nolf is one of the best online gaming experiences i've ever had. the five years i spent with quake III take the "w", but the first and second "no one lives forever" games were some of the best shooters ever produced. to this day, i haven't seen as much detail, work and care put into any shooter except half life 2.

the question on my mind lately? why not make a 360 nolf game? i constantly read that games like perfect dark zero and quake IV have the next gen look, but not the next generation gameplay expected by now. pretty textures and physics don't make a game. just once in a next generation shooter, i'd like destructible environments (red faction) and death animations in a game that isn't made by criterion (black).

no one lives forever had a great plot, robust characters, exotic locations, and tiny details to be seen (and heard) in every inch of the game. you could listen in on guard's conversations, peek around the corner, toss a coin to distract them, then jump out and quietly ventilate their skulls.

set in the sixties, you were cate archer, sexy scottish super spy. you jetsetted from morrocco to germany, the caribbean to the alps. in one level you'd be in a firefight with a fat "horned" opera singer. in the next, you'd be freefalling from a burning plane, trying to catch the man with the last parachute. in another, you'd speed up a mountain trail on a snowmobile, and in the next, you fight off a shark with a speargun. this was just the first game.

maybe it was the arsenal. everybody loves a large selection. the shepherd arms p38 9mm, petri .38 airweight revolver, braun 9mm parabellum, hampton mpl 9mm smg, gordon 9mm smg, ak47 assault rifle, m79 grenade launcher, hampton carbine, geldmacher svd, bacalov corrector, sportman ex crossbow, and the morris model 14 speargun rounded out the weapons of this world.

almost every gun could be loaded with either the standard full metal jacket ammunition, dum dum rounds that expand on impact, or phosphorus rounds that explode through soft targets.

two types of laser guns, a breifcase rocket launcher, lipstick explosive devices that come in impact, proximity, and timed flavors; sleeping gas, stun gas, and acid gas fulfill just about everything missing from the more than stellar weapons lineup.

as for gadgets, there's a belt buckle zipcord, plastic barrette with retractible lockpick and poison tipped blade, decaying body removal powder, camera disabling footage looper (speed anyone?), a blow torch disguised as a cigarette lighter, a security key code breaker, a robot poodle to woo guard mutts, and sunglasses that take snapshots and show lasers and mines.

multiplayer was a gem. if and when you could find a populated server, it was some of the most frantic fun ever. it was the first game i'd played where there were selectable player models that i liked. quake's look was a little too... space goth. my favorite multiplayer map was "the pad", a groovy bachelorette's condo. fun on a bun.

it would translate extremely well onto the xbox 360 and live. bring back halo 2's party system (why don't more games use it?) and keep the gameplay from the first two (contract jack was a disaster) and it's a guaranteed hit.

it wouldn't hurt to have:

• a great story
• robust live multiplayer
  
• every location from the last two games and more
  
• every weapon from the last two games and more
• a great soundtrack like the first game
• destructible environments
• realistic death animations
• more vehicular combat
• optional third person perspective
• dedicated melee and grenade buttons
• for god's sake: KEEP CATE ARCHER!!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 24, 2005 at 2:07 PM.