Set in the cold war era (the title kind of gives it away, huh?) in Cold War you take up the role of freelance journalist Matt Carter, who finds himself not only smack-bang in the middle of a huge international conspiracy, but also behind bars, all before the game even gets going. Thankfully though, Matt also happens to be some sort of master engineer and using everyday objects can put together a number of lethal creations to escape from your captors, as well as your inevitable pursuers; sort of like a deadly Blue Peter presenter.
Loading up the first few levels reveals a game which takes a lot of elements that were successful in other games in the genre and Cold War mixes them all into one melting point: multiple ways to complete a mission, various high tech spy gadgets and a stealth system almost identical to that seen in the Splinter Cell series were just a few that we encountered. No ability to sleep with the ladies yet though; they obviously missed 007 off their list of influences. In a lot of cases, a mix and match tactic such as this results in a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ scenario, so it’s encouraging to see that the individual elements are all coming together nicely. They’re not perfect yet by any means – hiding in the shadows in particular is often more a test of luck than skill and you’re never totally sure that you’re hidden from the sights of the enemy.
One of the game’s more interesting features and something that helps Cold War to stand out a little when placed alongside other titles in the genre is its unique ‘Assembly’ system. This, in a nutshell, is a system in which you are able to collect various items as you progress through the level which you then combine in order to create items that will aid you in your mission. Rubber bullets, grenades, paralyzing ammunition and even a silencer are all there to be built should you find both the blueprint and the required items. In fact, exactly how you approach a mission will often be determined by what goodies you have managed to collect on your travels.
This is also backed up by a simple yet functional UI that comes across as being incredibly user friendly and enables you to find exactly what you want, with the minimal amount of fuss. A simple press of the ‘1’ key, for example, will bring up all of the weapons in your possession, as well as the available ammunition so you’re never stuck scrambling around the keyboard in a tight situation looking for the key that you set for your handgun. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s something that is often overlooked by other developers, so it’s nice to see it’s there and working.
The game also does very little wrong in the graphical department; light streams in through windows showing up the murkiness of the cellars, dust obscures your view as you round corners, gun muzzles flash as you unload a clip into the back of an unsuspecting guard. The character models too have obviously been given a lot of care and attention, which is especially apparent on the main character, although there does seem to be a lack of variety in facial expressions which is a touch disappointing; the guards we had the pleasure of killing looked decidedly nonplussed about parts of their brain being twenty feet away on the floor.
While the graphics are very impressive, then animation that accompanies them is less so. Now, we can forgive the occasional stuttering stride as we turn tail and run from the enemy, but when you sneak up on a guard and the character stands still, before practically taking a running swipe at the side of guard’s head (at which point the enemy falls down as if he’d slipped on an unseen patch of ice), it begins to get a little embarrassing.
While the game looks impressive and plays to a fairly high standard so far, aurally the game is a bit of a mixed bag, the atmospheric sounds are the highlight with the music slowly building up as you creep around before exploding into a fully blown orchestral score once the enemy becomes aware of your position. If that’s the highlight then the down side comes when the characterstheir mouths. The lead character’s voice in particular can grate after several sentences which admittedly isn’t helped much by the average scriptwriting that that’s apparent throughout the game; sometimes coming across as being totally condescending, but those occasions are, thankfully few and far between.
To tie it all together then, Cold War is looking like a game with a lot of potential; it has a lot of strong gameplay elements that have been brought together well and a gorgeous graphics engine that really brings the game world to life. That said though, changes will have to be made; the animation isn’t the greatest and the voice acting is only just above average. But if the developers can iron out these creases before the game’s release on November 11th we could well have the sleeper hit of the winter on our hands.
