Frosty
Our journey starts off in Hong Kong war zone in the latter half of the 21st century. Lt. Nathan Frost is an ordinary soldier in the Liberty Coalition, serving under the typical R. Lee Ermey clone sergeant, and undertaking unglorified grunt work. In a rather Verhoevian twist of fate, Nathan gets mutilated in a battle and rebuilt with a variety of fancy augmentations, making him into an ass kicking machine. Frost is sent to the front lines, where he and a squad of his fellow soldiers are cut off from the main group. Surrounded by enemies with no way of contacting his superiors, Frost must fight his way to victory, or the world will be plunged into unsufferable darkness.
Augmentation Lite
The first person shooter genre hasn't been making much ground in terms of innovation in the last few years, and Project: Snowblind is one of those 'me-too' games which infest the genre. Starting off with the typical drill sergeant dress down scene, the game presents you with the first battle, a highly scripted firefight, packed with enemies completely devoid of any sort of competent AI routine. Snowblind's firefights provide a similar atmosphere to that of Sony's holiday shooter, Killzone – intensive to begin with, but generally devoid of challenge, leading them into becoming somewhat of a chore to play. A few portions of the game involve stealth, but this is not a great departure from the rest of the up front combat in the game, given that the use of stealth is only a suggestion, not a requirement.
Yep, it's another grenade launcher
The armament available in Project: Snowblind is vast, but nothing we haven't been treated too before – Carbines, shotguns, grenade launchers and even a blatant rip off of the Zero Point Energy gun from Half-life 2 (though not as useful) called the Kicker. A few nice items and secondary weapons such as the Riot Wall, which is a deployable shield, spider mines and shocker grenades, are also provided. Some of these items can be combined together, so you could have a spider mine with an electrical chain reaction, instead of the standard explosive effect.
Biomodifications are probably the saving grace of Snowblind's single player mode, though they are not as useful or as emphasized as they were in the Deus Ex games. This is mainly due to the fact you have little choice over what biomods you get, and having to cycle through them with the D-Pad can be quite a pain in the arse in the middle of a firefight, especially when you consider you're already battling the Dual Shock 2's overly sensitive analogue sticks. Still, being able to slow time, create powerful defensive shields and temporarily cloak help Snowblind stay vaguely interesting.
Project: Snowblind's single player experience is the seemingly standard length for the genre – 10 hours. Once you tire of gunning down hordes of mindless drones, the multiplayer mode offers a much greater challenge, not to mention a more interesting experience. While there is no split screen play, Project: Snowblind offers online and LAN support for up to 16 players. There's all of the standard match types you'd come to expect from a first person shooter – deathmatch, capture the flag and so on, but the intriguing thing is that multiplayer is class based – something that isn't too common on console first person shooters. It is obvious the multiplayer mode was the focus of the developer's attention during the production of Project: Snowblind.
Misty
Aesthetically, Project: Snowblind is something of a mixed bag. Character models are up to par, but the animation is too far below the standards set by other first person shooters released in the past four years. Pre-animated death scenes are an artifact of a bygone era thanks to developments in ragdoll physics – Crystal Dynamics appear to have ignored the trend and returned to these horribly dated looking movements. An enemy can be hit point-blank with a grenade, and fall to his knees. If pre-animated death scenes are to be used, they could at least be reactionary. Environments are suitable to the overall theme of the game – a futuristic Hong Kong, devastated by war. Textures are about as good as the PS2 can manage in this day and age, but an array of attractive visual effects can make up for them, from time to time. A 60Hz display mode has been included to allow for full frame, full speed gameplay.
Nice effects, but a little sterile
The soundtrack of Snowblind is full of unspectacular orchestral and rock instrumentals, depending on the situation. Sound effects are well varied, clear and take full advantage of Dolby Pro Logic II, allowing the game's firefights to be more immersive. Voice acting is solid, though we tire of the drill sergeant stereotypes.
Avalanche
Project: Snowblind suffers from the same problems as a lot of first person shooters have throughout history – they don't set themselves far enough apart from the innovators of the genre, offering only derivative gameplay experiences. Snowblind's attraction is somewhat limited if one does not possess broadband capabilities, given the short single player mode, and the developer's obvious focus on multiplayer. That said, if you don't mind paying to play exactly the same type of first person shooter you've been playing for the past few years, or are in desperate need of another post-apocalyptic online multiplayer game, then by all means, purchase this game. Don't expect greatness, and you won't be disappointed.
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