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NO ONE LIVES FOREVER is an FPS with mojo. Think Austin Powers and you're pretty close to summing up this promising new title from Monolith/Fox Interactive. You play the role of Cate Archer, a super spy working for UNITY, an international agency charged with combating terrorism around the globe.

UNITY doesn't usually recruit women for its more dangerous missions, but Ms Archer soon becomes entangled in a web of deceit involving an assassin hired by the evil corporation HARM. It seems there is a UNITY agent giving out information about other members, so it's up to Ms. Archer to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.

Any gamer familiar with titles such as Half-Life and Soldier of Fortune will adapt to the gameplay immediately. It is a straight up shooter but with such beautiful graphics that you would be forgiven for dropping your gun in favour of sight-seeing.

Over 30 weapons are available to Archer, ranging from an AK-47 assault rifle for the up close and personal approach, to the more serious fire power of an M79 grenade launcher. Gun buffs will have a field day with the assortment of firearms accessible in the game, and to further whet your appetite each weapon has a secondary fire promising an even deadlier result.

There are times when weapons won't do the trick and a little bit of ingenuity is required, and what would a 1960's spy-inspired game be without gadgets? NOLF delivers the goods here with an extensive array of handy and bizarre items. They come in forms such as lethal acid perfume, explosive lipstick, and a briefcase rocket launcher. An example of using brain over brawn is the coin: when you need to get past a guard undetected, you can cause a diversion by throwing the coin past him. He will then walk over and check out where the noise came from. Hey, these guys are hired thugs so don't expect too much intelligence.

Before you begin your missions you are presented with a screen offering you a list of weapons and gadgets to choose from. Each of your objectives change so you may want to think twice before taking a heavy machine gun into a job that requires stealth. If the mission gets a little too difficult and some superior firepower is required you are able to retrieve weapons from dead bodies and hidden areas in the game.

A game based on the James Bond genre must have villains (insert evil laugh here), and NOLF has 20 diabolical masterminds to thwart your every move, ranging from a Scottish demolitions expert to a German opera singer. There are thousands of lines of dialogue in the game and every model is lip synched perfectly. The game is filled with humour which often actually is funny. There are 15 missions to undertake in exotic locations around the world. Each of the missions are split up into mini levels, so this game promises to cut into a fair amount of your spare time.

As you progress through the game you gain different skills depending on what you have accomplished. Running through the game missing out rooms won't be beneficial to your character so a more patient style will reward you. The demo available comes in two sizes but it's recommended that you get the larger version so you can fully appreciate the game. It offers four levels, starting off with a training school, and moving on to a hotel, office and lastly a plane level. The plane level puts you in a rather precarious position: you are left to die on an airborne plane with no pilot and no parachute. Your only solution is to jump out and "acquire" a henchman's chute in mid air!

It's the new innovations like this that make No One Lives Forever stand out from the rest of the shooters available, and should place this game amongst the best sellers when it is released later in the year.

Show me the screenshots!

Check out the Official Site.