Background information
I spoke with Hollywood star Michael Rooker about Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
by Domagoj Belancic
Remember No One Lives Forever?
18/11/2025
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
Pictures: Philipp Rüegg
No One Lives Forever is one of the most original, charming and funny action games of the noughties. Thanks to it, I learned to listen first before firing.
Cate Archer isn’t one to hold her tongue. When a superior claims she messed up a mission because, as a woman, she can’t control her emotions, she counters with how she’d gladly demonstrate her apparent alarming incompetence on his thick skull. The young British spy is the main character in this Austin Powers-inspired action game. In contrast to Mike Myers’ on-screen heroes, Cate takes a more professional approach to her assignments, which is more than can be said for her opponents.
Monolith’s first-person shooter is more than just a cheap movie copy. It parodies both the original and the original’s original: James Bond. With a varied story, intriguing characters and original game mechanics, it achieved cult status – albeit not overnight. At the time, female main characters – apart from the hypersexualised Lara Croft – were in short supply.
Spy and babysitter
The original game begins in 1967 with Cate’s first serious mission. Mr Smith, the pigheaded superior I mentioned earlier, is convinced that emotionally driven women and murder-for-hire missions just don’t go together. But since all other field agents have been murdered, the deputy head of secret organisation UNITY has no choice but to call on Cate. A mysterious killer’s on the loose, targeting undercover agents and only leaving behind a red rose as his trademark.
The first mission sends me to Morocco. Cate’s tasked with protecting a US ambassador from attacks by terrorist organisation H.A.R.M. Initially, the game isn’t much more than a shooting gallery. I shoot at black-clad villains appearing from every direction from my hotel room. The ambassador remains completely unaware, even as bullets whiz past him a few metres away and corpses pile up around him. He’s busy loudly complaining about a coin that keeps falling out of his pocket.
Cannon fodder with character
After escorting the ambassador safely to his car, I become a target myself. During my escape, I finally get to see more of the level. From a modern perspective, the muddy wallpapered corridors do look pretty barren. Still, back then, this sightseeing tour exuded an oriental flair. I regularly find secret documents in between gunfights, which in turn feature enemies with some pretty disturbing death screams. Nobody seems to really care about the top-secret status of everything, printed in bold red letters. Someone’s bound to get chewed out at their next performance review.
The documents are full of messages from HARM handlers, complaining about increasing bureaucracy or a lack of vacation days. In first-person shooters, enemies are usually soulless cannon fodder. In No One Lives Forever, they’re given a face – figuratively. Their angular square skulls have as much personality as Minecraft Steve. Only, I don’t just read what’s going on in their heads, I also eavesdrop on their conversations.
All I have to do is leave my pistol holstered from time to time. While looking for the exit, I discover a street vendor trying to sell my pursuer a monkey.
- Street vendor: You look like you need a monkey.
- HARM agent: Excuse me?
- Street vendor: I have a very fine monkey for you. Only twenty dollars American.
- HARM agent: Sorry, I don’t want a monkey.
- Street vendor: What do you mean?
- HARM agent: I don’t want a monkey!
- Street vendor: Why not?
- HARM agent: Because I don’t like monkeys. Now get that filthy beast away from me!
- Street vendor: Are you insulting my monkey?
- HARM agent: I’m sure it’s a perfectly excellent monkey, but I don’t want it. Now please leave, I’m very busy.
- Street vendor: Ten dollars.
- HARM agent: No! I wouldn’t want the dreadful thing even if it were free! Street vendor: Free? You want my children to starve? HARM agent: If they’re hungry, I suggest you feed them the monkey.
- Street vendor: This is a valuable monkey! My wife would kill me if she knew I was offering it to you so cheap.
- HARM agent: You don’t seem to understand. I DON’T WANT A MONKEY! Street vendor: Infidel.
I finally relieve the HARM agent of this conversation with a well-aimed headshot. You’ll only get Oscar-worthy dialogue like this when not storming through levels like a trigger-happy cowboy. In a later mission, I overhear two HARM agents arguing about lunch:
- HARM agent #1: This food is terrible.
- HARM agent #2: The potato salad isn’t bad.
- HARM agent #1: That’s not potato salad; it’s cottage cheese!
- HARM agent #2: UGH!
Eccentric supervillains
The dialogue during and between missions contributes significantly to the character of No One Lives Forever. This also includes dazzling personalities in the form of my arch-enemies. There’s Inge Wagner, for one, said to be a descendant of the famous composer. She was forced to become an opera singer. Unfortunately, she’s absolutely tone-deaf, which she regularly proves with shrill screams that can shatter windows.
