Despite the good graphics, Cold Fear just doesn't deliver on the Fear... or good gameplay.
Cold Fear... I wanted to like this game, I really did... I hope the true venom of my anger comes through in my words throughout my review of this horrible waste of twenty dollars... Not to mention that caused a tiny bit of my video game respect to die inside. When I did finally turn this bad boy on, I did get a true feeling of the cold... Knowing it is somewhat in northern territory, and the icy feel of the splashing water and just an overall feeling of eerie cold.
To be fair, it is not all bad. The graphics are actually done very well. The visual effects of splashes of icy mist releasing over the guardrails made me actually feel there, the rocking of the boat added a sense of frustration to aiming that im sure was realistic. The flashes of lightning in the middle of the storm as you parade outside in the middle of what had to be a hurricane made me definitely haul ass for cover, fearing id be screwed somehow and be struck by lightning eventually. It also seems they must really like blood... It is everywhere, Like someone walked around with a bucket and threw it like it was on sale. It is overly gorey just for the sake of it.
You play as Tom Hansen, A member of the elite Coast Guard...yes, the coast guard people... What were the marines busy? Navy had to sit this one out? Anyway, the Grade D student of national defense was sent in to check up on an apparently abandoned Russian tanker... I say apparently because something was killing the first team that was sent in... They caught it all on video... Bob Saget better be warming up that ten thousand for that video..
Anyway, As Tom, you head your way around this ship... Getting fired at by the crew... The people on board fire at you before even asking question one.... You put them down without saying a word, so much for international relations... Why don't they say "Hello, this is what’s going on, can you please help us you big strong man almost bred for the Aryan race?"... A little background story in the beginning, something.
I can chalk that up to fear..
Speaking of Fear... I didn’t get a lot of that from this game, maybe it's because of my survival horror tested nerves, my coca cola derived sugar high or just general disinterest in what was going on, I only had one bit of fear from it... That I could not cancel the bank from taking the money I spent on it out of my account..,.That could be chalked up to the basest fear of all..
. One thing I cannot chalk up to fear is the pistol. You get a handgun in the beginning of the game, with a handy flashlight strapped to it... Eat that Doom fans!.. The gun apparently is Coast Guard issue... Which makes me wonder where they get their guns... Number one, it is not powerful in the slightest, and it only has seven bullets in a single clip, that would not be that bad, but considering you can only carry a total of forty two... It gets very frustrating, very quickly.
Speaking of frustrating.... You can not carry health packs with you... I'm sorry, I will repeat that.... YOU CANNOT CARRY HEALTH PACKS WITH YOU! I could understand back in the NES era if they wanted to put a little cheat or bit of difficulty by adding that little trick, but ladies and gentlemen it is now 2006, you would think that because every other character in this genre... much less of games all together that they would be able to let you carry some... maybe even one, I wouldn’t feel any weaker of a man if they did...It could be rainbow colored for all I care.
On to the controls... It is a strange hodgepodge of any normal survival horror game and that of Resident Evil 4'S over the shoulder aiming scheme... It doesn’t blend the two well honestly... Part is due to the camera that moves like a pregnant retarded cow on downers< moves when it wants and how it wants at the weirdest angles, reducing the off chance of seeing an enemy at any time.> The other two is that it is just somehow nicer to keep the one camera on, over your shoulder so you can see all you need to see and fire at it with your worthless pistol...
The downside being you move at the speed of a crippled snail over salt while in the aiming mode... The price for success I suppose. I didn’t mind the slow moving as much, that just meant fewer times of having to reorient myself when the camera took one of its many and unexplained camera shifts that I believe caused more sickness than the shifting of the boat itself.
The enemies are nothing to write home about... Unless you live with people who like to hear about crappy enemy designs, then call FedEx ASAP. They just look... really uninspired... They are faster than you, which isn’t saying much and the only way to kill them is.... shoot off or destroy their head... A feat made almost impossible by the bad camera and horrible shooting in the game itself. What are these things exactly... Even normal zombies tent to just lay down and die... For **** and giggles I did just unload two full clips in a creature...Fourteen bullets and it continued to get up...Good lord. They are even tougher than 50-cent... he could only take nine.
Overall, this game just isn't worth it... The environment and underlying vibe of having no idea of what’s going on is nice, but its predictable and makes you feel like you have no idea what’s going on and can't call for backup to bail you out... Just go with Resident evil 4 instead, you and Capcom will be glad you did.