Reviewed: July 2, 2005
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
Vivendi Universal Games
Sierra Entertainment
Developer
Swordfish Studios
Released: May 11, 2005
Genre: FPS
Players: 1-8
ESRB: Mature
8
9
9
7
8.9
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Cold Winter is the latest game to get tossed on the growing FPS heap for the PS2. With the competition growing in numbers and quality it really takes a special game to stand out, and Sierra has crafted just the right mix of spy-thrilling action and bloody combat to keep you glued to your Dual Shock for the 8-10 story mode and perhaps a few more hours of multiplayer after that.
Cold Winter tells the intriguing and clichéd story of Andrew Sterling, an MI6 secret agent who we join on his way to a brutal Chinese prison where he is tortured and tossed in a cell to rot away for the next six months until late one night, during a massive fireworks display, a mysterious female agent infiltrates the prison and sets Andrew free. Well, not entirely. She just lets you out of your cell and it’s up to you to kill a few hundred guards and blast your way out of the prison.
Once free from your captors, the story takes on even more twists as you apparently are now “dead”, a perfect cover for undertaking private mercenary operations for an old “friend”. But no matter how paper-thin the story is, how well written the script, how excellent the voice acting with authentic accents, it’s all just there to tie together numerous levels of bloody carnage.
There’s no reason to dance around the central issue. Cold Winter is an FPS game in its purest form. Andrew can carry two weapons at a time, but can only wield one of them. He can cycle through numerous types of grenades and Molotov cocktails and throw them with a dedicated button. He can heal at will with an unlimited med kit, although the act of healing takes several seconds during which you are subject to attack, even though Andrew will duck down while injecting himself.
But beyond the basics there are some other interesting gameplay elements tossed into the mix. Andrew can collect seemingly innocent items like a piece of wire, a bottle, a strip of cloth, then combine these items to create impromptu tools like lockpicks and Molotov Cocktails. It’s not exactly rocket science since these “inventions” are clearly listed with an itemized recipe list, but it is something.
Andrew will also be required to break or open a few thousand crates during his adventure. Inside you can find useful items like weapons, ammo, and body armor. There are also plenty of brown crates that are empty but provide temporary cover.
One interesting element is the context-sensitive interaction menu that pops up whenever you get close to an item you can interact with. Approach a table and you can push it, flip it, or use it for cover. The same goes for crates that you can either smash or pick up and throw. There are also large trash containers you can push ahead of you to block incoming fire. Just pick the action you want from the scrollable menu and push X to perform.
Andrew can run, jump, crouch, and even sprint. Click down the right stick and you aim down the barrel and go into a slow walk mode. Targeting is a bit loose but you can turn on an auto-assist that will help things out, especially against some of more elusive enemies. The only thing missing was a lean move to peek around corners.
The game desperately tries to emulate GoldenEye or perhaps Splinter Cell but there is virtually no stealth in the game. The enemy is quick to spot you and relentless once they do. And even though one of your earlier missions has you installing spy cameras to protect your safe house, that is about the extent of any gadgetry.
Even though Cold Winter is basically a frontal assault game there are a few places where tactics and strategy do come into play. You just don’t want to rush into a compound and start eating lead from a dozen snipers. Sneaking and using available cover has its advantages, and more often than not the enemy will be hiding near explosive containers that burn and explode with a most satisfying and destructive fireball.
The enemy AI is fairly intelligent. Enemies won’t blindly charge your position, but they also don’t move toward available cover, so taking them out is more about quick and precise sidestepping around corners or ducking and popping up from behind a wall or crate. The levels are designed to coral you into “arenas” where you will be assaulted by dozens of enemies, some stationary and others more mobile. It’s up to you to prioritize your targets.
The overall difficulty of Cold Winter varies depending on your chosen skill level. The game suggests the Normal mode when you start, which is what I ended up going with. It seemed fairly easy at first, and the unlimited health kit certainly took a bit of the edge off, but later in the game the difficulty ramped up significantly and I was praying for a safe spot where I could duck down for ten seconds and heal. Thankfully the game checkpoints often so you seldom have to replay more than a few minutes if you do die.
