The Rest of the Mortgage Acceleration Programs, Part 2
“You have to give well to live well.” - Art Linkletter Now we will look at the rest of the mortgage acceleration programs, most of which do not require refinancing but do need some sort of credit line to function. They are less expensive to get started, but the trade-off is the manual process each month and the fact that all money besides what is available on the credit line is locked into your mortgage. Some planners are using that credit line for the side investments instead of the 1st Lie
Survey Of Mortgage Acceleration Programs, A Great First Decade, But With Limitations Part 1
When a person is first introduced to a mortgage acceleration program, and they get beyond their misperception of it being too good to be true, they are rarely told about other competitors products. I think competition is good and education is even better. However most of these programs have a minimum of written information available on their websites. Information about their software is even more hard to find. To top it off, two of the three systems that people are most likely to come across
What makes a good single-player level for a first person shooter? The answer I’m sure is highly subjective, and I don’t claim to be an expert but it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about recently while I’ve been replaying Quake II [Id Software / Activision; 1997]. Prior to first playing Quake II, I’d been spending a lot of time with Duke Nukem 3D [3D Realms / Apogee Software; 1996], even experimenting with the Build Editor. Together those two games helped form my opinions on what good
“If you double a penny every day for a month you’ll have more than $1 million”. ~ Dana Harden Here is an example of how our program can help a coulpe who has 0 discretionary income but who can use the payments they were making to the previous debt to accelerate their debts in our system. This is true in this example even when those other payments were at 0% interest! Let’s start with a comparison of their $58,000 mortgage plus the $20,000 on their home equity line of credit, both at the curr
“The Money Merge Account Program will change the lives of your grandchildren.” ~ Bill Walton If you had a raise of $20 a month would you send it to the mortgage and cut off 1 year or would you waste it? The MMA will tell you the impact with a force of hand. In one month you realize a big interest savings. It gives a good feeling of being empowered and on top of cash flow. If you don’t want to balance a check book, follow a budget or calculate the optimal amounts to send to the mortgage, how ar
Microsoft Windows 95/98/2000/ME; Pentium II 300 MHz; 64 MB RAM; 400 MB free hard drive space; 4x CD-ROM; 8 MB 3D accelerator card with Direct3D support; DirectX 7.0 or higher; DirectX compatible 16-bit sound card;56 kbit/s modem or LAN for multiplayer only.
Input methods
mouse and keyboard, gamepad
No One Lives Forever (full title: The Operative: No One Lives Forever), commonly abbreviated NOLF, is the name of a computer game and video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Fox Interactive. It was released on November 9, 2000. A sequel to the game, entitled No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way was released in 2002, followed by an expansion pack, Contract J.A.C.K., in 2003.
No One Lives Forever
The Operative: No One Lives Forever was published in 2000, and starred a female protagonist, spy Cate Archer. The game is a mixture of a first-person shooter and a first-person sneaker: most (but not all) missions can be solved in multiple ways: using sneaking to avoid danger, using gadgets, or by going in with guns blazing.
The basic plot of the game is that a secret organization, UNITY, watches over world peace. Several UNITY agents are murdered within a week of each other, leaving UNITY with a critical manpower shortage. In response, Cate Archer (an ex-cat burglar) is given a role as field agent to try to discover the cause of the Agent assassinations. All roads lead to a new terrorist organization named H.A.R.M., run by a colorful assortment of characters intent on destroying the free world.
The game is set in the 1960s, and includes a lot of humor: it has been described as a mixture of Austin Powers and James Bond with the lead character resembling Modesty Blaise, and also Emma Peel from The Avengers. The player is able to scuba dive a shipwreck, freefall from an airplane and explore a space station in zero gravity, all the while fighting armed villains.
A novel feature of the game is its array of gadgets, including a body-removing powder (for disposing of incriminating corpses), lock picks, and an electronic poodle to distract guard dogs. Additionally, the missions are littered with "intelligence items": textual notes which often provide humorous side-notes to the game. Points awarded from intelligence items could gain certain awards at the end of the mission that would add up for bonuses. For example the 'Thanks For Not Getting Hurt' Award allowed a 10% increase in maximum health - up to a limit of 120%. Such bonuses were available for Health, Armour, Ammo Capacity, Damage, Accuracy and Reputation. The reputation awards are earned by choosing the 'nice' responses in dialogue trees (although it is uncertain what benefits the reputation bonuses confer).
The game is also notable for its use of sound: not only are enemies aware of noise made by the player, but the game features music in the style of the 1960s, which flexibly adapts to the situations that players finds themselves in, similar to that of movie soundtracks (for instance, increasing in tempo or urgency when the player is in a combat situation).
The game won several Game of the Year awards, including ones from Computer Games Magazine, Computer Gaming World, PC Gamer, and Gamespy.
In 2001, No One Lives Forever appeared in a Game of the Year (GOTY) version, with one additional singleplayer mission which was not made available to those who bought the original. The GOTY version also includes more Multiplayer arenas.
In 2002, NOLF was ported to the PlayStation 2 video game console, complete with extra missions not available for the PC version. This port also included the extra GOTY mission. One of the other extra missions was a prequel to NOLF, with Cate Archer as a thief in the days before her recruitment by UNITY.
