Cate Archer

Cate Archer
No One Lives Forever character
First game	The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000)
Voiced by	Kit Harris (NOLF) Jen Taylor (NOLF2)
Motion capture	Mitzi Martin (NOLF)

Catherine Ann "Cate" Archer, codenamed The Fox, is a player character and the protagonist in the No One Lives Forever video game series by Monolith Productions. Cate, a covert operative for British-based counter-terrorism organization UNITY, is the main character in The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000) and No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (2002), and is also featured in Contract J.A.C.K., an official prequel to the second game.

Appearances

Archer is the only playable character in the series' main games, The Operative: No One Lives Forever and No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way. In the latter, there is a cooperative multiplayer level in which one needs to rescue Archer while she is unconscious, playing as a UNITY agent. She also makes a short appearance (as non-player character) and is a playable multiplayer character in Contract J.A.C.K.

Cate Archer was born in Scotland in late March 1942 to a privileged English-Scottish family. Her mother died soon after she was born and her father committed suicide in 1956. Prior to joining UNITY, Archer pursued a career as a professional thief, on the one hand to provide for herself and on the other because she found it gratifying. One day H.A.R.M. member asked her to join them, but not only she refused, she also robbed him. She was discovered by agent Bruno Lawrie when Archer stole his watch that had an in-built tracking device. By the time she arrived at her flat, Lawrie was waiting there. Admiring her talent and bravery, he decided to give her a future as an operative for UNITY - an international agency charged with combating terrorism around the globe.

Before the First H.A.R.M Incident, Archer mainly dealt with minor ignorable assignments. She was the first female operative of UNITY and was not trusted enough to perform serious tasks. She was not completely satisfied with her career at UNITY, since she thought that there was no real value in her daily work. In September 1967, seven active UNITY field operatives were killed by a mysterious assassin Dmitrij Volkov, who always left a red lily upon his victim. This emergency situation forced the organization to call upon Archer to undertake her first major assignment, though Mr. Smith mistrusted her for being a woman. She and Bruno Lawrie went to Morocco, thereby beginning the chain of events which unfold in the first game.

Her first missions turnes out to be disasters. Bruno and an ambassador died during the misfortune in Morocco. She was then tasked to escort Dr. Otto Schenker, an East German scientist, to England. Later on, as Cate and Dr. Schenker flied back to England, he got captured by H.A.R.M. squad, led by Magnus Armstrong, who knocked Cate unconscious. Armstrong decided to spare Cate's life, believing that she is a fellow Scot. Cate awakened and was soon thrown from the plane as it exploded.

After surviving the fall via parachute, Cate had to explain things to Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones. Despite Mr. Smith disliking her, Mr. Jones gave her one more chance. Then she was introduced to a new partner, Tom Goodman, a UNITY agent from the American branch, to watch her. He turned out to be silly and did not trust her. He tried to prevent her from completing tasks on her own or pushed her into dangers. In the freighter she was knocked unconscious by Armstrong, who spared her life by locking her in a cargo hold, thus ignoring Inge Wagner's insistence that she must be liquidated.

Later, Cate finds out about a connection between H.A.R.M. and a large manufacturing firm named Dumas Industrial Enterprises, which was operated by Baron Archibald Dumas. The Baron didn't show that much intelligence and suspicion. Later, Cate infiltrated the Dumas corporate headquarters, gaining access to their highly guarded safe, and photographing some relevant documents, despite heavy opposition, including a deathmatch against Wagner. However, after photographing the headquarter's final document, Cate escaped the headquarters despite witnessing Tom being shot by Volkov.

Meanwhile, H.A.R.M. started infecting and killing innocent people using Dr. Schenker's biological explosive development. When the chemical was injected into the living host, it fed on organic material until it culminated in a massive explosion. H.A.R.M. stated that if their ransom demands were not met, they would continue to use human time bombs to cause destruction around the world. Cate found Dr. Schenker in Washington and rescued him. She then traveled to a Caribbean island and space station in search of an antidote. The space station got struck by a meteor shower, causing it to implode, yet she managed to escape. Cate obtained a large antidote sample and used an escape pod to return to Earth safely.

Now in possession of the antidote, UNITY needed the list of infected people to find out who had administered it, during which Cate believed that the real mastermind behind H.A.R.M.'s events was the Baron's wife, Baroness Felicity Dumas. Later, Cate heades to the Dumas' château located in the German Alps. While there, she was knocked unconscious by Armstrong, who spared her life by locking her in a cell. The Baroness gloated at Cate about her plans to take over the world and avenge her offenders among British aristocrats, but Cate told her that she had suffered the same, yet didn't want a revenge. The Baroness said that the world wasn't black-and-white and leaved. Cate then provoked Armstrong into an ensuing fist fight. After being defeated, Armstrong agreed to let Cate go, and defected H.A.R.M. by telling her where the list was located. Cate then realized that she was infected after being shot with a blowgun by Wagner in Hamburg days ago. The Baroness mentioned that Wagner must had set the count-down to 10 days instead of 10 hours. Eventually, Cate obtains another antidote and later, the list located in the Baroness's hidden lair.

After she had traveled down the mountain via a gondola lift, defeating the H.A.R.M. troopers, The Baroness's female guards, helicopters in the process, she encountered Volkov and a gun duel ensued. During their duel, an explosion caused an avalanche to send Volkov over the edge of a cliff. Later, Cate was confronted by the Baroness, and another gun duel ensued. After defeating the Baroness, she revealed that she had also infected herself and was about to detonate. Cate hurried to clear the civilians off the streets, and hid inside a building as the Baroness exploded.

