Contract J.A.C.K. - PC

This game is fun for fans, but other than that it’s not the most amazing game out there. It’s a fun, action-packed shooter and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else.Fans of the No One Lives Forever series will enjoy all of the references and additions it presents to the story, but it falls short of the originals by far. It looks very similar to NOLF 2, but its a very boiled down in terms of play style. NOLF 2 added elements of stealth and interactions with the environment, and this game doesn’t really offer any of that.Do I want to own this as a fan of the series? Absolutely. Am I going to replay it and be able to quote it like the first two games? Unlikely. It’s entertaining, but the two main entries in the series are far superior.

With so many reviews covering virtually every element of the series, one would think that there would be no point to covering the game itself. Everything that needed to be said, has. However, I wanted to take a bit of a different perspective through this and provide some what of a different, but similar review.In order to understand what went wrong, we need to talk about what's right in the world of No One Lives Forever/Contract J.A.C.K. The series itself takes full immersion in being modeled after the spy flicks and novels of yesteryear. The main focus of No One Lives Forever was the Scottish Cate Archer, and how she went from being a simple pickpocket-turned-spy, to a superspy at UNITY. The game, now over a decade old, was set in the 60s and focused on Cate and her stopping H.A.R.M from taking over the world. Levels were colorful, unique and locations were plenty. Creativity was abundantly shown in the locations, to falling out of a plane, to exploring a sub underwater, to a base in outer space. With witty dialogue, a smart and clever choice of gadgets and a whole ton of weapons, No One Lives Forever(NOLF) offered what many reviewers felt to be the first real great First Person experience since Half-Life.Monolith Productions, the developer behind the game, working immediately upon a sequel that hit in 2002. That game was No One Lives Forever 2 : A Spy In H.A.R.M's Way. No One Lives Forever 2 aimed to be much more than it's predecessor and in certain ways really was. Now offering a level up system by means of collecting intelligence items, which were somewhat worthless in the previous game aside from their humor, players got points for achieving certain objectives and collecting certain items. NOLF 2 did nearly as well as it's predecessor and also enjoyed a huge success.So, by now you must be wondering why so many reviews, like myself, have been mentioning these previous games and then comparing them to Contract J.A.C.K? Well, J.A.C.K. takes place between No One Lives Forever 1 and 2. What's more, J.A.C.K. completely threw everything that the other two games established out the window for some generic First Person Shooting(FPS).J.A.C.K was released a year after the second game and was released as a stand-alone expansion pack, so to speak. The game focused on a contract killer named John Jack, who through the course of his adventure gets recruited by H.A.R.M. How does he get recruited? By killing a whole bunch of people, of course. One wouldn't be blamed for thinking that every single stage is exactly the same, because it is. Despite the different locations and enemies, there is never a change in objective. Go from point A, to point B, and kill everything that moves.The story itself is next to non-existent and intelligent items are virtually gone as well. Jack goes from location to location following a storyline that is minimal and ultimately hard to enjoy. He's hired by H.A.R.M. to be a contract killer, so I don't mind if there's a bit of running and gunning, but why couldn't there be something like what Cate Archer had. Monolith could of easily crafted Jack to have similar gadgets and weapons like Agent 47 in Hitman. It's even more baffling that they didn't try to put a spin on the previous formula. I would of loved to of hunted down a target with different methods given to us, but we never get a chance to do something like that.The vocal work is rather minimal as well. The majority of the game sounds you'll end up hearing is your gun of choice firing, and people dying. There are occasionally some hilarious dialogues that you'll overhear, but it's completely cut down from the previous titles. What's more, is the soundtrack is mostly composed of tracks from the previous title. The funky gadgets are also gone as well and while a few new weapons are introduced and we do have some new locations, unfortunately the game is a huge downgrade from the previous titles.By far one of J.A.C.K's true saving graces is when your in space. This act was a blast, not only due to some of the best dialogue in the NOLF series, to how enemies died. I was hoping to see a space mission in NOLF 2 and was saddened when I didn't, and this was quite the treat.I picked J.A.C.K. up for dirt cheap, and if your a fan of NOLF who misses the good-old days, and wants something a bit more, this might be for you. For someone craving an older FPS, this most likely won't be the game. The way NOLF was built up was never about being much of a FPS. I'd highly recommend tracking down either F.E.A.R, or Condemned if your looking for something to satisfy an old school urge, as both games are from Monolith and both are far superior.J.A.C.K. may very well be the last entry in the NOLF series, and it's such a shame that the series went out with a whimper into the night, instead of a bang. Yet, within all of J.A.C.K, I did have some honest fun, if but briefly.

A simple, lighthearted shooter in the NOLF universe. Not an epic, but not entirely vacuous either. Good selection of weapons, and just enough story to validate the product (takes place between the events of NOLF 1 and 2, and you play as an agent of H.A.R.M.). At a bargain price, you can't go wrong here. I ran it just fine on windows 7, and finished the single player in a few days. Glad I added it to my collection.

Poor storyline with a great gameplay/graphics.Warning: For all NOLF/NOLF2 players. DO NOT BUY if you are looking for similar type play. (If you must buy, get it used!)I beat this game in 5 days (in between living my life). This is $30 that I probably should have spent toward something like Max Payne 2. There is NO reference to Cate Archer except for 2 'wanted' posters in the entire game!!You just go through shooting and shooting (set to hard/impossible for best challenge). No interludes between missions, no detailed information on the characters.Play this game for for the sake of shooting, though a couple of missions closely resemble that of NOLF2 that were enjoyable.The ending is the worst I have seen. A pure anticlimax.Your only solace is the answer to the the following 2 questions:1. How did Volkov end up in a wheel chair at the start of NOLF2?2. How did Volkov survive the fall into the lava in a late mission of NOLF2?Overall: not worth the money.... the game is lucky to get 3 stars on account of the graphics/gameplay.

As a huge fan of the previous titles in the NOLF franchise, it pains me to have to tell the truth about Contract JACK.As other posters have noted, the game is exceedingly short. I'm not very good at first-person shooters and it only took me six hours to complete on normal difficulty. I understand that this game was half-priced, but I still expected more than one afternoon of fun. It is doubly irritating that the box claims 10 single-player levels when, in fact, there are only seven.In interviews, Monolith developers claimed that Cate Archer makes a "brief but memorable appearance." I don't know what counts as memorable at Monolith, but for the rest of us back on planet Earth, half a second of someone standing by the side of the road isn't too exciting.What's good about this game? Well, it looks like they made some minor improvements to the Jupiter graphics engine. The game seems more stable than NOLF 2 -- Contract JACK didn't crash a single time for me. The AIs are smarter, too.I hope they redeem themselves at Monolith by giving us a NOLF 3 that is worthy of the name.

Really enjoyed this classic FPS. Hardcore gamers wont be disappointed. i highly recommend purchasing. Graphics are great, story-line is solid (and not so short) , audio is excellent and the price is right.

Love the game, but it's an old timers game, I am glad I got to play this one. Fun gaming old world style.

Bought this game AND NOLF 2 ... actually had more fun with THIS game! Item just as described, fast shipping!