No One Lives Forever Prequel Unveiled

Thanks to GameSpy.com for their hands-on preview of the PC FPS, Contract J.A.C.K., the prequel to Monolith's critically acclaimed but disappointingly selling No One Lives Forever series. According to the preview, "..the expansion has opted for a male hero, more action and less stealth, and a bit of de-emphasis on the campy 60's feel.. you play Jack - 'just another contract killer' - who's been hired by the nefarious H.A.R.M. to help with a little problem." Contract J.A.C.K. will retail as a stand-alone game for an expansion-pack price (around $30) when it launches in October - could this be the title to finally turn the public on to the NOLF games?

Comments

A Rose by Any Other Name...

[DrVital]

Could this be the title to finally turn the public on to the NOLF games?

With all the changes mentioned I'm not sure that this still qualifies as a NOLF game.

To me the character and the setting were what made it more interesting then your standard FPS. With those gone why shouldn't I just play Half-Life again?

Re:A Rose by Any Other Name...

[Decaffeinated Jedi]

Just as disappointing as the exit of such series-defining elements as Cate Archer and the groovy '60s vibe (at least to me) is the shift toward "more action and less stealth." Surely the "first-person sneaker" subgenre isn't already going the way of the dodo! I would argue that the increasing emphasis on stealth in FPS games was one of the few worthwhile innovations in the genre in recent years (if you don't count that whole multiplayer fad). ;)

/me gets back to playing Thief.

Ah...

DecafJedi

NOLF Series

[goreking]

...NOLF and NOLF II rocked. Awesome graphics, gameplay and a great sense of humor. It's not the female lead that hurt sales (ie., Lara Croft?), but the lag from the Austin Powers movies that inspired it. People are pretty tired of the groovy-sixties thing. Even though these games are really good.

Re:NOLF Series

[analog_line]

Actually, I think that the NOLF series wasn't enough like Austin Powers to be truly commercially successful. A lot of the humor was really high brow, and at least half of it was aimed at hard core game players. Most people just playing around don't stick around to hear all the funny conversations, or notice the "Obligatory FPS Sewer Sequence" signs. Not enough hot chicks showing skin. Not enough in-your-face obvious comedy to please the Austin Powers fans. I personally hated the first Austin Powers movie and haven't seen the rest of them, and loved NOLF.

Monolith, also, doesn't get a hell of a lot of respect, and I think that's part of it. Aside from AvP2, there hasn't been anything they've done that's gotten much spotlight. Blood 2 and Shogo were both underground successes (though Shogo's hellacious bugginess in the beginning was part of the reason it didn't succeed as much as it could have). The Lithtech engine doesn't have the name recognition that the various engine iterations that id has come out with, or the Unreal engine, despite the fact that NOLF 2 is still one of the best looking, best playing, and most original PC FPSes I've ever played. With all the games I've collected that I haven't beaten yet, I still have it installed and play it often.

I'm not sure that making it a more hardcore action game will make it any better or more successful. It will probably just push the series even more into the background, and kill it off.

All I know is,

[Sevn]

You don't get the chance to fight ninjas in a
trailer park in ohio while a tornado is wiping it
out often enough in games. NOLF2 is my absolute
FAVORITE single player gaming experience to date.
I haven't even bothered to check out the multiplayer
mode yet, and could care if they'd bother to include
one at all.

Re:more FPS games

[MojoMonkey]

Well, think of FPS as a broader genre. I.e. Action Flicks instead of James Bond movies. It's just a way of presenting the game world to the gamer. The problem does not stem from them being FPS so much as the same FPS as all the others. However, that being said, the NOLF franchise is refreshing on the presentation and game play.

Removing what made NOLF good?

[Muggins the Mad]

> could this be the title to finally turn the public on to the NOLF games?

By removing most of what made NOLF fun?

They are still two of my favourite games, and everyone I've shown them to has run out and bought their own copies and become hooked.

I honestly don't understand why they haven't sold a lot better.

But I think it was the stealth, the 60's feel, and
Cate Archer that made them fun.

I guess maybe if they do more of the superb
"different" levels (space station, sinking ship, skydiving,
tornado, etc) and keep the humour it could still
be worth it.

- Colin

Did they *both* not sell well?

[nobodyman]

It was my understanding that NOLF was, in fact, fairly successful but that the sequel did poorly.

Anyway, though I thought that the graphics were much, much improved in NOLF2, the gameplay suffered a bit (but not terribly so). I remember the gameplay and mechanics of NOLF were quite solid (it reminded me of goldeneye), but I felt that gunplay element was not near as polished in the sequel -- enemies would "dodge" by instantly appearing to the left/right of your crosshair when shooting. Also, while the addition of skill points was a good idea, I thought that the hiding system seemed counter-intuitive at times. Also, while I like the stealth elements, I felt that the sequel was at times too stealthy -- sometimes I felt arbitrarily forced to be stealthy when a small amount of ass-kicking would have been just as effective and far less time consuming.

It's also worth noting the multiplayer component of both NOLF and NOLF2 were generally considered to be lacking (this was almost by design as to focus more on the single-player element). I've played both online and I must agree. My guess is that NOLF2 would have done much better in the market had the multiplayer experience been as good as, say, Unreal Tournament.

Still, it was a great game either way and it's a bummer that it didn't do better.