Cold war

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http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/cold-war/635571p1.html

Cold War won't always limit you to skulking around. In some missions, you'll be able to dispense with stealth and just open fire on guards, mowing them down with a pilfered AK-47. Think carefully before starting a gun battle, though: it only takes a few shots from guards to kill you.

Cold War will also play a bit like an adventure game, in that you'll find all kinds of items in the levels, from keys in guards' pockets, to memos on desks, to bottles of vodka on corner tables, to a toolbox left in a hall by a workman. Since you're a journalist and not a secret agent, you'll have to play MacGyver and improvise many of your weapons and gadgets with these found items.

For that, you'll rely on the game's assembly screen. Scattered throughout the levels, you'll find blueprints. If you acquire the right plan, the necessary items, and enough tech points to spend, you can make a new item, like a sling-fired bouncing grenade, an ether mine to stun guards, or a provisional silencer. Some of the gadget combinations make little sense -- rubber bullets fashioned from a plastic bottle? -- so you'll need to take it all on faith and just have fun choosing which weapons to design.

No shooting here; you'll have to KO him.

The beta we played was an early version, so it's hard to judge the look of Cold War at this point. It does seem like it will capture the grey gloom and imposing architecture of the Soviet Union as you work your way through a KGB prison, Chernobyl, and other infamous Soviet locales. That said, the game currently seems to rely too heavily on mist and garish lighting effects to create atmosphere.

Questionable looks aside, Cold War seems like it might be an interesting combination of stealth, action, and adventure. The story and setting have a lot of potential, too, throwing you into the heart of the "Evil Empire." Will you be able to make it back to the West in one piece, or become a forgotten footnote? Cold War is scheduled to ship later in 2005.