textures, new character models, and feature Cate's cat burglar outfit, as well as two exclusive gadgets.
The port does not feature
Guy Whitmore's original interactive score; instead, it uses different original music by Rebecca Kneubuhl.
Multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode is not present in this version of the game.
Mac OS X port
A port of ''No One Lives Forever – Game of the Year Edition'' for the
Mac OS X
macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...
was developed by
MumboJumbo
MumboJumbo, LLC was an independent developer of games for personal computers, game consoles and mobile devices. MumboJumbo Mobile, LLC publishes entertainment software for Android and iOS devices.
History
The company was founded in January 200 ...
, and published by
MacPlay
MacPlay is the name used by a series of three United States, American publishers of Apple Macintosh, Macintosh video games. ''MacPlay'' was founded to bring more focus to
Interplay’s Mac games.
History
MacPlay was founded in the ear ...
.
It was released on November 21, 2002,
soon after the original
Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
release of ''No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way'' (which was also ported to Mac OS X by MacPlay later). Similarly to the Windows version of the game, the Mac OS X port also uses
GameSpy
GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1999 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for Quake, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the GameS ...
technology for its online multiplayer mode, allowing players to play with each other, no matter which platform they use.
Possible re-release
With the rise of
digital distribution of video games
In the video game industry, digital distribution is the process of delivering video game content as digital information, without the exchange or purchase of new physical media such as ROM cartridges, magnetic storage, optical discs and flash me ...
in the latter part of the 2000s, there has been speculation about a possible re-release, or even a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...
of the titles in the ''No One Lives Forever'' series. However, a number of reports have pointed out the complicated state of the series'
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
(IP) rights. Even parties that have strong ties to the IP, including video game publisher
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
and ''NOLF'' designer Craig Hubbard, have publicly admitted not knowing the precise legal situation of the series, .
In April 2013, Activision community manager Dan Amrich attempted to explain the acquisition history of the ''No One Lives Forever'' IP in a public video. This history includes the 2003 acquisition of ''NOLF'' publisher Fox Interactive by Vivendi Universal Games (who also owned
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher founded in 1979 by Ken Williams (game developer), Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is ...
), as well as the 2008 merger between Vivendi Universal Games (VUG, which had since been renamed
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games (formerly known as CUC Software, Cendant Software, Havas Interactive, Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Vivendi Universal Games) was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was foun ...
) and video game publisher
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
, forming the
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King.
Founded in July 2 ...
holding company. After the merger, Activision decided to sell off some IPs and retain others. In order to find out the legal details behind ''NOLF'', Amrich asked his colleagues, saying that "
e person that I normally talk to about this stuff does not believe that we
t Activisioncurrently have the rights. They've never seen it, they've never been given the permission to put that stuff on
OG.com He said, basically, 'If we had it, I would love to be able to reissue those old games.'" Amrich also asked a friend of his who worked at ''NOLF'' developer Monolith (since acquired by
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Games (formerly Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California. The publisher was founded as a division of Warner Bros. on January 14, 2004, as well as the WB Games brand. ...
), who also did not know who the IP belonged to. Amrich concluded that "at this time I do not believe that Activision has the rights to ''No One Lives Forever''."
When asked about the rights to the game in July 2013, ''NOLF'' designer Craig Hubbard also expressed confusion about the legal complexities behind the series. According to Hubbard, "my understanding was that Monolith owned the IP and Fox owned the title of the first game, which was technically ''The Operative: No One Lives Forever''. I think Monolith actually owned ''A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way'', the subtitle of the sequel, but I could be wrong about that. Fox got acquired by VUG, which in turn got acquired by Activision, while Monolith got bought by Warner Brothers, so some stars would have to align for everything to get sorted out." Hubbard added that "there didn't seem to be any interest in resurrecting the franchise" as of 2012, while he was still working at Monolith/Warner Bros.
