No One Lives Forever

Inspired by the spy films of the swinging 60s, The Operative: No One Lives Forever combines first-person adventuring with tongue-in-cheek humour and a camp sensibility. The eponymous Operative is one Cate Archer, slinky ex-burglar and secret agent supreme. Working for the international terrorist agency UNITY, her beauty and dry wit are just two of her weapons in the war against the nefarious criminal organization HARM.

No One Lives Forever is very much a traditional first-person shooter in the style of Half-Life and GoldenEye. As well as the usual pistols and machine guns, Cate has a variety of appropriately cunning gadgets such as explosive lipstick, sunglasses with a concealed camera and a lock-pick/dagger combination disguised as a hairclip. Despite all her fancy contraptions, though, she won't last five minutes, let alone forever, unless she can master the art of stealth. Thankfully there are a variety of training sections where our heroine learns to sneak about and use her impressive arsenal to its best advantage.

While No One Lives Forever made a rather entertaining PC game when it was released at the end of 2000, this belated conversion fails to enthral. The graphics are weak, looking more like an above-average PSone title when compared to the visual splendour of recent PS2 releases. The level designs are dated affairs with dull interiors and uninspired outside locations, and the simplistic combat against hordes of identical enemies hardly sets the heart pounding. Partial amends are made by the fun gadgets and wacky characters, but they can't compensate for the mindless, linear sleuthing sections, or the lame set-pieces. For the unfussy gamer, NOLF could provide a fair few hours of undercover action, but with excellent titles such as Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid 2 available, unfussy is the operative word. --Tim Cant

No One Lives Forever is a spy thriller set in the swinging 60s that lets you explore a colourful world full of cunning villains, deadly super spies, ingenious gadgetry and, of course, powerful weaponry. As fearless and fashionable secret agent Cate Archer, a newcomer to an elite crime-fighting organisation, you must protect humanity from the twisted madmen who have slaughtered half your fellow agents. The game features 60 levels in which you will skydive from a plummeting airliner, fight off killer sharks and explore twisting jungles paths. You will also visit the French Alps, the Caribbean, Morocco, Germany, England and a secret Russian space station.

Spy gadgets include a rocket-launching briefcase, a Robotic Poodle, infrared goggles, exploding lipstick and lethal acid perfume. Smart enemies move and react with striking realism. Watch them seek cover, respond to suspicious sounds or launch coordinated attacks. The PS2 version of this popular PC game introduces four new levels featuring Cate in her younger days as a thief.

Assume the role of secret agent Cate Archer, a deadly agent working to free the world from H.A.R.M., a group of madmen bent upon world domination. Armed with your arsenal of powerful weaponry and spy gadgets, you must unravel a mystery that will take you around the world in a desperate search for answers. Try not to blow your cover... or your cool!