It’s not the most polished game but Cold Winter delivers an elaborate storyline through an action-packed FPS.
As a PS2 owner, I often feel I get the “short end of the stick” when it comes to first person shooters that are on several platforms. That also means that I tend to immediately take notice of PS2 exclusives because I like the fact that no other systems have it. Killzone was a great success and one of my favourites. Why didn’t Cold Winter get more attention in the marketplace?
As a comparison, you could say that Cold Winter is very similar to any of the James Bond first person shooters in style. You are secret agent Andrew Sterling, involved in many different missions with access to a good assortment of weapons and gadgets. The storyline brings you from one part of the world to the next…the comparisons stop here. Cold Winter is so much better than any James Bond FPS that you’ve played on this generation of consoles.
This game’s strength is in the details. The player control has some interesting physics. You can pick up bodies and carry them to different locations. Andrew has the ability to knock over tables to use them as cover. You can pick up, pull, push, throw and drag different items in each level. I love picking up a fuel barrel, throwing it to a group of enemies and shooting it in mid-air.
Speaking of details, the storyline is as elaborate as any first person shooter I’ve ever played. At times, you’ll be watching a 10 to 15 minute long cut scene. All this accompanied by very talented voice acting (I’m not kidding). In terms of the complexity of the storyline, Cold Winter feels more like a Hollywood movie than most video games I’ve played. It truly keeps you motivated to finish a level to see what happens next.
The hit detection is such an important aspect in this genre, and it is fantastic! Someone is reading this thinking, who cares about hit detection? Don’t you hate it when you aim for a headshot and he falls down like you hit him in the leg? The one aspect that annoys me in many games of this genre is that you aim specifically at areas on the human body, and the impact on your foe is the same. Cold Winter does an amazing job at making a distinction where you shoot and how every weapon (20 different ones) has a different impact. This also affects how much body armour you can salvage from enemy gunmen. In other words, you learn quickly to aim for the head or the legs in order to maximize the amount you get.
They also brought a concept of creating certain items to help you along the way. Through exploration, you can find items that will help you assemble timed and fuel bombs, Molotov cocktails, lock picks and other various items that are very helpful in helping you progress throughout the game.
Graphically, Cold Winter is better than average…good but not great. Sierra decided to use a unique graphics engine and it has its strengths. It maximizes realism when you’re shooting your opponents. It’s almost “scary realistic” the way the bodies react being hit by bullets. Throw in a Molotov cocktail to see them scramble and eventually fall to the ground. It looks so real.
There’s great variety in the levels and this, along with the elaborate storyline, keeps you motivated to go from one level to the other. Some of these require a little more polish and originality. You can run into the same moveable object about a dozen times in each level. Other than this, the graphics are very similar to SWAT: Global Strike Team, published by Sierra as well. Nice, but not great.
Speaking of something missing, where’s the music? I remember the music in the main menu but it disappeared in several levels. In most levels, all you hear is the sound effects. The quality and the variety of these are pretty darn good! The screams of the enemies, the gunfire and explosions seem to jump out of your television.
Cold Winter offers both online and offline multiplayer with a total of 12 maps to choose from. The offline offers up to four player split-screen mode. You’ll notice a significant reduction in frame rate if you play with four people. The online multiplayer offers up to 8 players at a time and the game surprisingly maintains the same speed. Pretty good!
The bottom line is that I’d like to call out to all PS2 owners to give this one a try. The voice acting contributes to a very interesting storyline; the action is fast and fluid; the animation feels real and this is definitely one exclusive that everyone should try. I was pleasantly surprised at its quality and recommend it to all FPS fans.