Cold
War is set during the mid 1980’s with you playing the role of a freelance
journalist who has been detained by the KGB. Your mission is to find any way
possible to escape from Russia and get back to the United States. During your
escape you can use some top secret KGB weapons and gadgets. With the opened
ended gameplay your escape really depends on your imagination.
The first thing
you will notice about Cold War is the similarities with Splinter Cell. In fact
this probably could be another Splinter Cell game if it had Sam Fisher as the
main character. Just like Splinter Cell the big drawing point to the game is
the open ended gameplay and innovative weapons. One of the weapons the
developers showed off was an X-Ray vision device. When you use the device you
can see through the walls to see the enemy. But the X-Ray vision device doesn’t
just allow you to see through walls, it’s also a weapon. When you activate the
X-Ray vision weapon you can send radioactive signals to a person’s brain. After
a few seconds the enemy will pass out from the pain of the weapon. This is a
very cool trick that can allow you to take out enemies without even going into
the same room.
The other big draw
is of course the open ended gameplay. If you want to play a stealth role to
escape Russia, then you can. If you want towalk in with guns blazing in
every area, then you can. It’s all up to you. The developers actually had the
game running on two machines to show off the different choices you can make. On
one machine the developer would only use the X-Ray device or set traps to take
out the enemy. While the other machine had the developer taking a completely
different route to avoid all of the enemies.
The gameplay
depends completely on the choices you make.
The graphics were
very well done and highly detailed. The game is played in a 3rd
person perspective unless you change to one of the special weapons in the game.
The frame-rate was very smooth and there wasn’t any noticeable stuttering while
moving through the different stages. The game is currently scheduled for
release in late 2004 for both PC and Xbox. For gamers looking for another
Splinter Cell, this might be the game for you.
