Оператив: Никто не живет вечно

2000 video game

The Operative: No One Lives Forever (abbreviated as NOLF) is a first person shooter video game with stealth gameplay elements, developed by Monolith Productions and published by Fox Interactive, released for Windows in 2000. The game was ported later to the PlayStation 2 and Mac OS X in 2002. A story driven game set in the 1960s, No One Lives Forever has been critically acclaimed for its stylistic representation of the era in the spirit of many spy films and television series of that decade, as well as for its humor. Players control female protagonist Cate Archer, who works for a secret organization that watches over world peace. In addition to a range of firearms, the game contains several gadgets disguised as ordinary female fashion items. At the time of its release, many reviewers felt that No One Lives Forever was one of the best first person shooters since 1998's Half Life. After receiving several Game of the Year awards in the press, a special Game of the Year Edition was released in 2001, which included an additional mission on a remote island in the South Pacific. The Operative: No One Lives Forever was followed by a sequel, No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H. A. R. M.'s Way, in 2002, and a spin off that takes place during the time between the first two games entitled Contract J. A. C. K. released in 2003, both developed by Monolith. A re release of the game has been hampered by the complicated state of the series' intellectual property (IP) rights, with even parties assumed to be in possession of the IP having publicly admitted not knowing the precise legal situation of the series.

The Operative: No One Lives Forever is a story driven video game, set in the 1960s, and stars spy Cate Archer as the eponymous Operative, who works for UNITY—a secret international organization "dedicated to protecting humanity from megalomaniacs bent upon world domination." During the story of the game, Archer is sent on missions to a number of locales, including Morocco, East and West Germany, the Caribbean, and the Alps, where she gets into intense situations, such as scuba diving a shipwreck, free falling from an airplane without a parachute, and exploring a space station in outer space, all the while fighting armed villains. The game is a mixture of a first person shooter and a stealth game. Most, but not all, missions can be solved in multiple ways: using sneaking to avoid danger or by going in with guns blazing. A stealthy approach can be taken to evade security cameras, guard dogs and other obstacles. Enemies are aware of noise made by the player, including footsteps and weapon fire, and they also react to footprints in the snow, and dead bodies left lying around. The game features a wide variety of firearms, including a semi automatic pistol, a revolver, a submachine gun, a sniper rifle, and an assault rifle. Some of the weapons can be loaded with different types of ammunition, including standard full metal jacket bullets, dum dum rounds that expand on impact and cause bleeding damage, and phosphorus coated tracer bullets that continue to burn upon impact. Silencers and scopes can also be fitted on some weapons. A novel feature of the game is its array of gadgets, often disguised as ordinary female fashion objects. For example, lipsticks double as various explosives, perfume bottles hold materials such as sleeping gas, a barrette also functions as a lockpick and poison dagger, sunglasses can be used for photographing evidence and detecting land mines, and a belt buckle hides a zip line inside it. Other gadgets include a body removing powder for disposing of incriminating corpses, a robotic poodle to distract guard dogs, and a rocket launcher disguised as a briefcase. An ordinary coin can be thrown to confuse enemies, giving the player the opportunity to sneak by without a guard noticing. A cigarette lighter can also be used as a miniature welding torch. These ingenious gadgets come from UNITY's gadget lab, led by its main inventor and scientist, Santa. "Santa's Workshop" continuously works on these covert gadgets and provides Cate with them as the game progresses. In various sections of the game, the player can ride a motorcycle, or a snowmobile. At the end of each mission, the game displays various statistics, as well as any awards and bonuses earned during the mission. Awards are humorous textual notes given for the player's performance during a mission; these include awards for using a very low or a very high number of bullets, or a "Thanks For Not Getting Hurt Award" for avoiding damage. The player also receives a rank, such as "Trainee" or "Super Spy", which is based on the number of intelligence items obtained during the mission. Achieving a high mission rank increases the player's maximum health, armor and ammo capacity, as well as stealth, the amount of inflicted damage, and the accuracy of their shots. No One Lives Forever also includes multiplayer gameplay online or over a local area network. There are two multiplayer modes available: standard deathmatch, and "H. A. R. M. vs. UNITY". The latter is a team deathmatch mode, where the goal is to capture as much intelligence for a player's team as possible, by sneaking in to the enemy team's base, finding the item, and photographing it.

