Project: Snowblind preview

Crystal Dynamics is inviting you on a trip to the scenic future, in the role of supersoldier Nathan Frost, who has been, shall we say tweaked a little by the military.

At first glance, Project: Snowblind resembles every other FPS currently on the market, but the gameplay has more to it than meets the eye, and a comparison with Deus Ex becomes inevitable. Not that there's anything wrong with drawing inspiration from such a sublime game.

Due to his improvements, received at the hospital after a close brush with death, Nathan Frost has been imbued with several superhuman abilities. He's a regular Steve Austin, it seems.

He now has both night vision and thermal vision, making life hard for his enemies. Later in the game, numerous upgrades will be uploaded into Frost. Just as in Deus Ex, it's then up to the player to work out the best way of using these various upgrades to proceed in the game.

If it moves, shoot it

The game will feature bullet time as popularized by Max Payne.This effect is really getting old now, but developers adamantly keep on using it. Frost will also gain Jedi-like offensive and defensive powers such as bullet-stopping force shields and kinetic energy blasts.

This being an first-person shooter, Nathan Frost will just not settle for mere superhuman powers. The game will features a sizeable arsenal of chunky-looking weaponry. You can't beat sci-fi for some outrageously powerful assault weaponry.

The core part of the game doesn’t stray that much from the basic formula: simply aim and shoot until you’re the last man standing. You won’t be fighting large hordes of enemies here, but it's not a straight Rambo-style death-fest, you'll need to use your brain too.

In Project: Snowblind, bullets hurt and kill fairly quickly, so you need to think tactically. You'll need to seek cover and cooperate with your fellow soldiers, instead of simply rushing into the fray.

Supersoldier

You will also come across locked doors, but as luck will have it, Nathan has spent enough time with Hacking for Dummies to know his way round electronic locks, security consoles and defensive systems. His various inbuilt abilities allow him to access restricted systems, or short-circuit them from afar.

Apart from the introduction, we were not told anything about the actual plot of the game. But as an enhanced supersoldier stranded in enemy territory, we’re fairly sure this will be no picnic for Nathan Frost. We're not expecting the Godfather here anyway, a good excuse for the violence is all we require.

The game may lack some polish in certain areas, but it does show potential, and it looks like the developer will end up with a decent product that borrows several good elements from existing games.

Eye candy

Graphically, Project: Snowblind is not the visual smorgasbord that is Chronicles of Riddick, but it does keep a high standard, and doesn’t disappoint by today’s standards.

The final version will most likely contain some graphical improvements, as well as improvements in the sound department, which seemed fairly incomplete to us at this stage.

We’re looking forward to the final version, which will hopefully appear more polished and feature more atmosphere and plot. The level of ambition is certainly high enough; let’s just hope that Crystal Dynamics can fit all the pieces together nicely.