Cold Fear – Review

After a cinematic intro sequence complete with thumping Marilyn Manson soundtrack, you’re thrown into the thick of the action as you begin your search of the stricken vessel, yes Cold Fear is set on a ship and not inside the usual zombie ridden town or complex. You play the main character who is going to be left on the boat alone in pursuit of his mission. Motion sickness victims beware as the boat is in heavy seas and tilts and heaves so it might be worthwhile looking for your motion sickness bands. Driving winds and rain obscure your vision from the getgo and the realistic battering you’ll take making your way along the side of the ship promise a classy game. You know when you look at this title that this is something different and it’s really well done. The overall atmosphere puts you on edge from the start and that’s before you even get a hint of a zombie. Cold Fear certainly seems to live up to it’s title.

Gameplay
The purpose of this game has already been mentioned and it follows the usual survival horror storyline where you play the hero who has to survive to the end whilst killing all the nasties as you go all the while uncovering a maniacal storyline. You make you way around the ship in third person view however you can change this to an over the shoulder first person view by holding in the left trigger (aiming view), I actually found myself using this for much of the game, however you cannot run in this view. You examine rooms as you go and most of the time it is fairly linear as you will find many of the doors locked and its a case of trial and error to find where to go next. Basically you search the rooms for objects, documents, ammo and health all the while killing the enemy soldiers and zombies. There are relatively few puzzles in this title but you will still be required to figure things out for yourself in order to progress. This will lead to the usual survival horror backtracking which occurs in most games of this genre. It can be a little frustrating if you overlook something and because you don’t have a map, there is no way of retracing your steps other than to use your memory. You will get used to the controls but they may seem a little uncomfortable at first and you might struggle with getting your character to go to the places you want. Again, this could be a personal preference and others may enjoy the default control setup. The good thing is that you have the option to change the controls from the start as well as set your own difficulty from easy through hard. When you complete the game you can unlock ‘extreme’ difficulty which sounds like a total nightmare. One of the best ways of ridding yourself of zombies is to shoot them in the head as that way you know they’re definitely dead. Another alternative is to shoot at their body then run over and kick their head in. It’s your call, whatever form of zombie killing takes your fancy really.

Overall the gameplay is pretty good and is certainly above average in comparison to some horror titles out there. If you like Resident Evil you’ll be used to how it feels already and will most likely enjoy it. Shame there is no map though. One small hint, make sure you read every note you pick up in game.

Graphics
There is no denying that this title is graphically beautiful. From the first glimpse, you will be wowed by the subtle lighting techniques used. There are fantastic shadows cast over the rooms as you travel through them and the various climate conditions add to the feel of the game. The heavy rain and the way the ship tilts from side to side makes you feel like you really are onboard that ship, whilst the dark gloomy, rather claustrophobic atmosphere is extremely creepy and isolating. Other things I noticed whilst play was the lightening effects, which at times illuminate zombies through windows that aren’t actually there, this really puts you on edge and is a brilliant little touch. Some of the best effects in the game are from the various bodies of water in it such as the sea and the emergency sprinklers. As you travel through the sprinklers it affects their path and your gamescreen drips with water. When you’re walking along the side of the ship you are often battered with waves and spray which all seem very realistic. The main character is pretty adequate and looks a lot like the Resident Evil characters with their protective vests and gun in the air as they walk along. The fact that the game is set on a ship means that ultimately you’re not going to have a huge variety of environments but there are nice changes between rooms where you may find yourself in a well lit medical room one moment and then plunged into complete darkness in the next room. The zombies are graphicially great because there are many diverse zombies walking around on the ship looking to gnaw on your jugular. Some have parts of their heads blown off, some are dripping with blood and some are sneakily acting semi-normal so they can lull you into a false sense of security and then get ya! I didn’t notice any major frame rate problems with this title or any serious glitches. It seems fairly polished but it would have been nice if the main characters movement was a little more fluid and realistic.

Sound
Wow. Ok so the sound on this title is pretty good. It’s so good that when you have it on surround sound you may well find yourself looking around the room at times as you hear yet another eery noise from someplace on the ship. The rain belting against the side of you and the ship is also very authentic and the waves crashing serve as a constant reminder of the fact you’re all alone at sea and it sure aint summer. There are some fantastic sound effects in this game and the zombies and other baddies are scary in their own right but couple this with the dramatic music and you’re in for a movie like experience. The background music blends effortlessly with the sound effects and only becomes annoying every now and again.
Another great aspect of this game is that the Russian Soldiers actually speak in Russian which is probably just as well since the voice acting isn’t that great. At one point the main character seems almost orgasmic that one of the doors is open. It’s all a little too overly dramatic for me but that may be personal choice.

This title has the option of using subtitles which is a brilliant addition for deaf gamers. Sure the soundtrack and effects make up a lot of the game but you won’t miss out on any action if you make sure the subtitles are switched on.

Female Gamers
Well needless to say this is very much a masculine game. There’s no option of playing a woman and when you eventually hook up with the obligatory damsel in distress it’s a case of rescue and rescue again, though she is important to the games story, she is essentially a pawn, but that said she is of great use near the end but I wont spoil it for you. It has the usual overarching storyline of the male as hero and the entire feel of the game is very masculine. However, this doesn’t mean to say you won’t like it. At the end of the day its a decent horror game and if thats your thing this will appeal to you anyway.

Overall
Cold Fear is a title that is original and unusual in a genre that can so easily become overly concentrated with titles all doing the same thing. The fact it is set on a ship is what separates it from the others in this genre and the lovely little touches the designers have added, such as the rain on the screen, the sway of the ship, the heartbeat vibrating on your controller just as something bad is going to happen, all these are great individual touches that distinguish Cold Fear as a cut above some other titles. It has a few flaws such as the lack of a map, no female lead, slightly confusing aims at times and so on, but it is a good first attempt from Ubisoft into this marketplace. Overall I liked this title and I wish I had better sense of direction as it was that which ruined it for me. It isn’t one of my top games of all time but a really nice effort.

Review by Angela

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