UNITY is a secret international organization headquartered somewhere in England that protects humanity from outsiders who want to take over the world. In 1967, over half of the UNITY's elite agents are murdered by an unknown assassin within a week, leaving UNITY with a critical manpower shortage. They are forced to send UNITY agent Cate Archer and her mentor, Bruno Lawrie, on a series of high profile missions. Cate is an ex cat burglar, and is UNITY's first female spy operative. UNITY's leaders, Jones and Smith, are skeptical of Cate working as a field agent, and have previously relegated her to more mundane assignments. Intelligence reveals that a Russian assassin named Dmitrij Volkov and a new terrorist organization named H. A. R. M. are responsible for the murders of UNITY's former agents. Cate and Bruno embark on a dangerous assignment in Morocco, which later turns out to be an ambush set up by Volkov and his men. Cate manages to escape Morocco whilst Bruno is shot by Volkov. In the UNITY headquarters, Jones and Smith reveal that Volkov killed Bruno simply because he was the traitor, to which Cate reacts with disbelief. She is then tasked to escort Dr. Otto Schenker, an East German scientist, to England. Later on, as Cate and Dr. Schenker fly back to England, he is captured by H. A. R. M., led by Magnus Armstrong, who knocks Cate unconscious. Armstrong decides to spare Cate's life, believing that she is a fellow Scot. Cate awakens and is soon thrown from the plane as it explodes. After surviving the fall via parachute, Cate is later introduced to a new partner, Tom Goodman, a UNITY agent from the American branch. After meeting him in a nightclub in Hamburg, they are ambushed by H. A. R. M. but manage to escape. The nightclub is owned by a German singer named Inge Wagner, whom Cate suspects is connected with H. A. R. M. The two are then tasked to investigate a cargo freighter containing several suspicious chemical containers that UNITY believes are linked to Dr. Schenker. Cate gets in the freighter, and after taking photos of the containers, is knocked unconscious by Armstrong, who spares her life by locking her in a cargo hold, thus ignoring Wagner's insistence that she must be liquidated. As the freighter heads out to sea, it slowly begins to sink, due to a huge explosion. Wagner and Armstrong escape immediately, but Cate has to fight her way out of the bowels of the freighter. Because Cate could not obtain the required information, she and Tom must return to the sunken freighter to finish gathering intelligence aboard. Cate goes scuba diving, and after investigating the shipwreck and obtaining the captain's log and the cargo manifest, she is ambushed by H. A. R. M. divers sent from a submarine commanded by Armstrong and Wagner but manages to escape. The information from the ship reveals a possible connection between H. A. R. M. and a large manufacturing firm named Dumas Industrial Enterprises, which was operated by Baron Archibald Dumas. However, the Baron claims he has no intelligence regarding his connection to H. A. R. M.

Later, Cate infiltrates the Dumas corporate headquarters, gaining access to their highly guarded safe, and photographing some relevant documents, despite heavy opposition, including an ear splitting deathmatch against Wagner. However, after photographing the headquarter's final document, Cate escapes the headquarters despite witnessing Tom being shot by Volkov. Meanwhile, H. A. R. M. starts infecting and killing innocent people using Dr. Schenker's biological explosive development. The chemical is injected into the living host, and it feeds on organic material until it culminates in a massive explosion. H. A. R. M. states that if their ransom demands are not met, they will continue to use human time bombs to cause destruction around the world. Cate embarks on a train ride to Washington, where Dr. Schenker is believed to be located. Cate finds him and manages to escort him to safety using an underground base. Soon after, Dr. Schenker reveals that the antidote for the chemical reagent is located in H. A. R. M.'s space station. Cate travels to a small island located in the Caribbean, where she infiltrates a secret space launch facility. Cate discovers that a rocket will be sent to the space station that afternoon to collect some antidote. Disguised as a H. A. R. M. space agent, Cate boards the rocket and travels to H. A. R. M.'s space station. While she is searching for the antidote, the space station is struck by a meteor shower, causing it to implode. Cate obtains a large antidote sample and uses an escape pod to return to Earth safely. Now in possession of the antidote, UNITY needs the list of infected people to find out who administered it, during which Cate believes that the real mastermind behind H. A. R. M.'s events is the Baron's wife, Baroness Felicity Dumas, who is believed to be in possession of the list. Later, Cate heads to the Dumas' château located in the German Alps. While there, she is knocked unconscious by Armstrong, who spares her life by locking her in a cell. The Baroness gloats at Cate about her plans to take over the world and leaves. Cate then provokes Armstrong into an ensuing fist fight. After being defeated, Armstrong agrees to let Cate go, and defects H. A. R. M. by telling her where the list is located. Cate then realizes that she was infected after being shot with a blowgun by Wagner in Hamburg days ago. The Baroness mentions that Wagner must have set the count down to 10 days instead of 10 hours. Eventually, Cate obtains another antidote and later, the list located in the Baroness's hidden lair. When Cate traveled down the mountain via a gondola lift, defeating the H. A. R. M. helicopters in the process, she encounters Volkov and a gun duel ensues. During their duel, an explosion causes an avalanche to send Volkov over the edge of a cliff. Later, Cate is confronted by the Baroness, and another gun duel ensues. After defeating the Baroness, she reveals that she has also infected herself and is about to detonate. Cate hurries to clear the civilians off the streets, and hides inside a building as the Baroness explodes. Back at UNITY's headquarters, Cate is congratulated for a mission well done, and everybody leaves to grab some rest. Cate arrives at a graveyard where Bruno was buried to pay her respects. She is then confronted by the supposedly long dead Tom Goodman, who reveals that he is the real traitor within UNITY, and a final gun duel ensues. Cate manages to injure Tom and arrest him, but Smith shoots Tom, causing him to fall into a freshly dug grave. Smith then tries to shoot Cate as well, but Jones shoots Smith and reveals that Bruno is still alive. Smith attempts his one last effort to shoot Cate, but Cate kills Smith just in time. With Tom and Smith shot dead, Jones and Bruno decide to tell Cate the truth; Bruno falsified his death so that Cate and the rest of UNITY could find the real traitor. Seven years ago, Smith was taken out of the field by UNITY due to his inadequate fieldwork. In order to sabotage UNITY as a way to avenge himself, Smith joins H. A. R. M. to kill the real Tom Goodman, and replace him with an impostor. When Cate's investigation initially foiled H. A. R. M.'s plan, both Smith and his mole were forced to reveal their true intentions. Cate reacts in shock upon finding out the truth. In a post credits scene, it is revealed that Volkov survived the avalanche and reports back to H. A. R. M.'s mysterious Director, a middle aged drunk man who Cate has seen several times in different countries during the game.

