Cold Fear

"Cold Fear...DUN....DUN...DUNNNNN...."

Horror films set on boats are begin to become more popular now-a-days. People who enjoyed Deep Rising, Ghost Ship and whatever other film there is will love this videogame. The fear of isolation is amazing in this type of setting:

You can't go into the ocean; big, scary sea monsters will gladly munch you up, plus the fact there's a massive storm striking the big tanker from all sides. It'd be suicide.

You can't stay on deck; water sloshing around at you, knocking you off your feet, washing all sorts of evil sea life onto the decks. It's not wise.

Go down to the depths of the ship; ...into the darkness...into the silence...into the unknown.

Well, okay, the game's not that scary, but it does give you the jumps now and again, making you fear to go down those steps or round that next corner.

You play Tom Hansen, a coastguard who is sent into investigate a Russian tanker as it drifts through the waters. Then you're thrown into the deep end with sinister plots about mutation and evil scientists. Heard it before? Yeah, I have too. Even though the whole game is a walking cliche, doesn't mean it doesn't have the power to make your skin crawl. Creature designs are always fascinating in Survival Horror games, as they're no exception here. Super-fast zombies and crab-like baddies are thrown into the blender and scattered through out the ship, feasting on corpses and such.

You need to survive, so learning how to kill your enemies and fight is always a good thing to do. Sadly, however, the combat camera is the letdown of the game. Running into a group of enemies will change the camera to allow for some proper kills, but this alteration in camera styles can send the whole thing loopy causing you to miss the action by miles. Tom's weaponry and arsenal is complete with the wonders of assault rifles and the favourite for zombie flicks...the flamethrower.

And the action just doesn't take place on the abandoned and barren Russian vessel, as a dark and gloomy oil-rig is just waiting to be explored...

If you look past the cliches and the typical horror setup, you've got yourself a pretty decent survival horror. It certainly knows how to make full use of those corners in the map where it knows it'll scare you witless. It knows you and it does its job of frightening you. Well done, Darkworks!

Oh, and I suggest renting this gore-fest, as replayability is lacking, but it's a fun shooter to pass the time on a weekend.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/10/05