Weapons
No One Lives Forever has a variety of weapons, many are real guns but with their names changed.
Real:
Shepard Arms P38 9mm pistol - Walther P38.
Petri .38 Airweight Revolver - S&W Model 60.
Braun 9mm Parabellum - Luger pistol.
Hampton Carbine - De Lisle Carbine.
Hampton MPL 9mm SMG - Walther MPL.
AK-47 Assault Rifle - AK-47
Morris Model 14 Speargun
Sportsman EX Crossbow
Gordon 9mm SMG - Sterling SMG
M79 Grenade Launcher
Geldmacher SVD Sniper Rifle - Dragunov SVD.
Bacalov Corrector - Thompson Contender.
Fictional:
Laser Gun - A 500 shot beam weapon that vaporizes targets.
Super Atomic Laser Weapon - An improved Laser Gun that is able to discharge more frequently and vaporises bodies.
Briefcase - A portable Rocket Launcher.
In addition, there are a variety of ammunition choices for many of the weapons. The standard for most guns is the full metal jacket bullet. Alternatives are cyanide and phosphorus tipped rounds, as well as Dum-dum bullets. Their effects are hallucinations, burns, and excessive bleeding, respectively.
Gadgets
Barrette
A simple lock pick disguised as a fashionable hair accessory, its second function is a potent poison capsule used similarly to a knife.
Coin
A little spare change. When thrown, it creates an easy distraction for a stealthy move.
Body Remover
A very powerful acid, which only reacts with dead flesh, used to instantly remove corpses in order to avoid detection.
Spy Glasses
Stylish 60's sunglasses with many secret functions. To begin with, the glasses only have a camera with a zoom feature. But later on, the glasses gain other gadgets which can detect mines and see infra-red beams.
Cigarette Lighter / Welder
As well as being a simple lighter, the second function of this gadget is a high powered welding torch used to cut through padlocks.
Stun / Sleeping / Acid Gas
Each disguised as a feminine perfume bottle, these are short range gas weapons: one is a stun gas, which will leave the enemy confused; the second is a sleeping gas which induces sleep for around a minute and the third, acid gas, is a very deadly weapon.
Camera Disabler
This gadget, when placed over a camera lens, plays a re-recorded stream of video footage of the area it is monitoring, so the player can sneak past without being seen.
Lipsticks
Each lipstick cleverly contains a different explosive, they are a mainly used as a replacement for the game's lack of grenades. The first is a simple impact explosive, the second is a proximity explosive (that sticks to walls and ceilings) and the third is a timed explosive with a five-second fuse.
Belt Buckle / Zip Cord
This belt buckle (in the shape of the Venus symbol) inhabits a grappling hook with a high powered winch, used to access high or out of reach areas.
Robotic Poodle
This gadget is used to distract guard dogs, when released, it makes use of pheromones to distract the dogs thus preventing them from giving away the player's position.
Code Breaker
An electronic piece of equipment that, when placed on keypads, unlocks keypad encoded doors.
Trivia
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
Cate Archer was modeled after real-life model Mitzi Martin. She was voiced by Kit Harris in the first game and Jen Taylor in the second game.
Cate Archer's full name is Catherine Ann Archer.
All NOLF games are powered by Monolith's homegrown Lithtech graphics engine: NOLF 1 is based on the "Talon" version of Lithtech, while NOLF 2 and Contract J.A.C.K. run off the more recent "Jupiter" version.
It is never explained in any of the games what H.A.R.M. stands for. However, during one of the missions, intelligence items that can be collected by the player humorously detail the exchange between the crime organization and the Hair Alternative Replacement Membership club in a dispute over the H.A.R.M. "trademark".
In the game F.E.A.R. there is a billboard standing in a warehouse with the same logo as the H.A.R.M organisation. It reads: Heater And Refrigerator Manufacturing.
Several characters from the first game make a return in the sequel. The only characters not to return are Baron & Baroness Dumas, Ubas, Inge Wagner, Bialek, Mr. Smith and Tom Goodman, although there is a level which deals with the history of Smith and Goodman's characters.
The original game came with a second bonus musical CD which had an assortment of 60's themed tunes.
In the first game, if Cate Archer attacks and kills a monkey NPC, the game ends with the message "Unacceptable Simian Casualties". This is a reference to GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64, where killing too many civilians during the single-player game would result in mission failure with the message "Unacceptable Civilian Casualties".
The space suits are the identical to the space suits from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The mysterious device known as the CT-180, referred to several times in intelligence pieces throughout NOLF, is unveiled in NOLF2 as the Utility Launcher.
In an overheard conversation, two security guards talk about a new TV series called "The Prisoner", starting "next week". Since "The Prisoner" started airing on October 1, 1967, this would put the game in that time frame.
See also
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way
Contract J.A.C.K.
External links
NOLF1 official site
No One Lives Forever series at MobyGames
VU/Sierra Official Forum- Sierra/VU Games No One Lives Forever games series official forum
Fansites
NOLF Girl Original Fansite
UnityHQ.net Community/fansite Site runs servers for all NOLF games.
Spawnsite.net Fansite dedicated to NOLF2 and Contract J.A.C.K.
UnityHQ forum Active nolfing community forum
The Glue Factory NOLF Community forum
No One Lives Forever 3 Petition - Petition to bring back franchise
