So.... I've got some spare time, and I've always wanted to play NOLF... (no real idea why I missed it back when it was released). My question is: which game should I play? Can I skip the first altogether, given it's probably too old to be rightfully appreciated, or it's so good that I should stick to it!?
I recall enjoying both of them quite a lot. Visually, but also in humour and just good gameplay, the two are very contiguous (and were only published a couple years apart). I'd say start at the beginning--you'll probably appreciate the second one even more.
Having just wiki-ed the series, I was surprised to see that there was a sort of third in the series, a spinoff called Contract J.A.C.K. Has anyone played it? Is it worth trying for a fan of the series?
Never mind. I usually take Metacritic with a grain of salt, but in this case the reception seems near-unanimous: JACK was a terrible game. Too bad.Originally Posted by field_studies
The first game is the better of the two.
The first one is definitely the better of the two, and the classic one. While the second one is a good game, it doesn't have as much of the fun attitude that made the first one such a fantastic thing; it still has a crazy sense of humour but it's toned down notably, visually and otherwise. You shouldn't worry about the first one being too old to be appreciated, the mechanics are still excellent and the graphics aren't terrible either.
Re: Contract JACK - it killed the franchise. 'nuff said.
Last edited by Flint; 12-09-2011 at 09:10 AM.
Give me steam and how you feel to make it real.
I have not played the first game but I love the series. I would love if they made NOLF 3 but would it be any good?
They would probably bastardize it into some sort of top-down tactical action game, dumbed down for the masses.
"I was one of those. I meddled with dark powers. I summoned demons. I ate the entire little cheese, including the rind."
~Kvothe, The Wise Man's Fear
They would probably just make a linear shooter out of it, the first game had a kind of Deus Ex feel to it, while not as much as it but you could still do like sneaking, or guns blazing(though you would die a bit) and lots of gadgets to use. It was really quite fun and probably one of my favourite FPS of all time. Never actually played the sequel though.
Actually as I recall the previous one was very linear, to the point where they'd also set mission objectives where you'd fail outright if anybody so much as caught sight of your arse in a picture on the wall.
Yeah, it was quite linear. There was some leeway as you were able to customise your load-out at the start of each mission to suit your playstyle and the game offered the possibility to sneak about if you wanted to, but there was no major amount of choice or adaptive gameplay involved in terms of multiple pathways or multiple approaches to reach a goal.
Give me steam and how you feel to make it real.
They're both great, I preferred the second though. The first is totally playable but feels 'old' whereas the mechanics in the second are a lot tighter. It feels a lot more scripted which may put you off though.
Both are brilliant. If you end up playing I recommend you to try to play it stealthy, only so you can listen to the npcs conversations.
Last edited by Tikey; 12-09-2011 at 03:13 PM.
@Flint and Soldant
Thats why I called it an FPS and not an Action RPG, I do realise its a lot more linear then Deus Ex and doesn't give you the same kind of control, but it does give you a bit more then standard linear FPS, I remember one level where there was quite a few ways you could get in either through sneaking or other stuff.
Play both, you won't be sorry. And DO listen to the NPC conversations; they're often quite brilliant.
"Do you want to buy a monkey?"
I loved NOLF the first, but couldn't get into the second one. (Honestly though, I didn't give it much of a chance.) I played NOLF a few years ago, but recently enough that it was well and truly 'retro' at the time, and it held up really well. I don't know how well it copes with high-res widescreen monitors, though.
NOLF 2 is great and has the best chase sequence of all gaming.
I can't remember well, the lava conversation is in the second, right?
Also, NOLF2 has a great multiplayer coop mode where you have missions that bridges story gaps between the single player missions
Last edited by Tikey; 13-09-2011 at 02:35 AM.
I had the opposite experience...got stuck on a mission in the first one, and after a while gave up and moved on. When I came across the sequel a year or so later, liked it immediately and played right through it. Perhaps they tweaked things a bit in the second one?
"You look like you need a monkey."
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