| No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way |
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| Developer(s) | Monolith Productions |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Windows
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| Engine | Lithtech Jupiter |
| Version | 1.3 (10-3-2002) |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
| Release date(s) | Microsoft Windows
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| Genre(s) | First-person shooter, Stealth |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | 2 CD-ROMs |
| System requirements | |
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (abbreviated NOLF2) is a computer game developed by Monolith Productions, and published by Sierra Entertainment. It was released on September 30, 2002. It is the second game in the No One Lives Forever series, an official sequel to the 2000 game The Operative: No One Lives Forever.
The story follows super-spy Cate Archer as she once again takes up arms against the international criminal organization H.A.R.M. This second game features even more exotic locales, such as a ninja village, a secret submarine base, and a trailer park in Ohio during a tornado. A whole new range of outlandish gadgets and weapons are also introduced, including a blowtorch disguised as a can of hair spray and a robotic bomb disguised as an adorable kitten. An interquel to the game, entitled Contract J.A.C.K. was released in 2003.
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As in the first game, missions can be completed by pure action, by using pure stealth, by using gadgets, or a combination of all methods. In many cases, the missions are more open ended. While the original game contained several missions that required you not to be detected or to avoid setting off alarms, the sequel contained only a few objectives that required complete stealth (i.e. do not set off any alarms while in the proximity of a certain objective.) However, to counter this, NOLF2 utilizes re-spawning enemies more often than the original to encourage the player to complete the missions in a surreptitious manner.
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No One Lives Forever series |
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The Operative: No One Lives Forever |
A year after the first No One Lives Forever, tensions are rising between United States and Soviet Union over the tiny, but strategic Isle of Khios. Jones, now the sole Commander of U.N.I.T.Y. (after Smithy was discovered to be a H.A.R.M. spy in the first No One Lives Forever), is taking a vacation and leaves Temporary Director Lawrie in charge.
Cate is sent on a mission to infiltrate a secret meeting taking place in Japan. Her job is to photograph the Director (who now operates H.A.R.M.). After completing her mission, she is stabbed by the ninja woman Isako, and left for dead. Fortunately, she returns to England and is restored back to health by Dr. Otto Schenker, now working as the staff physician for U.N.I.T.Y. After she is back to full health, the U.S. military advisers inform her and Lawrie of the Soviets' plan for the small of island of Khios. We also learn that Volkov (from the first game) is still alive, though immobilized in a full-body cast and using a wheelchair.
Cate is then sent in to Soviet Union to discover the details of its plot. After discovering that the Soviets and H.A.R.M. plan to turn the island into the world's first Communist vacation spot with a five-star hotel, she then travels to Akron, Ohio, where Melvin Blitzny (a vacuum salesman who in the first game was groomed by H.A.R.M. to replace U.N.I.T.Y agent Tom Goodman) lived in order to recover information about Project: Omega. After doing so, Cate escapes a tornado while dodging ninjas before getting caught in a trailer home and having a swordfight in the middle of the tornado with Isako.
Cate then goes to India with Magnus Armstrong, where she is tasked with applying for and being offered a job with H.A.R.M. so that she can get access to their vaults. It is in India where Cate and Magnus run into one of H.A.R.M.'s most deadly operatives, Pierre, a midget mime who rides a unicycle under a heavy black cloak. After dispatching the Mime King, while riding on a tricycle piloted by Magnus Armstrong, Cate is sent to Antarctica to explore a base there and try to determine just what H.A.R.M. is up to. It is here that she learns the true intent of Project: Omega - turning soldiers into cyborg-like fighting machines - and where the first test case is found, an ex-Army officer who believes Cate is his daughter. Sadly, it is determined that the only way to kill these enemies is with an antidote that boils their blood, killing them almost instantly.
After discovering the abomination in Antarctica, Cate finds out H.A.R.M. is sending in more of these cyborg-like men to destroy their headquarters in India. She immediately returns to Calcutta to try and warn everyone, but it is too late. The machines are already attacking and all Cate can do is try to get everyone to safety.
After returning to UNITY, the headquarters are attacked by the Mime King and it is up to Cate to protect the entire building. After doing so, she is sent to an undersea base to rescue a captured Magnus. After rescuing him, she escapes via the Director's private deck, but is captured by a H.A.R.M. submarine on her way back up to the surface. Upon awakening, Cate discovers that she is in H.A.R.M.'s secret volcano lair (which turns out to be directly beneath the ninja village from the beginning of the game), from which she must recover the plans for Project: Omega, defeat Volkov, and escape alive.
Once she escapes from the secret volcano lair, Cate is back on a plane and traveling to Khios itself, where she is aiming to stop Project: Omega once and for all. Unfortunately for her, the island is overrun by H.A.R.M. and Soviet troops with Super Soldiers. Cate successfully repels the invasion and Project: Omega is put to a stop once and for all. Meanwhile, the first test case, Lt. Anders, has escaped the H.A.R.M. submarine; as he walks up on shore in Khios, he destroys a missile sent by the U.S. to destroy the island.
It is unknown whether the franchise will be continued, as several plot threads were left unresolved in NOLF2.
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The source code for the game engine was released by Monolith Productions and Sierra Entertainment as part of the No One Lives Forever 2 Toolkit for "allowing you to create your own levels, models, music, sounds, and more, for MonoLith's FPS."[1] It is available for download.[2] Visual C++ 6.0 is needed for compilation.
| Reception | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 90.66%[3] |
| Metacritic | 91/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way received critical acclaim upon its release with an aggregate score of 90.66% on GameRankings[3] and 91/100 on Metacritic.[4] It also won several awards, including Game of the Year from Gamespy.[5] The game also received a nomination for the prestigious Excellence in Writing Game Developers Choice Award, but lost to Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.[6]
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