First Impressions: Fear is cold? Who would have thought that...
It all comes back to Resident Evil, doesn’t it? Well, maybe Alone In The Dark as well (In fact, Cold Fear developer Darkworks was behind Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare), but when gamers think “survival horror” RE is usually the first thing that springs to mind. There’s just something about pitting soldiers (or cops, or CIA operatives…whatever) and their weapons against shambling horrors that go bump in the night. It really gets the juices flowing. UbiSoft throws their hat into the ring (ha, ha…The Ring – get it?) with Cold Fear, a new take on the horror genre that places you onboard a desolate ship in storm tossed seas, and asks you to survive the evil found therein, any way you can….
You’ll take on the role of Tom Hansen, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard who’s sent to investigate a drifting Russian whaler during a monstrous storm on the Bering Sea. What he finds there is the stuff of nightmares, as hordes of the walking dead, as well as other assorted beasties, mysteriously inhabit the ship. As the action begins, Hansen takes to the deck of the stricken vessel, and makes his way around a rain-drenched scene straight from Hell. Waves shatter into gobbets of white foam over the deck, lightning crashes and thunder rolls. Interestingly enough, this actually works itself into the play mechanics of the game. Your character will be susceptible to losing his footing, and can grab pipes and railings to steady himself. Thanks to some slick camera work, the feeling of being stranded on a roiling death trap looks to be captured remarkably well.
The premise of the game seems like the classic set-up for a genuine creep-fest. A recently constructed oil drilling platform named the Star of Sakhalin has been under the surveillance of the CIA. The aforementioned whaler has been spotted making routine visits to the Sakhalin, and the U.S. government is eager to find out just what’s been going on there. This is where you step in, accompanying a CIA agent named Bennet as part of a Coast Guard search and rescue team. Boarding the ship under hazardous conditions due to the perfect storm, Tom is separated from the rest of the team, who are subsequently wiped out by an as yet unknown evil entity – or entities. You’re proverbially on your own at this point, as you move from the deck through the bowels of the ship, encountering zombie-like ghouls, as well as creatures that defy description. You’ll also face straight up shootouts with Russian mercs desperate to keep you from finding out just what went so horribly wrong here.
Eventually, it becomes clear that some form of enigmatic parasite has infected the ship’s occupants, turning them into violent monsters that lust for human blood. Obviously, this is great news for our intrepid hero Tom. Fortunately, shooting for the head will instantly drop these freaks, and spray the surroundings with blood and brains. Alternately, you can lay the smackdown and then curb-stomp that head into oatmeal….if you’re an ammo conserving type. In addition to the combat, there are some interesting environment-based puzzles included to break up the action. These include locating a key card to pass between sections of the vessel, and shooting out an exposed electrical box in a cabin full of waist deep water. Combine that task with a wildly rocking boat, and the potential to get fried creates a seriously tense situation. The first half of the game is slated to take place on the whaler, but eventually you’ll play out the second act onboard the drilling platform itself. No doubt the prospects for some very cool level design are evident for both the ship, and the installation. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what kind of freaky funhouse the developers have in store. Coming around a dark bulkhead to confront some foul beast by slamming another clip into your Magnum and pulverizing his dome with a well placed headshot - always a guaranteed good time.
Cold Fear controls from a standard third person viewpoint, but you can manually tap a targeting view that drops the camera directly behind the character’s shoulder. This affords a free look capability that you can move around the ship with, and between your trusty flashlight and automatic pistol - complete with laser sighting - you can see the potential for solid gameplay action. Not much has been revealed about other weapons in the CF arsenal just yet, but you’ll likely have access to automatic rifles, sub-machine guns, and of course, that old survival horror stand-by, the zombie capping shotgun.
Visually, Cold Fear looks exceptional. Considering UbiSoft’s track record with stunning graphics, it’s no wonder that CF’s art design is moody, dark, and downright breathtaking. The water effects look pretty sweet from the early screenshots that have surfaced, and the character models, lighting, and textures all look wonderful. Overall, the visuals seem to be coming along nicely, as is the narrative and gameplay. We’ll know for sure when Cold Fear bows in March, 2005.
