The Operative: No One Lives Forever - PlayStation 2

No One Lives Forever is very much a traditional first-person shooter in the style of Half-Life and GoldenEye. As well as the usual pistols and machine guns, Cate has a variety of appropriately cunning gadgets such as explosive lipstick, sunglasses with a concealed camera and a lock-pick/dagger combination disguised as a hairclip. Despite all her fancy contraptions, though, she won't last five minutes, let alone forever, unless she can master the art of stealth. Thankfully there are a variety of training sections where our heroine learns to sneak about and use her impressive arsenal to its best advantage.

While No One Lives Forever made a rather entertaining PC game when it was released at the end of 2000, this belated conversion fails to enthral. The graphics are weak, looking more like an above-average PSone title when compared to the visual splendour of recent PS2 releases. The level designs are dated affairs with dull interiors and uninspired outside locations, and the simplistic combat against hordes of identical enemies hardly sets the heart pounding. Partial amends are made by the fun gadgets and wacky characters, but they can't compensate for the mindless, linear sleuthing sections, or the lame set-pieces. For the unfussy gamer, NOLF could provide a fair few hours of undercover action, but with excellent titles such as Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid 2 available, unfussy is the operative word. --Tim Cant