Unlike a lot of games with stealth elements, detection does not result in the end of a mission.  It can certainly make things harder for you when claxons are sounded and waves of enemies come charging to your vicinity, but you won't be forced to reload the game every time you walk around a new corner.  In spite of this and everything else the game has going for it, some of the stealth missions feel a bit contrived and are somewhat tedious, such as one that has you running through the streets of Calcutta removing wanted posters with your picture on them while avoiding police patrols.  You'll also run into the find item 'A' to stick into slot 'B' puzzle a little too often. It is never a mystery as to what item 'A' is as the game tells you what is missing, it's where to find it that is the key and it often requires a bit of backtracking.  However, with the number of missions included in the game there is plenty of variety and you quickly forget these annoyances once you make your way past them.  Also, it is surprising that there is no training center in the game as in the original.  Gameplay tips are given during the first mission, but serve as a poor tutorial in comparison to the Unity training center.  It would have been nice had this been included in NOLF2 as an option for players that missed the first game.

Control in the game is implemented quite nicely.  With all of the weapons and gadgets in the game, it can be difficult to switch weapons during tense moments by scrolling through them with the mouse wheel.  To give you a little help, the game uses the [x] key to instantly switch to your last weapon.  You can carry a stealthy weapon and have a more powerful one at the ready at the press of a key if things heat up.  You can also use gadgets automatically with the right mouse button.  When you are facing an object that a gadget can interact with, pressing the right mouse button will enable the gadget and put it to use.  Once its job is done, your previous weapon is restored at the ready.

Another great feature of the game is its skill system.  Your capabilities are rated in eight categories: stealth, stamina, marksmanship, carrying, armor, weapons, gadgets, and searching.  As you play the game, you accumulate skill points which can be exchanged for higher ratings in these categories.  Skill points are awarded for completing required and optional mission objectives, and for finding intelligence items hidden in the levels.  Spending skill points to advance a level in one of the categories will bestow certain bonuses such as increased hit points, armor capacity, or weapon accuracy.  Higher levels require a progressively greater skill point cost, giving you the option of going for a well-rounded skill set or letting your points accumulate so that you can be very skilled in one or two areas.  It's a nice way to add an RPG element to the game while simultaneously encouraging you to seek out everything hidden in the game's levels.

In addition to the game's single player missions, there is a rather unique multiplayer game as well.  You can go online and play cooperatively with other players in missions related to the game's storyline.  You don't get to play as Cate Archer - instead players are Unity agents doing all of the work needed to support Cate in her missions.  For example, you may have to scout a mission area or mop up after Cate's come and gone.  The multiplayer game requires player cooperation, so its enjoyment is directly tied to how well the players play together.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 94%.  No One Lives Forever 2 is smart and sexy, just like its heroine.  It is a thoroughly enjoyable, tongue in cheek romp through the world of 1960s espionage.  Be sure to let this game infiltrate your hard drive.

System Requirements:  Pentium III 500;  128 MB RAM;  32 MB Video RAM; 4x CD-ROM;  1.2 GB Hard Drive Space;  Mouse.

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