Then there’s grumpy Scotsman Magnus Armstrong, whom I challenge to a fistfight in a snowy Bavarian mountain castle. However, I first have to provoke him with quips like telling him he may want to swap his kilt for a skirt.
Practically all the characters speak with exaggerated thick accents. The fact that Russian villain Volkov also wears an eye patch works perfectly. As you’d expect from such a character, he spares the young agent after just killing Cate’s mentor. Instead, he gives the job to his henchman. Whereupon the latter asks a very legitimate question: why didn’t Volkov pull the trigger a second time himself? He replies that he intended to, but got distracted by his hunger for revenge. Ernst Stavro Blofeld would’ve benefited from this much self-reflection.
Sightseeing around the globe
Later missions are much more varied than the Morocco excursion. During one flight to London, we’re boarded by a HARM plane. Time for a wild shootout, on what might just be the biggest aeroplane ever. Naturally, I end up jumping out of the crashing plane without a parachute, hitching a ride mid-descent.
In the aforementioned castle owned by that failed opera singer, stealth is the order of the day instead of shooting for once. I’d advise clinging to the shadows. The mission starts with me avoiding searchlights, which is where Cate’s spy gadgets come into play. I distract guard dogs with the Canine Persuader, and the Body Remover turns unconscious enemies invisible. Meanwhile, the orange Spy-Glasses allow me to see infrared lasers. And if I ever run out of patience, I can detonate my Lipstick Explosive. I’m a woman of culture, after all.
The gadgets are all provided by Santa, as No One Lives Forever calls its version of Q. Like the real Santa Claus, however, I never get to see him. He only speaks to me in the test arena whenever I’m trying out his latest toy.
No One Lives Forever also offers a wide range of guns. Starting with the silenced Luger, I can perform headshots even at long range. Spray or even bullet drop aren’t a problem for Cate. Naturally, the AK-47 has to be on board too. Meanwhile, the rocket launcher makes things even spicier towards the end. My enemies might not be the brightest, but they more than make up for it with accuracy. In keeping with Cate’s loose mouth, I’m usually the one to open the first door. As you’d expect, things devolve quickly from here. Luckily, both Quick Save and Quick Load are just a button away.
Mind you, some of the level architecture isn’t as up to date. Tasked with freeing a turncoat scientist in East Berlin, I instead wander around for almost half an hour until I find the last bomb I need to create a diversion. Gazing back upon my trail of bodies, I wonder who’ll actually be watching the fireworks. Besides, the alarm’s been blaring the whole time. That can’t help.
Although the level design is a relic of its time, No One Lives Forever still features variety today. Sometimes I infiltrate a base in the tropics with a snorkel and diving goggles. Other times, I speed through a cosy winter landscape on a snowmobile. Towards the end, there’s even the obligatory detour into space – remember Moonraker? Of course, there are also surprising twists and double agents. No One Lives Forever offers everything a spy thriller should. Alongside this and Tron 2.0, which came out in 2003, Monolith became my personal favourite studio – next to Blizzard, of course.
Nevertheless, they only ever made one sequel, as well as a loveless spin-off called Contract J.A.C.K. And this may not change for a while.
Who owns this thing?
One reason was certainly the sales figures. At launch, just 35,000 people bought it. Later, the figure did grow to 350,000 – still below expectations, however.
Nevertheless, No One Lives Forever has only grown as an insider tip over the years. By now it’s even in the top 10 of GOG’s Dreamlist. You can vote for games that should be restored and made available digitally there. Cate’s adventures are still officially only available in physical form.
Why? Annoyingly, rights issues. No one knows who owns the IP. Monolith belonged to Fox Interactive at the time. They were absorbed by Vivendi Universal Games, which was then bought by Activision. They, in turn, are now part of Microsoft. Monolith went over to Warner Bros. The renowned studio was finally shuttered early this year. The last game they published: Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. Wonder Woman was in development, but discontinued together with the studio.
Several major parties could lay claim to No One Lives Forever. But since many important documents weren’t yet digitised at the time, they may be gathering dust in a filing cabinet.
Still, Nightdive Studios aren’t deterred by this. With System Shock, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster and most recently Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster, they’ve already brought some classics out of obscurity. They’ve already secured the source code, but have hit a wall when it comes to trademark rights so far.
In my interview, Larry Kuperman, head of business at Nightdive, emphasises that they still dream of resurrecting No One Lives Forever. I share this dream. While they’re at it, they might as well add Tron 2.0 and American McGee’s Alice to the list. XOXO.
Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chAs a child, I wasn't allowed to have any consoles. It was only with the arrival of the family's 486 PC that the magical world of gaming opened up to me. Today, I'm overcompensating accordingly. Only a lack of time and money prevents me from trying out every game there is and decorating my shelf with rare retro consoles.
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