Review: 'No One Lives Forever' evokes Bond

From...

Platform: PlayStation 2

By Brother Buzz

(IDG) -- If "No One Lives Forever" sounds like a James Bond movie, it's because this finely crafted game harkens back to those great 1960s spy flicks. Good guys wear trench coats, bad guys speak with Russian accents, and everybody's tongues are planted firmly in their cheeks.

The girl from U.N.I.T.Y.

Ported from the PC, this is a first-rate, first-person action game. The English heroine, Cate Archer, is an agent for U.N.I.T.Y. battling the evil criminal organization, H.A.R.M. Ms. Archer dispatches plenty of enemy agents with silenced weaponry and "judo chops," but stealth and investigation compose a major role in the gameplay, too. There are 60 levels (four new to the PS2), 30 weapons and gadgets, and 20 outrageous characters to meet, so the espionage really rolls.

IDG.net INFOCENTER Gamepro.com main page Free daily newsletters Free stuff from GamePro.com TechInformer Related IDG.net Stories Hands On: No One Lives Forever Playable Demo: Monolith's Gruntz Monolith imports Rage of Mages Features PC World.com Product Finder PlayStation One rescues Sony's Christmas PS2 hits Europe, Web auction price jumps Visit an IDG site Choose a site: IDG.net CIO Computerworld Darwin Dummies.com GamePro.com The Industry Standard ITWorld.com InfoWorld.com JavaWorld LinuxWorld Macworld Online Network World Fusion PC World Publish.com UnixInsider IDG.net search

The graphics and sounds are, well, groovy. It's the 1960s, man! Cool, twangy guitar riffs play in the background and the voices -- accents, corny jokes, and all -- are right on. The stiff-upper-lipped English banter is particularly familiar and amusing. The visuals feature excellently texture-mapped character faces. Also, the great-looking exotic locations look like old-school spy-movie sets, and you'll sneak around some classic spy locales like the Caribbean, Morocco, Germany and the French Alps.

The controls hold their own between furious gunfights and snail-slow sneaking around. However, the analog joysticks can be sensitive. Pressing down on the stick reverses the view, and in a heated gun battle, you might wind up looking the wrong way. It can also be a chore to target items you need to activate or to quickly take aim with a firearm. Your best bet is to move slightly while aiming, a two-stick process.

In like Flint

You gotta love a good, old-fashioned spy-versus-spy yarn, and this is a solidly constructed action game that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's called "camp," man. Check it out. Remember: no one lives forever.

'No One Lives Forever': Ratings (out of 5.0)

Graphics: 4.5

Control: 3.5

Sound: 4.0

Fun factor: 4.0