View All (31)

A wonderful game with enough humor and action to appease anyone in the market for a good shooter.

In 2000, Monolith Productions produced the original NOLF and released it to a relatively sparse and uninspired PC game market. This game was truly unique among its FPS peers, most of which followed the traditional cold, impersonal bloodbath format. NOLF’s witty, comical approach mixed with some excellent action game play made it a shining star for 2000 and secured it as one of the top sellers that year.

Now, two years later, we have the successor to Monolith’s tour de force, which, thankfully, lives up to its predecessor quite well. The fun, whit, and charm that made NOLF such a joy to play are all recreated in NOLF2 with an updated look and a more streamlined approach.

You again play the role of the vivacious, voluptuous, vexing, (insert “v” adjective here) Cate Archer as she and her employers, U.N.I.T.Y, take on the evil forces of H.A.R.M. and try to thwart their plans to take over the world. This time around your mission is to foil H.A.R.M.’s new program of destruction codenamed “Project Omega.” Your quest to undermine this new plot will take you from India, to Japan, down to Antarctica, and even the exotic Akron, Ohio; all the while battling everything from disappearing femme fatal Ninjas to pumped up and painted mimes.

You will fight and befriend a whole new cast of baddies and partners in NOLF2, but there are several returning favorites from the original NOLF. Memorable characters like Magnus Armstrong, the bulging Scottish brute, have returned to either follow the U.N.I.T.Y. team or help complete H.A.R.M.’s plans.

Much like the original NOLF, you will have a very useful array of weapons available throughout the game, like your standard issue McAllister .32 automatic, AK-47s and Gordon 9mm Sub-machineguns, and RFA Series-4 Bolt-action Sniper Rifles. There are new weapons, like the Japanese Katana sword and Shuriken throwing stars, as well as the handy CT-180 Utility Launcher that fires darts filled with everything from poison to glue.

Of course a NOLF game would not be complete without Cate’s own line of camouflaged spy gadgets, like the Hairspray welder or the lipstick camera. And don’t forget your most valuable weapon: the banana. This little piece of potassium power will get Cate out of even the most slippery fixes.

Utilizing the new Lithtech Jupiter game engine, NOLF2 presents a vast graphics improvement over the original game, which tended to be rather blocky and aliased. The environments, whether they are beautifully rendered Japanese gardens or dank underwater bases, all come across well rendered and designed.

The character models are just as amusing as the game’s dry wit, and are capable of varied expressions of emotion. One negative is the requirement of a video card capable of T&L lighting. You must have this or else the game will not function, no matter what the detail level. Other than that, NOLF2 runs quite well on a modest video card, with little or no graphical errors or slowdowns.

Sound in NOLF2 can present a bit of a problem. There is a tendency for the game to develop a very painful and persistent whine during cut scenes on certain computer configurations. This does detract from the game significantly as the whine will persist into the game itself until the program is restarted. A patch has been released that is supposed to repair this problem.

One of NOLF2’s new highlights is the improved A.I. Characters are much more active, both on their own and when provoked. In the course of the game you will see characters light up a smoke or perform different tasks as they sit at their desks. Enemies will conduct coordinated attacks against you once you are spotted, even performing flanking maneuvers or sneaking around and taking you out from behind. Be cautious of rubbing up against plants or knocking over bottles, as these moves will alert guards.

But don’t always side for caution. Sometimes it is more fun to watch a pudgy H.A.R.M. thug wobbling down a corridor in pursuit of you, having to stop every so often to catch his breath. Sometimes the A.I. does seem a bit too intelligent, as enemies will find you hidden from blocks away or hit you repeatedly from far distances. This can become particularly annoying, especially when dealing with multiple enemies at once.

NOLF2’s game play remains its most prized asset. The creativity and ingenuity packed into the NOLF series will always be the thing that sets these games apart from every other FPS on the market. NOLF2 does not stray from this now proud legacy. Instead, it furthers it with some even more hilarious and unusual scenarios than the original NOLF, as well as new features like the addition of a skill point system that improves Cate’s skills and stamina as you progress through the game.

Areas of the game like the Akron trailer park level, which was touched on in the NOLF2 teaser released before the full version, present some of the most original game play this reviewer has ever seen. The off the wall conversations between waiting thugs you come upon sometimes are enough to distract you from your mission and present numerous moments of comic relief that always keep the game lively. The twisted and hilarious designs NOLF2’s heavies have in mind for Cate’s death in this game are also just too funny.

NOLF2 is truly a wonderful game, complete with enough humor and action to appease anyone in the market for a good shooter and a hearty laugh. Combining beautifully rendered environments with well-written, delightful gags and one-liners, NOLF2 is a worthy follow-up to its esteemed predecessor and makes a worthy addition to your FPS library.

Reviewed by Kevin B, PC Gameworld.