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Cold Zero Feature
00/12/0000
Our PC Editor Derek checks out JoWood’s latest game in the pipeline Cold Zero: The Last Stand on PC.
On reading this, you could be forgiven into thinking that Austrian publisher JoWood Productions has a strange attitude to deadly viruses which threaten our very existence. 40% of their games shown recently had this âunhealthyâ element as its âraison dâêtreâ. (OK, admittedly there were only five titles showcased when we met up with their producers, but two from five is still a worryingly high amount.) Whereas in the other game to use a virus as the centrepiece (Natural Resistance), the one here doesnât wipe out 99.99% of the worldâs population: that is, it wonât if you complete the game. Then again, it may all be a simple coincidence.
Developed by Polish team Drago Entertainment (of which nothing is known), Cold Zero is a third person action adventure where you play the part of one John McAffrey, a former LAPD sniper, who, unfortunately, killed a hostage whilst on an undercover mission. âBecause the emotional trauma this event caused, McAffrey resigned from the police department and found work in a highly sophisticated security firm. One of the clients is a company called BioResearch Inc, an operation big in genetic research and currently working on a genetic weapon for the United States Army, a virus known only as âCold Zeroââ, explains Reinhard Döpfer, marketing development manager from JoWood. All in all it was a bit of a mundane occupation until a group of terrorists attack the laboratory leaving everyone dead; or so they thought. Yes, you guessed it: âJohn McAffrey is the sole survivor and he takes it upon himself to find out why the research centre was attacked, and apprehend the terrorists before they unleash âCold Zeroâ on an unsuspecting world.â
Listed as an action adventure it may be but the emphasis here is on the action. Not being a member of the âshy and reservedâ club, John McAffrey finds himself being both hunter and hunted. Still a while away from completion, the levels of the game demonstrated showed not only the versatility of our hero but also the smoothness of movement. This character can walk, run, creep, climb, jump and crouch all in seamless transition. Not only that, heâs no slouch with a gun in his hand either. Whatever publishers and developers may claim, any background story to a game comes a distant second to the action. How many of you bother to immerse yourselves into why your character is in the position they are? Just as I thought, not many hands raised there. Even the instruction manual takes a back seat. As in all games of this genre, you begin with a basic weapon and have to either find or steal other items (and your inventory allows you up to a dozen). What Drago has done with Cold Zero is to take movement and shooting to the next level (as far as Iâm aware). Running along â“ and there are similarities here with celluloid characters favoured by the likes of Schwarzenegger in his long black overcoat in some scenes, white vest in others - McAffrey is able to use his rifle to shoot from the hip or from the shoulder, the latter giving greater accuracy. Itâs a situation that I for one have never come across before. His ability to use two handguns alternately is something else not to be sneezed at. Far from being decided, other weapons available look like being a baseball bat, machine gun, and the traditional grenade/rocket launcher. In addition to this arsenal, McAffrey will possess the capability to jump into numerous vehicles. This feature is best seen with a tank. Outnumbered and in no position to get your adversaries to âeat leadâ, make your way to an unmanned tank, jump in and appear seconds later atop the turret, mowing down the enemy in a sweeping movement. Fantasy it may be, beyond belief it most certainly is, but itâs fun all the same.
Seemingly entirely played in darkness, although JoWood insist it isnât, the 3D graphics engine of Cold Zero gives an eerie and grim look into the way terrorists and their pursuers operate. (It does help when one of the items to be found happens to be a torch.) Even though it may have been unplanned, there seems to be many a reference to the culture of film in this game: Terminator, Tomorrow Never Dies, and a plethora of 1950âs spy films, due to the misty lighting surrounding lampposts on street corners, are a few that spring to mind. The environments are also reminiscent of those loved by the movie industry: the single trailer in the desert complete with rusting car (which always begs the question: why?); the disused railway; abandoned warehouses; Chinatown; the local Skid Row; and others. Much of the environment within these levels will be destroyable, which is where a certain amount of thought has to go into the game. A dozen blokes running at you? Low on ammunition? No problem: fire at the poorly parked Lamborghini Diablo and the resulting explosion will take out a good proportion of them. Shame about the car, though. Obviously some development licence has to be given in any game and Cold Zeroâs is when you enter a building: the walls and ceiling disappear allowing you to view and control your character. And controlling him couldnât be any easier. The interface is to be spread along the bottom of the screen with possibly five windows: weapon in use; mini map; ammunition; McAffreyâs status; and movement. Select a movement mode, point the cursor where you want to go and off he goes. It isnât all mindless mayhem though: there is a certain amount of thought and stealth involved. In one scene, youâre being hunted in a dark, dingy warehouse and the idea is to creep behind the pursuer and get rid of him without making a noise. Another situation finds you behind a panel fence with an enemy the other side. How do you get to him? If you stand up, youâll be seen; you canât bypass the fence either. Hello, thereâs a gap where the panels donât quite meet. Is it enough to squeeze a bullet through? McAffrey, as already mentioned, can climb, which comes in handy when heâs trying to circumvent a group of terrorists hanging around a street corner. Being in 3D, Cold Zero allows you to climb a ladder, run along roof tops, jump over gaps and then down the other end whilst the rotating camera gives you the best viewing option. This sequence is surprisingly impressive.
What Drago Entertainment wants to do is to try and have several different storylines within the game. âBy interacting with a multitude of NPCâs, and this is a necessity because terrorists donât go around with âI am hereâ signs, the way you play the game and itâs objectives could change the next time you play Cold Zero.â Whether this feature is implemented probably depends more on time constraints rather than that of hardware.
Although pencilled in as having a Q2-Q3 release ( June or July for those unsure), I very much doubt that this game wonât bow the shelves until the end of the year. At present this look interesting and with time and effort it could gain a lot of attention but perhaps needs a little more ingenuity!
