Greedy capitalist stole my weapon!

 

Another great game from my childhood that still holds up really well is No One Lives Forever and it's sequel A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way. Part stealth game, part screwball comedy, part action game, and all of it dripping with swinging '60s style and is pure innocent fun. I don't know of any other wise-cracking female spy that can take people out with a banana peel, a robot kitten bomb, and lipstick grenades; all while handling all sorts of classic guns. 

The games themselves are great, but recently it's made headlines with the confusing (and still unsolved) legal status of the licensing rights to the game. Long story short, the original studio was bought out, merged, then assets sold off in such a confusing manner, that no company involved really knows who owns the rights to it anymore. The consequence being you cannot buy a copy of it anymore unless you happen to find the disks in a thrift store. 

On the bright side, this means you can actually pick up the games for free over at the fan revival site nolfrevival.tk. Some of them may require a little finesse to get running, but once again, free is free, and these games are classics that were way ahead of their time. 

I would say it's worth every penny, but hey, you don't even have to give up a single one!

However, if you are really hankering for more than just the originals, there is a new game called The Spy Who Shrunk Me, which was heavily inspired by the NOLF games, and aims to be somewhat of a spiritual successor. It ain't bad at all, and I highly recommend it, but just don't pass up the originals either!