Back at UNITY's headquarters, Cate was congratulated for a mission well done, and everybody left to grab some rest. Also, Mr. Smith apologized for his sexism towards her. Cate arrived at a graveyard where Bruno had been buried to pay her respects. She was then confronted by the supposedly long-dead Tom Goodman, who revealed that he was the real traitor within UNITY, and a final gun duel ensued. Cate managed to injure Tom, but Smith shot Tom, causing him to fall into a freshly dug grave. Smith then tried to shoot Cate as well, but Jones shot Smith and reveals that Bruno was still alive. Smith attempted his one last effort to shoot Cate, but Cate killed Smith just in time. With Tom and Smith shot dead, Jones and Bruno decide to tell Cate the truth; Bruno falsified his death so that Cate and the rest of UNITY could find the real traitor. Seven years ago, Smith had been taken out of the field by UNITY due to his inadequate fieldwork. In order to sabotage UNITY as a way to avenge himself, Smith joined H.A.R.M. to kill the real Tom Goodman, and replaced him with an impostor, who was a vacuum cleaner salesman Melvin Blitzny. When Cate's investigation initially had foiled H.A.R.M.'s plan, both Smith and his mole had been forced to reveal their true intentions. Cate reacted in shock upon finding out the truth.

By the time the incident was resolved, she had gained the respect of her superiors, and came to be regarded as one of UNITY's top field agents. In the sequel she meets Isako. Isako has a similar story and is indebted to The Director of H.A.R.M. who toys with her, promising Isako freedom if she brings him Cate’s head then says she is his and he’ll never let her go. After Isako had failed a third time to kill Archer, she has fallen from grace in the eyes of her master. When The Director tries to shoot Isako off for her failure, Cate Archer saves her life by disarming the villain with shuriken, thus freeing Isako from her bonds of honor. In order to re-pay her debt to Archer, she agrees to stop trying to kill her.

Character design

Archer's appearance in The Operative: No One Lives Forever was visually styled after model and actress Mitzi Martin

The in-game model of Cate Archer was styled after model and actress Mitzi Martin. This was a marketing decision made by the publisher, Fox Interactive, which used its feature film casting department to look for an appropriate model internationally. Archer's voice was provided by American voice actress Kit Harris, who also did the voice of the Inge Wagner character. Originally, Harris recorded the Scottish protagonist's voice in a stronger Scottish accent. This was changed after a Scottish producer of the game felt that the particular accent used was too lower class, and an inappropriate choice; Harris re-recorded her lines with a "British bent" instead.

In the game's sequel, the face was changed to more closely resemble English model and actress Jean Shrimpton. Voice acting was done by American actress Jen Taylor, who also voiced Isako and the ninjas.

Aspects of Archer's character and look bear similarity to that of 1960s-era comic strip character Modesty Blaise and of Monica Vitti's portrayal of Blaise in the 1966 film adaptation.

Reception

In 2007, Cate was included by Tom's Games on the list of the 50 greatest female characters in video game history ("As a delightfully retro 1960s British agent, Archer is the female equivalent of James Bond. She's irresistibly sexy, stubbornly headstrong and proficient with all sorts of Bond-like gadgets"), That same year, Cate was ranked sixth in ActionTrip's list of top "video game chicks", and the site's writer stated: "Apart from being one of most attractive game heroines out there, she's the female equivalent of James Bond and not many chicks can stand up to that. She's sexy and there's simply nothing she can't handle." In 2008, Play listed her as one of their favorite female characters in their sixth "Girls of Gaming" issue, stating she's "as badass as Bourne and as suave as Bond," while noting their desire to see her return in another title. That same year, she was ranked as 25th on GameDaily's list of "hottest game babes" list, cited as attractive despite her conservative attire compared to other female characters, and third in UGO.com's list of "girls of gaming", compared to Emma Peel and called a female counterpart to Bond in terms of appeal. She was one of the characters featured in UGO's 2008 list of top 11 spies in all media, stating she "perfectly captures the swinging spy style". In 2009, this "smart, tough heroine" was one of the 64 characters chosen for the GameSpot's poll All Time Greatest Game Hero, but lost in the first round against Strider Hiryu. In 2011, GamesRadar named her "Miss 2000" in their article on the sexiest new characters of the decade. Tom's Guide included this "smooth operator" on their 2013 list of the 20 "hottest video game babes" for making "international espionage classy and sexy all at once." In a 2021 article Collider said Archer was "a wonder of a character, with a razor-sharp wit and a wardrobe to match."

The games also showed her fight against sexism of Mr. Smith and Tom and her hard way to prove herself. In contrast with The Baroness Dumas who is angry at the world and especially the aristocrats, Cate is kind, assertive person and can forgive people for past deeds, despite suffering the same things. While not being an aristocrat, Isako has similar background and is an anti-villian. She takes honor very seriously and refuses to betray The Director even when offered to. After being saved by Archer, she offers her service, but Cate just wants her to be free. Some fans theorise that Cate Archer has an implied romance with Isako.

See also

• List of female action heroes

Further reading

• Kirk Hamilton (January 13, 2014). "Gaming's Greatest Unsung Heroine". Kotaku. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
• Lauren Morton (November 9, 2020). "A toast to No One Lives Forever on its 20th birthday". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
• Smith, Ed (January 22, 2016). "Replaying 'No One Lives Forever' Shows Us That Sexism in Gaming Never Dies". Vice.com. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
• April May, Rebecca (May 8, 2019). ""Female spies are really interesting" – Tomb Raider writer Rhianna Pratchett wants to reboot the cult-classic No One Lives Forever". GamesRadar. Retrieved October 6, 2021.