Cold Fear

Format: Playstation 2
So youre a coastguard on duty on the night that happens to have one of the biggest
storms man has ever seen. You receive a distress call from a Russian ship thats slap bang
in the middle of it. Being the dedicated coastguard you are, you board the ship to
investigate. You discover not only that you have Mother Nature on her time of month
taing it out on the sea, but that there is a gruesome !ombie cre" "ho fancy having you
and any other survivors as a main course. #ny other sensible bloe "ould have got off
the god$forsaen boat faster than a piss head running for the ebab shop, but not Tom
Hansen "hat a fool%
&t maes good ne"s for us ho"ever, as it means "e have a good game on our hands. 'ne
great thing about Cold Fear that youll notice from the start is that it is visually stunning.
(he environments are highly detailed and the "eather effects are done superbly. )ith the
added effect of the boat s"aying about all over place lie a teenager on too much WKD, it
is sometimes possible to feel slightly seasic. Many areas on the boat are appropriately
dar, and the graphics sho" that the boat has been around for a "hile, rather than being a
s*ueay clean ship that hasnt even left the doc. )ith these technically outstanding
visuals Cold Fear creates a very atmospheric e+perience at first.
,ven though the atmospheric graphics help dra" you in, Cold Fear does not live up to
the ings of the survival horror genre. (his is simply due to the fact that it is not as scary
as it could be. # lot of the scares that do come up and may mae you -ump no" and again
are te+tboo stuff, and although visually impressive, Cold Fear "ill probably not engage
your senses lie a decent horror game should. .orror games should mae you be on high
alert, listening to every sound in case some monster suddenly -umps out at you. (hey can
mae you nervous, and can even be tiring although youre sitting on your bacside. )hen
it comes to creating tension, Cold Fear is a little non$adventurous, and relies purely on its
atmospheric graphics to impress. #s a first impression it does "ell, after a "hile ho"ever
things become a bit predictable and even though the odd enemy might mae you -ump,
they then dont become too much of a challenge for Tom Hansen to deal "ith.
(he lac of decent scariness is a shame for "hat could have been a truly outstanding
survival horror. You see many parts of Cold Fear are spot on. (he plot is decent enough,
and the situation and place that you are in ties together really "ell. (he voice of Tom
Hansen does sound lie someone from the cast of Baywatch trying to be a tough marine
commando, but apart from that the rest of the voice acting is pretty good. (he developers
have also made the storm even better "ith the effective sound effects of the "ind, rain,
"aves, and even the sounds of the boat s"aying around in the "ater. (he firearms also
sound reasonably meaty, "hich adds to the satisfaction of blo"ing a"ay some !ombie
scum.
(he game play in Cold Fear is pretty solid and is en-oyable/ it is nothing ne" though that
"ill get into the horror hall of fame. (he controls are easy to handle, and enable you to
perform the action "ith ease. 0ressing R1 triggers aiming, and one handy action is being
able to move and aim at the same time so your al"ays ready for any foes that might be
hiding around corners. (he camera angles are also done "ell, and e+ploration is done in
the third person vie" being controlled by the left stic. 'ne thing that you might notice is
that Cold Fear is giving Resident Evil 4 a nod and a "in "ith this style of play. (he
main similarity is the aiming that is done over the shoulder, and the laser sight also helps
"ith accuracy. (he style of game play involves the standard finding eys to unloc doors,
and finding clues in order to progress etc. .o"ever, youll find yourself doing a lot of
bactracing at times that can become a little tedious.
'ne of the biggest challenges is the battle against the elements, "hich is one great
highlight of Cold Fear. )ith the ship being thro"n about lie a grenade thats about to
go off, you can be chuced overboard in an instant. 2oose ob-ects lying around can also
fly into you, possibly breaing many bones in the process. (here is also the typical live
"iring in convenient pools of "ater all over the place believe me this boat "ould not
pass a health and safety inspection.
'ne added challenge "ith the rolling ship is not -ust staying on the dec, but also aiming.
Many !ombies can only be illed "ith a headshot. (here is the alternative of shooting
them until they go do"n and then stepping on their head, but this isnt al"ays possible.
#iming in these conditions is a challenge at first, but is a sill that you should soon
master. (his careful aiming along "ith the fact that there isnt al"ays a lot of ammo lying
around is the biggest part of the 3survival tactics of the game.
(o summarise, Cold Fear is an en-oyable action game that easily satisfies. (echnically
the game is cracing/ its -ust a huge shame that more inspiration "as not made in the
games horror prospects. (he developers have got the cold factor spot on, ho"ever in
order to be a true survival horror the fear needs to be turned up *uite a fe" notches.
4erdict5 6789