Alright, NOLF1's single-player campaign is in the bag. Some more impressions:
NOLF was actually much easier than I remembered (on Normal at least). Even the mandatory stealth sections only required a handful of retries to get through, although I did have a close call in Trouble in the Tropics where I created a quicksave right after alerting a guard. I solved the problem by running full-tilt through the room and gunning down everyone before they could sound the alarm.
I felt the overall map design was quite good, with plenty of '60s futuristic architecture; unfortunately the outdoor areas feel pretty barren and unconvincing compared to the nicely detailed interiors. Similar to its contemporary Deus Ex, several of the larger levels have multiple points of ingress to give you some variety in how you approach them. There's plenty of memorable standout levels such as Unexpected Turbulence, where you get blown out of an exploding airliner without a parachute and have to shoot enemies in freefall before grabbing some poor henchman's chute. In Safecracker, Cate sneaks into an office skyscraper by way of a neighboring building that's still under construction, then later slips into a high-tech vault equipped with infrared trip-lasers (the aforementioned office also has a pleasant Japanese interior theme, keeping in line with Monolith's track record of being huge weeaboos). You even get to visit a freakin' space station, though sadly it's not as visually impressive as one might hope. The grand finale sees Cate making her way across the Alps to infiltrate a German castle situated on a mountaintop before delving into the villain's secret underground lair, complete with shark pool deathtrap, and then back down the mountain via a rickety gondola harassed by enemy choppers. The strong setpiece-oriented design makes the levels feel more even more cinematic and smartly reinforces the game's jet-setting spy motif.
The game's script makes much ado over the friction between Cate Archer's chosen occupation and her gender, both for better and for worse. While it's certainly refreshing to see a highly competent female protagonist in the traditionally male-dominated realm of spy fiction, sometimes it feels like the writers were tripping over themselves to lampshade/defuse the chauvinism inherent in the genre. There's an early cutscene where Cate's new male partner Tom Goodman is introduced, and the dialogue becomes this weird Feminism 101 screed that comes off as pretty ham-fisted. Oh, and the very first shot we see of Cate in the game's intro is a shower scene, so there's that.
And then there's the scenes with dialogue trees, such as the mission briefings and de-briefings given by Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith, the dual administrators of Unity. The pair have an obvious good cop/bad cop dynamic: Jones is generally pleasant and supportive of our heroine, whereas Smith seems to delight in belittling both Cate’s performance as an agent and her gender at every opportunity. The player must sometimes respond to Smith’s obnoxious barbs via dialogue selection. Players can respond either with deference, or by having Ms. Archer retaliate with some cutting remarks of her own. Choosing the non-aggressive conversation options rewards the player with extra Intelligence collectibles, whereas handing Smith his much-deserved tongue-lashing disappointingly gives nothing. One could charitably read these exchanges as a commentary on dealing with authority figures, but I question the developer’s decision to reward obeisance in the face of such flagrant misogyny.
Speaking of cutscenes, several of them run on for way the hell too long trying to deliver their heavy payloads of exposition. Fortunately as I mentioned in my last post, most of the voice cast is stellar and includes longtime game industry talent such as John Patrick Lowrie (also the VA for TF2's Sniper), so they're not
too intolerable.
Despite its flaws, I had a blast playing through NOLF again for the first time in almost twenty years; they just don't make 'em like this anymore! I've actually heard some people call out the new Wolfenstein games as the closest thing to a spiritual successor, and I guess I mostly agree with that? Regardless, I still want to see someone try and resurrect Cate Archer for her own new adventure someday, despite the overwhelming odds against that happening.
Edit: Jeez, how did I forgot to mention the
brilliant soundtrack with its liberal use of surf guitar and vibraphone? Some of the instruments sound pretty synth-y, but all the compositions are rock-solid BGM tracks that make you feel even cooler while doing, y'know, spy stuff.
