Curse: The Eye of Isis. Obscure. Still Life. Run Like Hell. Bargain bin regulars or cream of the Xbox survival horror crop? Sometimes it's hard to tell. For a console marketed heavily towards mature gamers, it's quite puzzling to see such a violent genre under-represented on the Xbox. Whether it be the aforementioned niche titles (most of which are decent enough games, mind you) or incomplete series like Fatal Frame (The third iteration is PS2-only for the time being) and Silent Hill (which inexplicably skipped part three for some reason), the Xbox is nearing the end of its run in last place in the survival horror category by a large margin, with nary a killer killer-app in the mix. Cold Fear has two major distinctions that may just put it over the top.

-It's being published by UbiSoft, who seem to have the golden touch as of late with the ultra popular Tom Clancy franchise as well as the Prince of Persia series.

-It also takes place on a boat.

Sounds like a sure fire winner, right? Well, like they say in survival horror and at sea "Things may not be what they seem..." Actually, I'm not so sure if they say that at sea, but I wouldn't doubt it. On with the review!

Story:

As Coast Guard (ie-Ocean Cop) Greg Hansen, you are called onto a Russian ship to investigate the events that have all but obliterated the crew. Compounding the creepiness is one of the largest storms to ever hit the sea. With a contentious commanding officer in your ear all the time, and fewer and fewer comrades by your side and time progresses, you must solve the mystery of the ship while fending off the formerly-dead crew reanimated via a genetic parasite. Despite the rather novel approach of setting the game on a freight ship, the rest of Cold Fear is rife with survival horror clichés. Call the bad guys what you want, but they’re still zombies and monsters to me. The events in the game unfold as you would expect, too. Looking for an item? It’s the only shiny thing in the room. Found it? Good, now expect an enemy to attack you by surprise. Cold Fear’s innovative setting can’t save the fact that the characters and story seem to be culled from an early revision of a Resident Evil script.


Gameplay:

There’s plenty more familiarity in store for RE fans when they boot up Cold Fear. The amazing over-the-shoulder aiming mechanism employed in Resident Evil 4 is used almost identically in this game (Capcom, start your lawyers!). Unfortunately, the limb-specific damage system that made RE4 so darn fun is absent in Cold Fear. You'll still find you have your gun at the ready often in this game, but it’s not because of the enemy onslaught. The stationary camera angles showcased when your weapon isn't being aimed are abhorrent, to the point where you'll whip out your piece (I'm talking about your gun, pervs.) just to get the camera in a decent position.



This game's rated "M", by the way.


Cold Fear employs unique approaches in two areas that have always bothered RE fans- item collection and progress saving. Don't expect to fumble around for a blue diamond to place in a hawk's beak in order to access the engine room. Don't expect to fumble around with anything, period. While you can view items in your possession, there's absolutely no inventory management in Cold Fear. While there are locked doors in need of key penetration (Okay, something is wrong with me.), you will automatically use the correct item to open it. With ammunition, you've got a button to manually reload, as well as an automatic function that kicks in when a clip is empty. No dropping items, no "magic storage boxes"- sounds perfect, right? Well, it is... until health items enter the fray. With no way to manage health items, you're forced to use medicine as you pick it up. Like ammo, you always seem to find it when you need it, which, while convenient, saps a lot of strategy from the game. Whereas games like RE encourage you to put survival first since supplies are limited, Cold Fear places more of an emphasis on wiping out everything in your path. Yet another item problem comes in the form of maps, or lack thereof. You'd think large tanker ships would have, at the very least, blueprints at the ready, but finding your way around in Cold Fear often amounts to guesswork and memorization. Resident Evil Zero had maps for trains, so why not one for a ship that is exponentially more complicated in design?