Cold Winter is a gorgeous FPS game with some truly spectacular lighting and special effects that put the game a close second behind Splinter Cell. The game is totally cinematic, almost like an interactive movie using all sorts of director-style camera angles and visual effects like motion blur and image streaking.
The opening level is set against a massive fireworks display, and I challenge you NOT to sit there and watch the “”show” for less than two minutes. It’s totally random and looks just like a real fireworks show. It even casts colored lighting through windows and doors creating real-time shadows. You just can’t imagine how good the lighting is in this game.
There is also great use of particle effects, fire, smoke, and volumetric fogging for smoke grenades, dust kicking up beneath chopper blades, or just the wind blowing through a dusty town square. One scene had me walking up a scaffolding, and the entire thing collapsed under a cloud of dust and when it settled I was face to face with a line of snipers along the far wall.
Explosions are powerful and realistic and I went out of my way to shoot anything that would blow up just to watch the realistic physics. Speaking of physics, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the phenomenal rag doll physics and location-sensitive damage model. Not since Soldier of Fortune have I seen bodies get ripped to shreds with such savage realism.
You can unload a clip starting at the ankle and working your way up the leg and just watch the poor sap dance and spin around convulsing. Shoot him in the arm and watch his torso twist or shoot him in the head and it flies back, or if you're lucky, it just explodes leaving a bloody stump behind. Blood realistically splatters and drips down walls, floors, the ground, or any nearby objects. Yeah, the game is that graphic. Deal with it.
Cold Winter has a musical score that matches it’s film-worthy presentation, at least when you can hear it. Much of the game is played sans music, which I supposed is good since it allows you to appreciate all the subtle ambient sounds and casually overheard conversations. When the action kicks in you might get a rise out of the soundtrack but most of the music is saved for the cutscenes.
Sound effects are clean and realistic with excellent sounds for the weapons and reload animations. The explosions are powerful and really gave my sub-woofer a workout. There is also plenty of ambient sounds like wind, water, the roar of an incoming chopper or the popping of distance fireworks in the opening level. There are also other subtle sounds like the creaking and splintering of wood before a floor collapses or a crate is smashed.
The highlight of the audio presentation has to be the outstanding voice performances by the entire cast. Each and every character delivers their lines with realistic emotions and appropriate accents; even the abundant use of the F-bomb sounds almost noble when delivered with proper British flavor.
Most gamers can polish off Cold Winter in 8-10 hours. The heal-at-will and relatively easy game design keeps things moving forward with little repetition. There is some sort of arbitrary grading scale but I could never figure it out. Even when I found all the intelligence items or killed all the enemies I would still get a poor grade.
I’m guessing that the completion time for each level factors into this grade significantly and I hate to rush through any game just for the sake of getting a good grade. That totally takes away from the realism. Still, for you perfectionists out there; you have a lot of secondary and optional fetch quests you can complete for each level.
Cold Winter also offers up a substantial multiplayer component with 4-player split-screen as well as eight-player online play with 12 maps, 30 player skins, and all your favorite modes like Last Man Standing. There are also team variations for all the multiplayer modes. The online play is surprisingly fluid, with a steady framerate.
Somewhere during the last few weeks while reviewing this game, Cold Winter dropped to $20 and can now be found lodged in the bargain bin with a few hundred other budget titles. While this is certainly a great deal for gamers on a budget, it will likely doom this game to an unfair and premature demise. Then again, if it can overcome the stigma of the $20 price point it might just attract a whole new group of gamers and the online community will grow even more. We can only hope.
Two weeks ago when this game was $40 I would have made a cautious recommendation, but now that you can play a game that is easily better than Rogue Agent and nearly approaches the presentation quality of Splinter Cell there isn’t a single reason you shouldn’t get yourself a copy of Cold Winter.
Sure, the story is hackneyed to the point of being a rip-off of just about every spy movie from the past ten years, but the script is great, the acting is better, and the gameplay just can’t be beat. This is some of the most violent and explosive combat you can experience on your PS2. Don’t miss out!