Product information

ASIN

B0000A4F0R

Release date

November 11, 2003

Customer Reviews

3.9 43 ratings

3.9 out of 5 stars

Best Sellers Rank

#75,797 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
#2,651 in PC-compatible Games

Pricing

The strikethrough price is the List Price. Savings represents a discount off the List Price.

Package Dimensions

7.4 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches; 4.16 Ounces

Type of item

Video Game

Rated

Mature

Item model number

020626720915

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer

Yes

Item Weight

4.2 ounces

Manufacturer

Vivendi Universal

Date First Available

June 19, 2003

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Product Description

You are John Jack—deadly H.A.R.M. operative. An arsenal of lethal weapons is at your disposal as you fight across expansive environments and battle enemies with one goal in mind—stopping you! Do you have what it takes?

From the Manufacturer

Trained to survive. Paid to kill. Explore the dark side of the No One Lives Forever universe as John Jack, a rugged anti-hero in the services of H.A.R.M. The legendary chief assassin for H.A.R.M. organization has given Contract J.A.C.K. a mission--whether he wants it or not. An Italian criminal organization has plans to take H.A.R.M. down and Contract J.A.C.K. must stop them. In doing so, players contend with deadly enemies and survive against ridiculous odds to complete the mission. Intense firefights and cataclysmic predicaments are constant in this exhilarating step forward for the No One Lives Forever franchise.

Features:

Several harrowing missions spread across 10 new single-player levels
15 new multiplayer maps with Doomsday, Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch modes
An arsenal of new weapons and gadgets like deadly Bacalov Corrector hand cannons and heavily armed assault vehicles
New H.A.R.M. enemies, including UNITY agents, Evil Alliance Thugs, and Volkov's arch nemesis, Il Pazzo
Includes level-building tools to create and share mods online with other J.A.C.K. recruits
All-new storyline with an amazing cliffhanger that sets the stage for NOLF 2

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Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

43 global ratings

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Holly

Fun for Series Fans

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 2, 2023

Verified Purchase

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.

Helpful

CyanideBlizzard

The game that could of been, but never was

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 26, 2012

Verified Purchase

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.

One person found this helpful

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K. Purdy

Simple, somewhat short, but enjoyable shooter.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 24, 2020

Verified Purchase

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.

Helpful

Glen Saxon

Poor follow up to the NOLF series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 29, 2004

Verified Purchase

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.

3 people found this helpful

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Albert

Over-hyped disappointment

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 19, 2003

Verified Purchase

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.

8 people found this helpful

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ojait2

Jack is back

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 2, 2012

Verified Purchase

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.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 21, 2015

Verified Purchase

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

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 27, 2007