Work on No One Lives Forever started in 1998, after the release of Monolith Productions' previous game, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. Craig Hubbard, game designer for Shogo and NOLF expressed that Shogo "(although critically successful) fell embarrassingly short of original design goals", and "it is a grim reminder of the perils of wild optimism and unchecked ambition" exercised by the relatively small development team. Signing a contract with a publisher was a very difficult task for Monolith. Development had been going on for months, and the project had been approved by different publishers four times, before they were able to actually sign a deal with one. (Parts of the initial "paramilitary action thriller" concept evolved into F. E. A. R., another Monolith game, released after the NOLF series, in 2005.) Monolith's producer for the game, Samantha Ryan, said that before the deal was signed, "here was a period where Monolith was two weeks from death. And Jace Hall closed the deal with Fox Interactive that basically saved the company." After finally signing a contract with Fox (with whom partnership was announced to the public on August 24, 1999), the team was able to draft a mission statement, which stood as a point of reference during every aspect of developing the game. While at this time – as described in the mission statement above – the game was already set out to be a spy themed shooter set in the 1960s, the version that was previewed to the press at this time had many differences to the finished product, with regard to characters, plot and setting. The game's protagonist was originally set out to be a male character called Adam Church who worked for MI0, "Her Majesty's Most Secret Service". However, many of the final gameplay and story elements are known to have been present in this earlier iteration of the game: the H. A. R. M. organization; the defection of an East German biophysicist for information about a top secret Soviet weapons program; the presence of humor in the game; some locations, such as the sunken cargo freighter; the use of gadgets, such as the rocket launching briefcase; etc. By at least July 1999, Monolith has decided to introduce many major changes to the game; the main reason being that the gaming press unexpectedly started comparing the game to James Bond games, like GoldenEye 007 (1997). As Hubbard said, before switching to a female protagonist, he had been "struggling with trying to distinguish him from all the other male superspies from the era—extraordinarily handsome, intelligent, knowledgeable, resourceful, and so on. But a woman with those same characteristics immediately stood out because of the social climate of the time. No matter how qualified she might be, she'd have to overcome some serious barriers just to get a chance to prove herself. And if things didn't go flawlessly on a mission, she'd catch more heat than she deserved." The female protagonist "went through numerous concept sketches, costume designs, hairstyles, names, and even nationalities." According to Hubbard, it was a challenge to find a look for her that was not only evocative of era, "but also worked as a 3D model." This was a marketing decision made by the publisher, Fox Interactive, which used its feature film casting department to look for an appropriate model internationally. Archer's voice was provided by American voice actress Kit Harris, who also did the voice of the Inge Wagner character. Originally, Harris recorded the Scottish protagonist's voice in a stronger Scottish accent. This was changed after a Scottish producer of the game felt that the particular accent used was too lower class, and an inappropriate choice; Harris re recorded her lines with a "British bent" instead. Both the face and the voice of the character were changed in the game's sequel, where she was voiced by Jen Taylor. However, there were still things that the team didn't have enough time to implement. Like the single player story in the game, this gameplay mode was also going to incorporate humor; for example, in one map, a goal of each team was to find a special watermelon for a mayor in a Moroccan marketplace. While this mode was publicly discussed even in July 2000, The different objectives were changed to a general goal for both teams in all maps: photographing the other team's intelligence item. However, a number of remnants stemming from the earlier gameplay design can be seen in some of the released maps, such as the office of the aforementioned mayor seen in the Morocco map. Fully realized co operative multiplayer was, however, a feature of No One Lives Forever 2.

