This survival shooter has some issues, but great atmosphere saves Cold Fear from being just another shooter.
+ Great atmosphere and tension
+ Some good spooky music
Negative
- Shooting often feels stiff
- Poor camera angles
- Too much fetch quests artificially lengthen the game for no reason
Cold Fear feels very much like a certain other great game, but Cold Fear has some tricks up its sleeves. Unfortunately some of these tricks are undermined by some recurring problems making the game feels unrealized rather than frustrating. It offers fun moments but there are too many boring moments amidst and it's difficult to enjoy Cold Fear's interesting moments.
You play as Tom Hansen, a former soldier now a US Coast Guard who is sent to investigate a suspicious Russian whaler caught in a storm a special US team was mysteriously wiped out. A few surviving Russian soldiers remained in the ship along with unknown creatures. As Tom explores the ship to investigate what has happened, he meets dangerous enemies and a raging storm to find the truth. The story isn't very gripping or engaging with some boring cutscenes and uninteresting side characters but it is how the story progresses that disappoints. The game feels like a long fetch quest where you are in an area and have to throughout search the area to find a key or pass, then proceed and repeat. There are no engaging puzzles or long stretches of not finding keys; it's dull and kills the pace every single time.
Cold Fear is a third-person shooter with a behind-the-shoulder perspective and normal fixed camera angle when exploring. With the press of the RMB, the player can enter the behind-the-shoulder perspective which allows you to aim properly. The shooting in the game isn't very strong and feels stiff especially in close quarters where the view of your enemy can be obscured by Tom's elbow making shooting impossible. The other camera perspective is the normal fixed camera. When not in shooting mode, the game uses a fixed camera angle throughout most areas. This camera gives a clear image of the room and corridor but this way it's difficult to see the enemy approaching and some of the angles are unreasonably annoying. Another problem is that the moments where the camera is free it can't be turned with the use of the mouse but rather with the A and D buttons in sync with Tom's movements. It's most comfortable to use the behind-the-shoulder perspective most of the time. It feels tight, slower and most appropriate despite its problems.
As you shoot your way through the few remaining Russian soldiers and the zombies, you find yourself exploring the whaler inside and out. Encounters are few and there is a lot of unnecessary exploration and running around. There are no maps and hints, that are sometimes not helpful at all and the game never really makes it crystal clear to where you need to go next as you search for the key to open one of the game's many, many locked doors. So you'll find yourself running back and forth through the same corridor over and over until you find the key and the area which occasionally happens by pure luck. New areas usually prompt zombie attacks. You shoot your way through a few zombies at a time, with the help of your average guns and you need to shoot the zombies in their head to kill them or they'll keep rising again. It's a good idea, but most of the time you'll have to knock them down and shoot them as they are down. Save points are scattered to the new place you need to go and appear only automatically so you will always know when there is something new behind that door when the saving appeared.
Atmospherically Cold Fear does a great job. Outside, the ship is constantly hit by a terrifying storm, rain and strong winds. The instant you outside, your vision will be blurry and the ship rattles making your progress and aiming outside challenging, appropriate which emphasizes the intensity of the storm. The effects outside are very good which makes for a unique setting. Inside, Cold Fear provides a good atmosphere and decent scares but it's not essentially a scary game; it's more of surprise scares like when a zombie rose from shallow water and tried to grab Tom's leg but failed and then just laid dead. The visuals and cutscenes are a bit generic but it's still a fine look good. But the enemies are repetitive and there is not much variety to the environments as you'll visit them many times. Despite that, Cold Fear maintains tension. There is some good dramatic music at some moments and flat metal music on enemy encounters, but the voice acting is not very good in any manner and the sound effects of guns lack the proper punch. Another thing; music completely dies when the game loads a new room, diminishing the tension.
Cold Fear should have been destined for greater things but it is keeping kept at bay by its crippling problems. For example, there should have been only the behind-the-shoulder camera, less fetch quests and more story, more enemy encounters and stronger shooting. But as it is, this third-person shooter has just enough to entertain genre fans and little to offer to casual players since today there are better shooters that pack a satisfying punch.
Graphics = 7.7
While not impressive on any level, Cold Fear looks good with interesting environmental effects outside. Enemy could use variety and some better design.
Sound = 6.8
Some of the music is well fitted, some of the other metal music sucks and the voice acting is just barely average.
Presentation = 7.5
So-so cutscenes, bad idea for prompting saving but fast loadings and the great atmosphere is Cold Fear's saving grace.
Gameplay = 6.9
Decent shooting mechanism shadowed by bad camera angles and the uninspired fetch quests. It's fun only if you can deal with the issues. There are better shooters today.
Story = 6.5
The story and characters won't win you over easily but there are multiple difficulties. If there was more story and development rather than running around aimlessly it would have made a world of difference.
OVERALL = 70 / 100
This survival shooter has some issues, but great atmosphere saves Cold Fear from being just another shooter.