Finally a new horror game for all xbox lovers, but how does it compare to Gamecube's Resident Evil 4 and the other horro
User Rating: 7.3 | Cold Fear XBOX
Finally a new horror game for all xbox lovers, but how does it compare to Gamecube's Resident Evil 4 and the other horror games available? Seeing as it is Ubisoft that is releasing this game it sure has to be of some gameplay value since Ubisoft is known for releasing great games. Brother in Arms, Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia just to name a few. The story is quite good and as the game passed by, I wanted to know more about what really happened and why the outcome was as it was. The story is in present day and you start off by being sent to an Russian ship that seemed to have problem in the storm that had suddenly come. As your character, Tom Hansen, steps aboard on the ship, he instantly feels that something ain't normal about the ship. As he goes through the ship searching for people, he is suddenly being attacked by people that doesn't seem to be living. After a closer look he see's they are infected by "Exocels", a scientific project by the Russian's on the ship that have went horrible wrong. Unfortunately for Hansen who now is stuck on the ship since his own ship had to turn back due to the storm. As Hansen comes further into the ship he finds notes, diary's and what not, that let him know alot more about what really happened on the ship. Since it is based on a ship, well the first part of the story, don't expect to have an easy time. it's a really tough storm out there and when you are on the deck, Hansen has a chance to fall into the water if the winds get strong enough, and believe me, they will be that time to time. This can of course be a big advantage for Hansen too since he can use this to make his enemies fall of the boat and to a safe death. It's all about timing. Another thing that requires timing when on deck is the high waves that sweeps onto the boat. Getting hit by one of these ain't nice and it will be noticeable on your lifebar. These doesn't come all the time either so timing is essential and to reach some parts of the boat, you must go through one of these scenarios. As the game moves along, you will face endless groups of zombies, a few russian mercenaries and sometimes, you will face some kind of super Exocel. The game is quite linear from time to time since there are often just one way to do to get pass a certain door. Would be nice to see some more options here and the game always leads you in the right way. If you go the wrong way, Hansen will talk to himself saying "This doesn't look like the right way" which makes you go "Ahah" and turn off to go on the right way to find your objective. It's actually a nice feature on the ship where you will go back and forward tons of time since you won't have a map and there are alot of rooms to be searched through. The decision to not give us a map is something I don't understand. Just makes me wanna close down the XBox for awhile in frustration when I can't find a certain room. Weapons and ammunitions are found on corpse of the zombies/mercenaries. It seems like the ammo you need the most are to be found on the corpse. I found that when I was using my Ak i found tons of AK ammo, and vice versa when I was using my pistol. Thank god for that since it's a pain in the behind to aim. At least in the beginning when you are on the ship. The best angle to aim at is the "Shoulder view" that lets you look over the shoulder on Hansen and with an infrared laser aim at various targets. Sounds easy? It isn't. The ship goes from left to right when you are on deck which almost makes it impossible to get a good hit on any enemies. While inside, it get's somewhat easier but the fact that you must get a headshot on an enemy can make you loose more ammo than actually required for the situation. The best thing is to shoot the zombie down and just stomp on the head. New players in the horror game genre will find the aiming frustrating at first since it's really hard to actually hit something in the beginning. For experienced players it won't be a problem at all. The graphics in Cold Fear is good. The developer, Darkworks, have made a huge work in actually making the storm feel like a storm. It has to be one of the best storms ever made when it comes to game playing. Other than that, it's nothing more worth mentioning besides that they do a good job. The sound effects could have been better. I never got scared once when I played the game and that is one of the best things when you play horror games, the feeling that someone is right behind you all the time. I never felt that once which was a huge letdown. All in all, it is a good game that provides you a great story that really get's you involved with the game. I recommend it to everyone that do not own a gamecube, since RE4 is so much better than this game. I'd like to call this more of an action game than a horror title though. 
