This game is the epitome of a hidden gem. I’d seen it brought up as such on a number of occasions, but I approached it without prior knowledge apart from that. It became clear very early on what’s so special about it – the level of interaction is impressive. Almost all items in the levels have physics applied to them and can be picked up/thrown/pushed/broken. It’s the kind of game where you can flush toilets, turn faucets, and open every drawer and cupboard. Not only that, but there’s ragdoll for bodies and a dismemberment system. You can actually blow off limbs and heads RDR2-style – I’ve never seen anything like it in a PS2 title. The game also features neat effects such as bloom, lens flares, motion blur and depth of field. It runs mostly fine, but there can be some heavy slowdown at times. Even so, it’s certainly one of the more technically impressive titles I’ve played on the system.

Unfortunately, like most console first person shooters of the time, it’s plagued by poor controls. In this case, aiming feels heavy and awkward. Mercifully, it’s not particularly fast-paced, so you can usually take your time aiming and picking off enemies. Otherwise, it would have been frustrating. There’s a good variety of guns to play around with (I’d even say they overdid it with all the different throwables). As a whole, gunplay is enjoyable, but not as much as it could have been had the controls been better.

Another interesting element of Cold Winter, though, is that it’s not just a straight-up shooting gallery. I mentioned earlier that you can open (almost) every drawer and cupboard and the game actually expects you to. There’s a crafting system of sorts where you need to collect items to produce make-shift lockpicks, for instance, so you can get access to fancy weapons and such. There’s also plenty of written intel to collect and secondary objectives to complete. It rewards exploration and I found that enjoyable overall. It can get a tad tedious eventually, however. Some of it can be skipped, but it’s definitely a core part of the gameplay, so if it doesn’t sound fun, this might not be the game for you.

Apart from that, it offers a decent enough Bond-esque story. The performance of the main cast is solid, the enemies’ screams and taunts – a bit comical. The pre-rendered cutscenes are surprisingly ugly, particularly the character models. They look dated for 2005. I think in-engine cutscenes might have worked better. There are also some decent tunes in there.

Overall, it’s a surprisingly good package, especially for the time and hardware. I’m genuinely surprised that it didn’t get more attention. It might be more interesting than fun at times, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re exploring the PS2 catalog.

This game is the epitome of a hidden gem. I’d seen it brought up as such on a number of occasions, but I approached it without prior knowledge apart from that. It became clear very early on what’s so special about it – the level of interaction is impressive. Almost all items in the levels have physics applied to them and can be picked up/thrown/pushed/broken. It’s the kind of game where you can flush toilets, turn faucets, and open every drawer and cupboard. Not only that, but there’s ragdoll for bodies and a dismemberment system. You can actually blow off limbs and heads RDR2-style – I’ve never seen anything like it in a PS2 title. The game also features neat effects such as bloom, lens flares, motion blur and depth of field. It runs mostly fine, but there can be some heavy slowdown at times. Even so, it’s certainly one of the more technically impressive titles I’ve played on the system.

Unfortunately, like most console first person shooters of the time, it’s plagued by poor controls. In this case, aiming feels heavy and awkward. Mercifully, it’s not particularly fast-paced, so you can usually take your time aiming and picking off enemies. Otherwise, it would have been frustrating. There’s a good variety of guns to play around with (I’d even say they overdid it with all the different throwables). As a whole, gunplay is enjoyable, but not as much as it could have been had the controls been better.

Another interesting element of Cold Winter, though, is that it’s not just a straight-up shooting gallery. I mentioned earlier that you can open (almost) every drawer and cupboard and the game actually expects you to. There’s a crafting system of sorts where you need to collect items to produce make-shift lockpicks, for instance, so you can get access to fancy weapons and such. There’s also plenty of written intel to collect and secondary objectives to complete. It rewards exploration and I found that enjoyable overall. It can get a tad tedious eventually, however. Some of it can be skipped, but it’s definitely a core part of the gameplay, so if it doesn’t sound fun, this might not be the game for you.

Apart from that, it offers a decent enough Bond-esque story. The performance of the main cast is solid, the enemies’ screams and taunts – a bit comical. The pre-rendered cutscenes are surprisingly ugly, particularly the character models. They look dated for 2005. I think in-engine cutscenes might have worked better. There are also some decent tunes in there.

Overall, it’s a surprisingly good package, especially for the time and hardware. I’m genuinely surprised that it didn’t get more attention. It might be more interesting than fun at times, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re exploring the PS2 catalog.