Title: No One Lives Forever 2
Publisher: SIERRA
I agree with the folks who tend to lean towards NOLF2 being a great game, but not being quite as good as the original NOLF.
I finished the game last night, and can say that I really don’t have any desire to play through the levels again. The original NOLF had me entertained for some time after I’d finished it—mainly because I had the option of going back through the levels with different weapons, especially some of the earlier boards with the Corrector.
The graphics and sound in the game are superb. The level design, from a visual standpoint, is top notch. Some of the levels though, were just not very engaging or exciting. The areas in India where you esentially just had to avoid the police or trip them with a bananna, just didn’t seem to be fun, IMO. It seemed that the levels that were designed with more variety in terms of tactics started to turn of the excitement in the game, only to have the next board dispel said pacing.
The weapons felt a bit flat, and not as enjoyable or specific as the ones in the original NOLF. As I said in another threat, not having the ability to pick your ‘loadout’ (not that it really would have mattered, in a way, due to the lack of diverse weaponry) was, I think, a step back from one aspect that I rather enjoyed about the original game.
Gaining ‘experience’ points to add to the players skill in trade for completeing objectives or locating intelligence, just didn’t seem to add much to the game, IMO—for example, I much rather liked how you could find the scope for the AK-47 in the original game, and thereby have your own customized arsenal, was a much greater payoff and more immersive to the story. The humor that the first NOLF had is still here, but not to quite as successful a degree as the first title. Oftentimes it seemed forced or missed the mark of being funny or silly, and just came off as annoying.
Enemy AI is probably the best I’ve seen in a game, or at least is much better than most FPS shooters in recent memory. The ability to turn off lights, break the lighbulbs (or unscrew them) and set traps, make diversions, and use the AI against itself, is a welcome change to the pace of gunfights, and on harder difficulty levels, can make for some interesting and more drawn out firefights.
I played about 10 minutes of DM in the original NOLF because of the sketchy netcode and general jerky feeling of it altogether. At the time, there were more solid online games available, so the exclusion of DM multiplay in NOLF2
didn’t bother me as much. I was excited and interested about the aspect of CO-OP play; while some particular members of the board here might disagree, I’ve played cooperative multiplay in games such as Hidden and Dangerous, the Rogue
Spear series, Ghost Recon, and Operation Flashpoint, and Serious Sam (1&2) and had quite a bit of fun doing so. To be able to have cooperative play in a more arcade style shooter, along with sneaky AI and various styles of objectives seemed very attractive. In my opinion, cooperative play does not suck. But it does suck in NOLF2...mainly due to a few critical mistakes in design, leading players to fight over resources (bodies), and making the maps basic rehashes of SP maps where the AI just cannot compete against multiple attackers when they are all grouped together in an area. In the beginning of the Siberia mission where everyone needs to ‘meet’ at the cabin was going in the right direction—splitting up the players or giving them alternate routes or objectives/duties could have made cooperative play a blast, IMO. All in all, though, it just falls short and isn’t anything worth buying the game for when it has been done with much more balance and success in other titles.
Again, all in all, the game is very solid and worth the purchase. Especially for those who are not hardcore FPS gamers, the game lays out an enjoyable play through at least once. While I doubt the title’s replayability, and/or a community following large enough to produce many more maps, mods, or weapons (for single player or otherwise), it’s a fun game, and if not a step in the same direction as NOLF(1), the Lithtech engine appears capable of impressive graphics, sound, and interactivity. Worth picking up for a solid single player experience. Don’t put too much stock in the multiplayer longevity, however...
As such, I will most likely trade the game in towards Hitman 2 later on this evening. I am still interested in checking out the level design tools for this game, as it does have the POTENTIAL for some amazing community generated content. Only time will tell if the full potential of this title can be brought to the surface.
Overall, taking into account the graphics, gameplay, sound, etc -- I'd give the game a 7.5-8 out of 10 score.
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