Alien Bases, Enemy Starships, Dank Space Dungeons… been there, done that, blew them all to bits along with their equally clichéd inhabitants. Don't get me wrong, these settings have made their way into many great games, but a change from the norm is always welcome in gaming. And so, like a welcome gust of fresh air, No One Lives Forever arrives in overcrowded FPS genre and distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack with style.

You probably know the story of No One Lives Forever by now, especially considering the PR push Fox has put behind this title. Agent Cate Archer, Secret Agent for UNITY and largely inexperienced Super Spy, is suddenly thrust into the limelight when many of UNITY's top agents are killed. The finger of blame is pointed at up and coming terrorist organisation HARM, leading Cate Archer into a series of encounters with countless HARM goons and master criminals.

Variety is the spice of life. It's also the spice of gaming, making No One Lives Forever a metaphorical five-course spicy Cajun feast. With extra spice. And a side order of jalapeno peppers. Obviously, at heart it's a first person shooter and these sections devoted mainly to shooting countless enemies are invariably polished and a joy to play through, but there is much more to the game than that. The Monolith level designers did an excellent job of convincingly portraying a slew of 60s settings throughout the globe and this attention to detail didn't stop them from producing a ton of levels either as the game has around sixty in all. Cate's journeys will take her to numerous secret HARM bases, Alpine and Moroccan resorts, an under-construction tower block, an aeroplane mid-flight, a moving train… in true super spy style she visits more locations in a few missions than some characters see in an entire game.