Let’s get this into the clear right now: I am a huge fan of Splinter Cell. I mean come on, you’re a modern ninja who kicks so much ass on so many levels that you can’t help but respect it. It’s like my friend says in the title of his journal: "Even your mother is owned by Sam Fisher." Well, Splinter Cell isn’t the easiest of all games. It’s hard to save the world without anyone knowing your true impact on events. You know it, I know it, and the people who have tried and failed especially have known it, first hand. However, that still doesn’t stop those who have failed from respecting good ol’ Sam. It also means they long in their heart of hearts for a game that is like Splinter Cell, but easier. Well, my Xbox or decent PC-owning friends, long no longer. Cold War is here.
Cold War is Splinter Cell Lite, Diet Caffeine-Free Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell for Dummies/Beginners, Sam Fisher’s baby brother Sal, or one of the many other varied comparisons I’ve come up with. Basically it is almost impossible to speak of Cold War without comparing it to Splinter Cell, but since this isn’t necessarily a bad thing that’s how I will be doing this review. Let’s sneak on, shall we?
Cold War, which is based on the, um, war of the same name, features the player in the role of Matthew Carter. Matt is a photo-journalist, notorious for digging up the dirty laundry of communists everywhere. Well, when the rumor hits that the Soviet president is meeting with some CIA agents, everyone comes a-running and that’s where the fun begins.
The name of the game is stealth. Cold War tends to follow the basic layout of your typical stealth game which, if you don’t know it, I’m not sure why you are even reading this, but that’s beside the point. First, you are given a stealth meter which responds to sound and light levels, although, unlike Sam Fisher’s device, it really is never explained as to how or why a journalist has it. Not that it works that great either, as I sneak up to a guard with the greatest of care and he still hears me. Speaking of guards, this is where we reach another one of those comparisons.
The guards in Splinter Cell are highly trained masters of security and if they hear you, they will converge and go for the kill faster than Anna Nicole at an all-you-can eat buffet. The guards in Cold War are mentally handicapped people with guns. They will yell out "Who’s there?" when you get too close, but they still won’t turn around. Also, a corpse lying around in semi-plain sight doesn’t appear to bother them. However, like any genius sharing brain-space with a kid you can guarantee that they have quick trigger fingers because the second you are in their sights they will un-holster and pop off 3 shots before you get a chance to center on them. This is where the ability to reach out and touch someone with my fist closed at high speed would come in handy; it seems, however, that young Matthew has a moral crisis about looking someone in the eye while punching them despite frequently clobbering people in the back of the head. Also, does he realize that they want to SHOOT him? I guess we will never know.
Once you get past the guards you get to the other security devices and you get past those just as quickly. There are laser grids blocking some doorways but because the USSR just isn’t as efficient, the power cuts out on the lasers every couple of seconds, allowing you a window of safe passage to mosey on by. Well maybe I was wrong; maybe the power outs were because some genius Soviet engineer thought that attaching a clearly visible laser sight to each of the security cameras would not only be discreet but would also save power. In any event, Soviet middle management let faulty cameras slip through the cracks, and as a result, you can easily plan your course around the cameras’ clearly visible line of sight and impact zone.
What Cold War is unique about, however, it does very well in my opinion. It’s obvious the developers have watched their fair share of James Bond movies and MacGyver reruns because there are gadgets a-plenty to enjoy here. You are equipped your gun and you have a handy X-Ray/gun camera which was swapped with your own 35mm at the airport on the way in. The X-Ray cam can look through walls and doors, disable security devices, knock out guards, ignite flammables, and cook hot pockets. Guess which feature I made up, I bet you can’t.
Now not only are you armed with a camera and a gun, but in addition to your journalism degree, you are a certified genius in engineering. You can create fairly sophisticated gadgets right on the spot that help you on your quest in a variety of ways. The devices that you make are very helpful in annoying, confusing, distracting, and incapacitating your enemies in a variety of ways. As you advance in your skill level (by picking up files for tech points), you can create new and exciting items. In order to create new gadgets, however, you need to get certain items which are basically found in tool boxes or in unconscious guards’ pockets. Of course because of economic turmoil in the USSR, soldiers are more inclined to carry alarm clocks, plastic bottles, ether, and explosives, among other things in their pockets. It’s just common sense - you never know when you will need to stop at the black market on your way home.
Graphically, the game is a mixed bag. The FMV’s are stylized and are almost like a comic book. Unlike other games that utilize this such as Ultimate Spider-Man, Cold War characters do not move their lips while they speak in story sequences. Even in the game they only move their lips half the time, and even that is during sequences that would be better served in a FMV. I have to say, though, that I thought that much care was given to the rendering of Matt (the main character in case you aren’t keeping score). Lesser care was given to the rendering of other characters from the looks of it and character movement seems very stiff and rigid.
In-game, the colors are cold and understated, which was a risky move. The risk does not pay off because the contrast makes for a poor stealth experience. The difference between light and shadow is noticeable, but not nearly enough for the "game noir" style that is basically required for the stealth-action game Cold War aims to be. Granted, the color choices are very gritty, an obvious throwback to movies about the Cold War-era USSR, but it does not work here.
There really isn’t too much to mention about the sound here either. The schmaltzy theme music sounds remarkably similar to the music from the television show Get Smart, which was somewhat funny but that’s basically all that stands out aurally. In terms of sound effects, there are a variety of gunshots, whizzes, and whirs but nothing that stands out in particular.
Control is where we see the big difference between Matthew Carter and Sam Fisher. Sam Fisher is an elite commando and he moves as such. He can go a variety of speeds between walking and running, he can crawl, sneak, jump, shimmy across pipes, and the list just keeps going on. Matthew, he’s a journalist and, well, he can snap his fingers; that’s cool, right? Movement is limited here to sneaking or running, as well as crouching. In a genre where making use of all dimensions of a room is a necessity, the inability to go vertical is almost inexcusable. Then when you take out your gun or slingshot aiming feels too loose, which then takes too long to set up a shot, and of course by then you’re most likely dead. On a sidenote however, I’m happy the developers stuck with using an all-encompassing action button, it works so well in these types of games.
I don’t know what confidences a developer has that you will keep playing their game if they add in your Xbox Live friends list during gameplay but that is one of the special features here. Also, unlike Splinter Cell which tends to only have hard, harder, and hardest difficulties, Cold War has Easy, Medium, and Hard for your varying needs. Slapping on a price tag of 20 dollars for the Xbox was a smart move here. However, for some unknown reason, the same game for the PC is packaged for 40 dollars, double the price for the same game! What is up with that? PC users, wait for the bargain bin. Xbox owners, if you want a game which eases you into the stealth gaming genre, warm up to Cold War.
