Until now, the survival horror genre was largely the territory of heavy hitters Capcom and Konami, who rule the roosts with the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series, respectively. The fixed camera, third-person games were popularized in the late 90's, offering gamers the chance to walk through dark hallways with little more than a single weapon and a flashlight, dealing with whatever undead horrors were lurking in the shadows. While the games were fresh when they first hit the scene, they've become stale over the years. Now Ubisoft, best known for the action packed fare like the Tom Clancy games and the Prince of Persia games, has decided to throw their hat in the horror ring with Cold Fear, which we got a chance to play earlier this week.

In the game, you play as Tom Hansen, your average Coast Guardsman who has been sent to check out a seemingly abandoned Russian Whaling vessel that's adrift on a stormy sea. As is usually the case in these types of games, things aren't what the initially seem, and we come to find that the ship was the base of operations for an exiled scientist working on some sort of parasitic virus. Not surprisingly, it isn't long before poor Tom is besieged by the ships' zombie-like former crewmen, and he has to rely on his trusty sidearm, and some quick thinking, if he wants to get off the ship alive.


Although most of this sounds like pretty standard stuff for a survival horror title, there are few elements of the game that make it stand out from the rest of the make. The biggest thing Cold Fear has going for it is its setting. Eschewing the standard abandoned research facility or creepy old mansion, the first half of the game is set on the ship, which rocks and rolls with each wave. Everything is constantly pitching from side to side, so much so that some people actually said that it made them nauseous. Normally, that's not a good thing to hear about a game, but in this case, that was precisely the reaction Ubisoft was hoping to elicit.

The undulating waves are far from simply being a gimmick, though, as they actually change the gameplay in a big way. Because of the constant motion, it can be very difficult to properly aim at enemies, particularly those that are far away. Thankfully, simply holding a button next to a railing or other anchored object will allow you to hold on with one hand while aiming with the other. It's actually a well implemented mechanic, and there are times when you must choose whether to stand in the middle of a deck, trying to take down an enemy while the boat lurches beneath you, or run to the nearest railing while your foe is firing on you.