''Cold Winter'' is a 2005

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the p ...

video game developed by Swordfish Studios and published by

Vivendi Universal Games Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associ ...

for the PlayStation 2. Its story was written by

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

Plot

Andrew Sterling is a former British SAS soldier working for

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

, who has been captured in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and jailed in Chang political prison; MI6 destroyed all files on Sterling to prevent an international incident. He is rescued the night before his execution by an old female acquaintance named Kim and a former fellow SAS soldier Daniel Parish. To repay his debt to Parish for saving his life, Andrew agrees to work for his private security agency. Sterling then travels to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

to eliminate the leaders of an arms dealing cartel, who possess a missile guidance system called Octopus. He completes his mission, but at the cost of Kim's life. The antagonist is John Grey (voiced by

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1974 to 1981.Scott, Danny. (1 ...

), who as a young man who enlisted in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

to defend Britain at the height of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Horrified by nuclear weapons John Grey formed a secret society, "Greywings" inspired by the heroes of the

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Shape of Things to Come ''The Shape of Things to Come'' is a work of science fiction by British writer H. G. Wells, published in 1933. It takes the form of a future history which ends in 2106. Synopsis A long economic slump causes a major war that leaves Europe dev ...

''. Greywings sought out and destroyed nuclear threats but ultimately came to the conclusion that the only way to abolish nuclear warfare would be to create a nuclear winter leaving the survivors afraid of nuclear warfare. Greywings planned on initiating their plan codenamed Operation: Cold Winter by providing world powers with the Octopus guidance systems. It turns out that Grey hired Parish to liquidate the Egyptian arms ring because they stole an Octopus unit which was intended for world superpowers rather than the third world countries its thieves planned on selling it to. Grey soon after betrays his own organization to save the life of his infant granddaughter. Sterling is sent to Greywing's headquarters in the Himalayan mountains where he destroys the facility's power core and escapes in Parish's helicopter. Grey is then seen in the game's last scene on a bench in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

where his former subordinates murder him.

Gameplay

The game uses the Karma Physics engine, allowing for interactivity with items in the game world and for ragdoll effects. Cover can also be improvised by using objects in the environment; for example, the player can flip a table to provide cover or grab a table and block a door. Additionally the game features dismemberment system similar to the one used in Soldier of Fortune. Over 30 weapons are available and player can craft gadgets and explosives from items scattered around the levels. The game offers a multiplayer component that supports up to four players offline and eight players online; in the offline mode, human players may be substituted for CPU-controlled. There are a dozen maps and six modes, including deathmatch and

king of the hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

Reception

The game received "average" reviews according to the

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website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

. It was one of the five games nominated by

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

for the title of Best Story of 2005, with a comment: "A poignant, well-told story penned by

helps make Cold Winter a more engaging experience than your average first-person shooter." The website considered the game to be sonically and graphically average, but an enjoyable straightforward shooter with a decent online mode. Whilst not the best game of its type it was "definitely worth playing".

References

External links

* {{Warren Ellis 2005 video games First-person shooters PlayStation 2-only games Spy video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in China Video games set in Egypt Video games set in the United Kingdom Works by Warren Ellis PlayStation 2 games RenderWare games Multiplayer and single-player video games