If Monty Python, James Bond and Half Life were put in a blender...
NOLF is the story of Cate Archer, female superspy out to stop the forces of HARM, an organization of no-goodnicks whose spokesperson is a hand puppet. Sound odd? It is, a little, but the game's goofy sense of humor pervades everything from the overheard conversations of henchmen to the gadgets you'll use, which are cleverly disguised as things you'd find in a woman's purse (exploding lipsticks, anyone?).
The best part of NOLF is most definitely its story, which combines a good proportion of drama, silliness and intrigue. The cutscenes do have a tendency to be a bit long-winded and boring at times, although the use of mostly cinematic camera angles helps. The voice acting is terrific, and the writing spot-on.
The gameplay is no slouch, either, of course. The weapons are fairly well-balanced, and the game's conceit of using different types of ammunition to achieve different purposes is interesting. The gadgets are used cleverly, and there is often more than one way to approach any given situation.
The other major problem has to do with the game's execution of stealth. Stealth is an important part of NOLF, as setting off alarms will cause an irritating sound to be played throughout the level, as well as alerting every enemy in the area to your presence. Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing when you're safely hidden, and it's too easy for the enemy to find you, or a body you left in your wake, and sound the alarm. Fortunately, if you are discovered, NOLF is fun as a run-and-gun game as well, and stealth is almost always an option as opposed to mandatory.
NOLF's level design is bursting at the seams with creativity. You'll swim inside sunken ships, explore a sixties space station (complete with swank nightclub) and leap out of an exploding plane - without a parachute. Going through levels like these are fun, but the level design does encounter some problems in that it's easy to get stuck if you don't know the correct path to take (i.e. use your grappling hook here, swim through here, etc.)
Overall, NOLF is a fun game that is worth playing despite a few flaws. It's definitely worth a try.