Cold Fear

Moby ID: 17599
PlayStation 2 Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/24 5:26 AM )

Description official descriptions

A team from the Coast Guard boards a nameless Russian Whaler lost in a storm. Little do they know that a team of CIA operatives tried to do the same shortly before, all of them ending up dead. Within minutes, the entire Coast Guard team shares their fate, except one person, veteran USCG Tom Hansen. Now it's up to him to discover which kind of creatures wiped out his mates. Are there any survivors? What happened aboard this vessel? How does its recent visit to the Russian scientific drilling platform "Star of Sakhalin" fit in?

Cold Fear is a typical console-style action adventure, similar to games like the Silent Hill series. Most of the time players will be viewing the action from a third person point of view, following the character around as he utilizes an array of weapons to dispose of a variety of enemies. Occasionally, a puzzle has to be solved or a cutscene (rendered with the game's own engine) must be witnessed. Additional insight can be gained by reading the various notes, letters and diaries that can be picked up every now and then.

Spellings

  • 极度深寒 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

269 People (251 developers, 18 thanks) · View all

Original Game Concept
Game Director
Original Story
Project Leader
Game Design Team
  • Darkworks
Lead Programmer
Programmers
Additional Programmers
Lead Concept Artists
Concept Artists
Additional Concept Artists
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 70% (based on 50 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 57 ratings with 5 reviews)

Average survival horror, sooooo average

The Good
Well, it can't be said that this game has good things, it's so average... Maybe the only contribution to the world of videogames is the kind of see storm simulation it contains. Yes, I mean it, is rather curious and you can play some minutes to enjoy it.

Out of that, the game has nothing more highlight. Actually, I remember why I started playing it. You know Resident Evil 4?, I kind of like its 2nd person style for killing hordes of creatures, and Cold Fear has it too. So, if you are a PC only user like me, and you like this, you can play Cold Fear instead of RH4. This is, of course, a very silly reason to play Cold Fear.

The Bad
Nothing to do in a weekend, and, inexplicably, you only have one game to play, Cold Fear. In that situation you can play it, but you should learn to do more things with your life than playing videogames.

At least, this game is short, very short. There is the whaling ship and a petroleum extracting platform, nothing more. In an orgy of lack of originality, you are a cost guard, that was once a hero (like in Far Cry), that gets on an abandoned whaling ship with more cost guards, but end up alone (like in a lot of other games), and find that the ship is not abandoned. No, there are some kind of zombies (like..., you know); later you discover that the way a person can be transformed into a zombie is like in Alien, and that the transformation can be of different types and there a scientific guy that sees this as a way of becoming into some superior being. In the way to defeating this mad scientist, you meet a girl, a pretty one with hot body, and, as a man must do with recently met pretty girls with hot body, you offer your life in order to save hers. Of course, at the end, you fly away in an helicopter and save the day, after killing the technically invincible beast that now is the mad scientist. At least labels are in Russian.

If you still have some doubts about how this game could be, the key word is "average", is so average that hurts. Enemies are random genetic altered creatures, the localizations are what you can expect from a ship and a petroleum extracting platform with a secret genetic lab in it, the weapons are the usual weapons (some have a red laser and some have a lantern) and the puzzles to solve are, you know, average. This is the "deja vu" game for survival horror game lovers. the most entertaining thing you can do with this game is play with your friends to predict thing from this game, like puzzles, guns, monster appearance and situations, then play in the easiest difficulty mode and every time someone guess something right sum a point. The first one who gets 100 points wins.

The Bottom Line
"How would you describe this game to others?" AVERAGE, XD. You know, when an entertainment industry gets enough big, the companies begin developing products of lower quality just because people will still buy them. This products are totally worthless and usually copies of other more popular products, but with less costs. If 1000 people buy Resident Evil 4, you can expect 5 people to buy Cold Fear just by saying "it's a survival horror, like Resident Evil 4", that's the only reason for this game to exist.

P.D.: I don't actually know if RE4 is better, it's just intuition.

Windows · by MichaelPalin (1414) · 2006

A fun, addicting game that's certainly worth the try.

The Good
Starting with the technical aspects of Cold Fear, I must say that the graphics and visual effects match the game to perfection. A large part of the game happens under the open sky, on a heavy storm on the wild sea, so Tom Hansen (the player character) is vulnerable to all sorts of threats that would naturally occur in that situation. The waves crash against the surface of the boat and the boat itself swings to the sides, which makes it possible for Tom to fall off the boat, unless he has taken hold of something. The rain blurs your vision as you move, and the swinging of the boat becomes realistically noticeable in the gameplay.

As for the controls, there's nothing special about them, but they serve their purpose. Most weapons have a laser sight that makes the behind-the-shoulder camera angle comfortable for shooting.