No One Lives Forever utilizes the LithTech game engine, which was originally developed by Monolith, and later by its subsidiary, LithTech, Inc. (later known as Touchdown Entertainment). The game is based on LithTech 2.5 (the first game to use this version), with many custom additions and modifications to support the game's design, such as support for vehicles. According to the game's creators, characters in NOLF were built from more polygons than any other PC action game at the time, with Cate Archer's model having approximately 1,700 polygons. After advancing AI technology in their subsequent games, Monolith likened the way NOLFs AIs pop randomly in and out of cover to a shooting gallery.

The game was released with bonus 1960s inspired music on the second CD. The songs available on this album, titled In the Lounge, were not featured in the game, but were specifically written as extra material. The 9 songs were written by Rebecca Kneubuhl (who created the in game score for the later PlayStation 2 port as well), and were recorded at Asylum Studios. A different version of In the Lounge was also created. This includes the same 9 original tracks, although in a slightly different order. It does not include the two indie songs; however, it does feature Rich Ragsdale's NOLF title theme, as well as remixes of 6 of the original songs, by Scott Clausen.

The Operative: No One Lives Forever was originally released for Windows in the United States on November 10, 2000, by Fox Interactive, after it went gold on October 20. After the game's release, another demo was released, dubbed "Mega Mix Demo", which contained four single player levels and two multiplayer maps. At this point, Fox Interactive co published titles with a selection of partners, with the "Game of the Year" edition of the title being co published by Sierra On Line. This re released version includes an exclusive mission otherwise not available in the original game, titled "Rest and Relaxation", which is available after the original story. The GOTY edition comes with the game's official Prima strategy guide, and it also contains more multiplayer maps, which were also made available as a download for owners of the original game. In 2001, Monolith Productions released a set of editing tools for No One Lives Forever that included the level editor and model editor used for development. It is available both as a download, as well as on the Game of the Year Edition CD ROM. On May 2, 2001, Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Fox Interactive signed a co publishing agreement for four titles, including the PS2 port of No One Lives Forever, all of which would be released under the company's Sierra division. This deal followed an initial January 2001 announcement by Fox where they announced to cease publishing as a standalone unit. The port was initially announced for a Q4 2001 release, but was instead released on April 29, 2002. The PlayStation 2 version is a port of the "Game of the Year Edition", but includes three exclusive flashback levels not available in other releases of the game titled "Nine Years Ago", in which the player controls a younger Cate Archer, when she used to be a cat burglar. Each of the new levels is accessed during several moments in the original story, when Cate is knocked out by Armstrong. All three levels use new textures, new character models, and feature Cate's cat burglar outfit, as well as two exclusive gadgets. The port does not feature Guy Whitmore's original interactive score; instead, it uses different original music by Rebecca Kneubuhl.

No One Lives Forever has earned several Game of the Year awards in the video game press. NOLF was named "Game of the Year" and "Action Game of the Year" by Computer Games Magazine. NOLF was also nominated for the International Game Developers Association's 2001 Game Developers Choice Awards in four categories: Game of the Year, Original Character of the Year, Excellence in Level Design, and Game Spotlight Awards.

Retrospective articles written about the game have also been positive. In a 2003 GameSpy feature called "The Top 25 Underrated Games of All Time", No One Lives Forever was ranked as #19, dubbing it and its sequel "two of the most memorable games of the past 10 years." In an article written in 2009 (nine years after the game's release), Eurogamer states that the game has "dated enormously but survives well", and that "you simply couldn't make No One Lives Forever today. You couldn't because it would be too long, require far too many assets, and most significantly of all, risk all the cost of development on a comedy game – a genre that no longer exists." In a 2010 online PC Gamer feature titled "Why you must replay No One Lives Forever", Tim Stone hailed the 10 year old game's use of humor, and wrote that NOLF "is every bit the amusing, inventive, life affirming experience I remembered."

The Operative: No One Lives Forever is the first game in the No One Lives Forever series. It was followed by a sequel in 2002, entitled No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H. A. R. M.'s Way. In 2003, a spin off of the first two games was released, entitled Contract J. A. C. K Being a prequel to No One Lives Forever 2, it is chronologically set between the first two No One Lives Forever games. This stand alone expansion pack is a shorter game, and unlike the previous titles, its main protagonist is not Cate Archer, but John Jack, who works for H. A. R. M. The game also focuses more on action gameplay, rather than on stealth.