Cold Winter is by no means a graphical powerhouse, nor is it too original in any way whether it’s story or gameplay we’re talking about. It is, however, a great game that doesn’t require thinking and pretty much allows you sit back and kill things while gently pushing you to the next goal. It does exhibit a bunch of FPS cliches in terms of storyline, weapon selection, and the zealous use of crates.
You play as Andrew Sterling, a former member of England’s secret intelligence agency who after being rescued from a Chinese prison by a fellow agent named Kim, is going into retirement. Despite being past his prime, Andrew is coerced into going out on one more mission as backup for Kim. After some not-so-harsh haggling, Andrew agrees thus setting the stage for a story involving – get this – Arab terrorists and a leader with nuclear weapons.
The gameplay is standard console FPS fare as far as the controls are concerned. Missions are objective based and you’ll always have an arrow onscreen directing you to the next place you go. Whether or not this is a good thing depends on the person playing as it’s great for people who get frustrated and don’t know what to do next but those who explore might not dig it too much. 
You’ll have over twenty weapons at your disposal including machine guns, grenade launchers, pistols, shotguns, and a sniper rifle. The catch is that you can only carry two weapons at a time which will leave you constantly debating whether to swap out a weapon for another that might benefit you the most for the rest of the level. In addition to the guns, you also have a variety of explosives like Molotov’s, frag grenades, smoke grenades, and plastique just to name a few. All the weapons do a great job of taking down any baddies that get in your way, though the assorted machine guns tend to get the job done more efficiently than anything else.
Cold winter exhibits some of the most violent images seen in a console FPS in a while. You’ll be able to remotely amputate limbs and heads from any of the goons you come across and get some pretty neat death effects in the process, like if you shoot a leg off of a goon, he’ll crumple in the direction of the lost leg.
The enemy AI only adds to the satisfaction of gunning down foes. Baddies will take cover behind objects, stay away from fire, duck, and dodge, like they actually possess a will to live. They’re not the smartest, but it’s a welcome change from other recent games.
One great addition to the gameplay is the interactive environments, as every desk, cabinet, and almost all cupboards are there to be opened and searched. The same goes for objects scattered around the environments as well. You can pick up any crate, box, and barrel or drag any desk, dumpster, or cart. You can also attempt to create cover with a press of the X button, though this usually results in your cover tipping over and opening you to fire or refusing to move at all. You also have the option to throw everything you see, though there’s not really any use for it and objects will just turn into clouds of dust and disappear whether they are boxes or watermelons. The novelty wears off fast.
While searching the environments, you can find items that can be combined to make other more useful items. For instance, wire cutters and a metal spire will get you a lock pick or a bottle, strip of cloth, and gas will let you make Molotov’s. Unfortunately, there isn’t any room for experimentation as the game will bring up an alert once you have enough components for a new item, so there isn’t any room for attempting to mix and match items, but it’s a nice element nonetheless.
Cold Winter’s multiplayer comes equipped with the standard assortment of game modes such as deathmatch, capture the flag, and king of the mountain. There are twelve maps available where up to sixteen players online or four player split screen can get it on.
As stated earlier, the game’s visuals are nothing to write home about. Everything from character models to environments are passable at most. The cities you’ll do battle are all mazes that are devoid of any life; though you may hear chatter from the locals all around you as ambient noise, the streets are desolate save for you, your enemies, and a peddler or a guy standing at a counter here and there. Explosions all pack a punch as they’ll send objects, bodies, and limbs flying. There are some frame rate issues as things will slow to a crawl if you’re set on fire and there are more than two enemies onscreen at once. Explosions will also affect the frame rate to a degree. Expect this and more when playing the multiplayer missions. Characters in cut scenes also look void of any real facial features and pretty much look like plastic dolls. Environments are decorated nicely and the physics engine is working overtime with all of the items just lying around – it’s just too bad they get repetitive after a while.
Sound fares worse than the visuals. Voices seem to have been sampled at a low rate resulting in a sort of static that is heard anytime someone talks. Voice acting is passable, though the guy running your missions has a very thick or really badly acted Scottish accent and can be hard to understand, especially considering said static sound issues. Ambient sounds are present, though they’re not seamless, meaning you’ll be in a sewer and the ambient noise of the town will kick in immediately with no type of fade-in or transition between environments. Sound will also cut out from time to time during gameplay for no apparent reason.
Cold Winter is an intensely straightforward and linear FPS that attempts to integrate some new elements into the gameplay, but can’t quite pull it off well. Despite the fact, Cold Winter manages to be an exciting, yet short romp that will be good for a weekend rental if not anything more.
- Brad Hicks (Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media