The difficulty and learning curve are near perfect, maintaining a more than acceptable realism. Loads of human enemies throughout the first minutes help you get used to the controls and gameplay, before you face your first zombies, which are considerably stronger. As the game progresses you will discover that you can frequently use and alter the environment to your advantage, sometimes even as a requirement to move from place to place.

If you get scared easily, Cold Fear will not disappoint. If you're not easily scared, turn off all the lights and play alone with your headphones on. Guaranteed to work. Creatures and noises coming from the most unexpected places will make you jump more than once, while progressively injecting fear on you.

The storyline is somewhat above average, but is enough to keep you interested in finding out what happens next. The dialog is usually fluent and makes sense, unlike many other survival horror games. All parts match to perfection, and there aren't any visible plot holes, which adds to the overall realism.

The Bad
There aren't many bad things about Cold Fear, but there is one in particular that bothered me a couple of times. The camera is fixed when you're not aiming with a gun, and often takes new angles all of a sudden. This makes the game even creepier, but comes in conflict with the fact that Tom can't run while aiming. In a specific part of the game, he needs to run on a near impossible time limit. The sudden change of camera angles cost me over 7 attempts to get it right. Other than that, it didn't bother me at all.

Most people complain that the only way to save the game is through checkpoints, but I think its a nice throwback to old school games. The only other thing worth mentioning is that you get used to the scares. At some point, the game may no longer make you jump. Maybe.

The Bottom Line
Overall, it's a game worth picking up, and chances are that you'll like it. It will keep you eager to continue playing, as you will find yourself wanting to know what happens next. Personally, I think it has a great replay value, and it's sure worth the money.

Windows · by Daniel Hernandez (5) · 2010

Claustrophobic adventure at a genre's crossroads

The Good
Cold Fear is a really interesting midway point between the classic 1992-2004 era of survival horror and modern action horror pioneered at the same time by Resident Evil 4. The map layout and design is just complex enough to immerse you in exploring creepy locations without hindering the pacing of action-oriented gameplay. The hybrid camera system combining fixed shots with over-the-shoulder view might be difficult to get used to at first, but overall the game is pretty easy to control, allowing for some really solid third-person shooter gameplay.

While Cold Fear isn't exactly the most original horror game out there, it has a feature that sets it apart in a really good way - the setting. The game takes place on open sea, first on a ship and then on an oil rig. The tight spaces and lifeless feel of metallic surfaces add a sense of claustrophobia and confusion to which the game owes much of its atmosphere.

The Bad
The weakest point of Cold Fear might be the fact that it was very clearly designed as a competitor to Resident Evil 4 (which was released a few weeks earlier). Despite the unique marine-industrial setting, it borrows quite a lot from earlier games in the Capcom series in terms of aesthetics and story elements, and even the mixed camera system seems to be inspired by an earlier phase in RE4's development.

Another element that diminished Cold Fear's impact is its lack of memorable boss fights (and scarcity of boss fights altogether). Miniboss encounters, while decent, are usually over very quickly, and the final boss is very underwhelming.

The Bottom Line
Ultimately, Cold Fear is a very solid action horror game stuck somewhere in between classic survival horror and newer games like Resident Evil 4 and 5. It may be underwhelming, but its claustrophobic environments are likely to keep you hooked. 7/10

Windows · by Pegarange (282) · 2023

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Trivia

Copy protection

Ubisoft received a lot of complaints about the game refusing to run on the PC. It was traced back to the copy protection. Ubisoft then recalled all PC copies of the game on store shelves. Ubisoft released a patch which removes the copy protection and CD-check for those who held to their copy.

German index

On September 30, 2005, Cold Fear (PS2) was put on the infamous German index by the BPjM. Shortly after, on October 29, 2005, both Windows and Xbox releases followed. More information about this can be found in the game group

Music and Sound

Some of the sound effects and ambient background music are recycled from Darkworks' previous game, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.

Information also contributed by Karthik KANE and Xoleras

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

The Frosty Leaves
Released 2018 on Windows
Riders Republic
Released 2021 on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One...
Cold Zero: No Mercy
Released 2003 on Windows
Dredge: The Pale Reach
Released 2023 on Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series...
Fear
Released 2021 on Windows
Phantom Abyss
Released 2021 on Windows, 2022 on Xbox Series, Windows Apps
Craft in Abyss
Released 2020 on Windows
Return to Abyss
Released 2023 on Windows
Hidden Deep
Released 2022 on Windows

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 17599
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Cadorna.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, John Chaser, tarmo888, Patrick Bregger, 64er.

Game added May 5, 2005. Last modified March 12, 2024.