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"But I have nothing to play": NOLF 2 to the rescue.

Despite having picked up a half dozen titles in the recent Steam sale I curiously found I had nothing I was interested in playing last night. After a game free fortnight on holidays I felt the need for that quick shot of gaming adrenaline that only a first person shooter can provide but none of my new games fit the bill.

Despite (because of?) the billion selling success of Call of Duty games good shooters are thin on the ground these days and I have already exhausted the replay potential of the few that made it into my collection.

Turning to my increasingly dust covered shelf of olde games I pulled out a classic I haven't played on almost a decade : "No One Lives Forever 2".

Good news: this humourous tale of 1960s sexy super spy Cate Archer installs and runs without a hitch on Windows 7-64. Better news: despite its age the cartoonish style has held up very well and the game still looks gorgeous. Best news: this game is still brilliant. It is funny, clever, challenging and great fun to play. It is one of the first shooters I remember that had an rpg lite element with the opportunity to upgrade selected abilities such as stealth or accuracy as you progress through the game.

NOLF2 comes from a golden age of First person shooters. A time when creativity had not yet been exhausted by endless repetition and when technology was just good enough to make games that had depth and challenge and graphics adequate not to give you a headache. Highly recommended if you can get your hands on a copy.

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Comments

Ashen said…
Fully agreed. Despite some minor flaws, NOLF 2 remains one of my favorite shooters of all time.

Monolith used to be one of my favorite developers around. Until they descended to an endless spiral of FEAR sequels that is.
4:36 pm
Anonymous said…
You echo a startlingly common sentiment in the blogosphere following the Steam super-sale.

"I just bought a gigantic pile of games that I'm not sure when I'll actually play..."

And just in time for the most insane MMO release season in history :D Goodbye free time!
5:18 am
mbp said…
Hi @Ashen. I liked the first FEAR but the sequels haven't been able to keep up the standard. Time for them to start over with a new series I think.

@1000damage: Too many games, to little time. Mind you single player games have become noticeably shorter over the years with many having a campaign length of 10 hours or less. I wonder if mmorpgs could get away with something similar? In fact maybe they could make a virue out of limited content: "Our mmorpg will only take five hours per week of your time".
7:21 am
Jayedub said…
NOLF 2 is a great game, back when Monolith made awesome shooters!
7:25 pm
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