YOU DON’T KNOW JACK

A QUICK LOOK AT THE 2003 NOLF SPIN-OFF, CONTRACT JACK

n Cate Archer’s adventures are entrenched in many gamers’ memories like a flashback-inducing LSD trip, but not as many people remember the spin-off

Contract JACK. Taking place between the events of both No One Lives Forever games, the game casts you as HARM hitman John Jack, who single-handedly takes on a rival criminal organisation.

Contract JACK stripped back many of the interesting systems, doing away with the stealth, character levelling and gadgetry in favour of a more linear FPS approach. Where NOLF 2 felt like a precursor to sprawling open-world shooters, Contract

JACK went down the corridor shooter path to its detriment.

The four-hour campaign may not have justified its full-game asking price back in the day, but fans of the series’ lore may enjoy this brisk detour into the world of the series’ baddies. Given that you can grab it for free through the NOLF Revival website (see fellow boxout), you could say there’s no… HARM in checking it out? Ah, delicious puns.

Not that Craig Hubbard is desperate for you to play it. He says the game was forced to strip back on humour, the Sixties setting and the female protagonist because according to publisher Sierra those were the reasons the series didn’t sell well. “Overall, it was just an expansion and our main focus was on ramping up for FEAR, so Contract

Jack ended up not getting the attention it could have,” he concludes. “It would have been preferable not to release it.”