A possible venue for re-release of the games would be computer game sale and distribution service
GOG.com
GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform for video games and films. It is operated by GOG sp. z o.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of CD Projekt, based in Warsaw, Poland. GOG.com delivers DRM-free video games through i ...
. In an interview with GOG.com's Trevor Longino, he said that "''NOLF'' is a really great title, and it's one of the ones where the rights are a bear to get sorted. Just like pretty much any other classic IP you're ever thought of, we’ve looked into it, but it’s not an easy thing to do."
In May 2014,
Nightdive Studios
Night Dive Studios, Inc. (trade name: Nightdive Studios) is an American video game developer based in Vancouver, Washington and a subsidiary of Atari SA. The company is known for obtaining rights to abandonware video games, updating them for co ...
, a publisher of classic PC titles, filed trademarks for "No One Lives Forever", "The Operative", "A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way", and "Contract J.A.C.K.",
Nightdive had also been able to acquire the source code for the games, which would enable them to remaster them for modern computer systems.
However, Nightdive had yet to comment on the situation regarding who owned the rights to the game.
At this point, the rights to the series were unclear, as the property may have been owned solely or in part by
20th Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
(which owned Fox Interactive at the time of the game's release),
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
(which acquired and merged with
Vivendi Games
Vivendi Games (formerly known as CUC Software, Cendant Software, Havas Interactive, Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Vivendi Universal Games) was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was foun ...
, which in turn was the parent to Sierra Entertainment, the publisher of ''No One Lives Forever 2'', and had acquired Fox Interactive in 2003), and
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Warner Bros. Games (formerly Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California. The publisher was founded as a division of Warner Bros. on January 14, 2004, as well as the WB Games brand. ...
(which acquired Monolith Productions). Warner Bros. did file opposition to Nightdive's trademark, leading Nightdive to try to seek a license arrangement. However, Warner Bros. representatives were concerned that if either Fox or Activision had a part of the ownership, that they would also need their approval. Nightdive attempted to work with Fox and Activision to search their archives, but as these transitions pre-dated computerized records, neither company wanted to do so. Nightdive's efforts were further stalled when they were told by Warner Bros. that they had no interest in partnering or licensing the IP, leading Nightdive to abandon their efforts to acquire the rights.
Nightdive remained optimistic about a Remaster following the closure of Monolith in March 2025, as changes in the industry have helped to shift the prospect of getting the rights, according to Nightdive.
[https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/nightdive-ceo-shares-optimism-for-no-one-lives-forever-remaster-despite-studio-closure/]
Reception and legacy
''No One Lives Forever'' received critical acclaim upon its release, and has an 88.34% ranking on the aggregate site
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
(based on 28 reviews),
and a score of 91 out of 100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
(32 reviews).
Many reviewers said at the time that ''No One Lives Forever'' was among the best first-person shooters since the influential and critically acclaimed 1998 title ''
Half-Life Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.
Half-life, half life or halflife may also refer to:
Film
* Half-Life (film), ''Half-Life'' (film), a 2008 independent film by Jennifer Phang
* ''Half Life: ...
''.
In his review,
GameSpot's Erik Wolpaw
Erik Wolpaw is an American video game writer. He and Chet Faliszek wrote the pioneering video game website Old Man Murray. He subsequently worked for game developers Double Fine Productions and Valve, and is known for his work on video games i ...
gave ''No One Lives Forever'' a score of 9.3 out of 10, and praised the "game's unrelenting inventiveness shows in virtually every aspect of its design."
In
IGN's review the game was given a 9.1 overall rating ("Outstanding") out of 10, and was called "one of the best shooters of the year".
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network.
In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
gave the game a score of 8 out of 10, and called it "thoroughly commendable."
''
Computer Games Magazine
''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
'' gave the game 5 stars out of 5, and claimed that "''No One Lives Forever'' combines a fantastic sense of style with great animation and voice acting, clever AI, industry-leading interactive music, a wry sense of humor, and gameplay that keeps you coming back for more."
Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PC version of the game for ''
Next Generation
Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to:
Publications and literature
* ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company
* Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'', rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "It may not be in quite the same league as ''Deus Ex'', but then, what is? ''NOLF'' is one ferociously terrific game. Sequel please."
[
Critical reception of the PlayStation 2 port of ''No One Lives Forever'' was much less positive than the original version. It has a 70.12% ranking on GameRankings (42 reviews),] and a score of 67 out of 100 on Metacritic (23 reviews). IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
gave the PlayStation 2 version an overall rating of 6.9 ("Passable") out of 10. The PlayStation 2 port received a 4.6 score ("Poor") out of 10 from GameSpot
''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
, and was panned mainly for the lack of the quicksave feature available in the PC version. The Mac OS X version of the game was given a 9.1 rating overall ("Outstanding") by IGN, and was called "a fabulous Mac version of this top notch game."
In the United States, ''No One Lives Forever'' sold 36,501 copies by the end of 2000, which accounted for $1.32 million in revenue. The editors of ''PC Gamer US'' called these figures "a tragedy, and it's tough to nail a reason." By January 2002, the game's total sales had reached 350,000 copies.
Awards
''No One Lives Forever'' has earned several Game of the Year
Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.
Events and ceremonies
British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)
...
awards in the video game press. ''NOLF'' was named "Game of the Year" and "Action Game of the Year" by ''Computer Games Magazine
''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
''. It also received "Action Game of the Year" awards from ''Computer Gaming World
''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
'' and ''PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
'' magazines. During the 4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards
The ''4th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards'' was the 4th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during the last ten months of 2000. The awards were arrang ...
, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) is a non-profit organization of video game industry professionals. It organizes the annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain Summit, better known as D.I.C.E., which includes the presentation ...
nominated the game in the categories for " Game Play Engineering", " PC Action/Adventure", "PC Game of the Year", and "Game of the Year
Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given to a video game by various award events and media publications that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year.
Events and ceremonies
British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards)
...
". ''NOLF'' was also nominated for the International Game Developers Association's 2001 Game Developers Choice Awards
The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding video game developer, game developers and video game, games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by ...
in four categories: Game of the Year, Original Character of the Year, Excellence in Level Design, and Game Spotlight Awards. Out of these, the game earned a Game Spotlight Award for innovation.
Legacy
Retrospective articles written about the game have also been positive. In a 2003 GameSpy feature called "The Top 25 Underrated Games of All Time", ''No One Lives Forever'' was ranked as #19, dubbing it and its sequel "two of the most memorable games of the past 10 years." In an article written in 2009 (nine years after the game's release), Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network.
In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
states that the game has "dated enormously but survives well", and that "you simply couldn't make ''No One Lives Forever'' today. You couldn't because it would be too long, require far too many assets, and most significantly of all, risk all the cost of development on a comedy game – a genre that no longer exists." In a 2010 online PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
feature titled "Why you must replay No One Lives Forever", Tim Stone hailed the 10-year-old game's use of humor, and wrote that ''NOLF'' "is every bit the amusing, inventive, life-affirming experience I remembered."
Sequel and spin-off
''The Operative: No One Lives Forever'' is the first game in the ''No One Lives Forever'' series. It was followed by a sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
in 2002, entitled '' No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way''. In 2003, a spin-off
Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media
*Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine
* ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...
of the first two games was released, entitled '' Contract J.A.C.K.''. Being a prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term ...
to ''No One Lives Forever 2'', it is chronologically set between the first two ''No One Lives Forever'' games. This stand-alone expansion pack
An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...
is a shorter game, and unlike the previous titles, its main protagonist is not Cate Archer, but John Jack, who works for H.A.R.M. The game also focuses more on action gameplay, rather than on stealth.
References
References from the game
*
External links
*
''The Operative: No One Lives Forever''
at MobyGames
MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controlle ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Operative, The: No One Lives Forever
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