Scot reaches for his lifejacket...

As far as survival horror games go, Cold Fear already has one great asset on its side - an experienced development team who have already worked in the genre before. Having previously released the competent fourth instalment of the venerable Alone in the Dark series, Darkworks have turned their attention to repeat the process with a promising new title. We were invited along to Ubisoft's Paris HQ to look at how the game is progressing and how it stands out from other games of similar ilk.

Persistent carnage

Rather predictably for a game of this stature, very little of the story was revealed in order to maintain the element of suspense. You play the role of Tom Hansen, a coast guard who investigates a distress signal from a seemingly-desolate whaling ship in the Bering Sea. Upon boarding, he discovers things to be a little... weird. People are shooting at him, and others who aren't quite so human are trying to take chunks out of him. Soon it becomes apparent that these things need to be destroyed, and can only be done so in traditional zombie-flick fashion by removing the head or destroying the brain. Cue persistent carnage.

Cold Fear is an attempt to combine the scare tactics of other slow-paced survival-horror games with relentless action-based set-pieces, drawing its strengths from an impressive, shocking story and a dynamic, interactive environment. We got some brief hands-on time with the game, and while it's not too dissimilar to last-year's surprisingly-good The Suffering, it displays some qualities of its own that will feature heavily in its plans to stand out from the crowd.

For the most part, Cold Fear is set aboard a whaling vessel in the middle of a violent storm. The setting allows for some interesting effects. Standing outside, the boat itself is quite a spectacle as waves crash down on the surface and the deck rocks from side to side. The stormy weather proves to be much more than just a neat visual effect too; this "rocking dynamic" actually has a significant impact on the gameplay. As we were exploring the outside areas, we saw items and bodies slide around as the ship bounced around in the choppy waters. At times, you'll be knocked off your feet as waves threaten to wash you overboard, while aiming is incredibly difficult as the ship constantly throws you off balance.

To counter this, Cold Fear allows you to interact with its dynamic environment and grab hold of a secure piece of scenery to gain stability. This will in turn allow you to target precise areas on enemies at the expense of movement. Since the availability of ammo is likely to be scarce throughout the game, using the environment to your advantage is important when it comes to taking out the hordes of mutants you're likely to encounter. Darkworks have promised numerous ways to take out the enemy, and examples we've seen have involved a retracting bridge over a particularly nasty grinding device and a strange overabundance of explosive barrels - a bit of a fire hazard on a large whaling ship, we feel.

Buckets of gore

It just wouldn't be construed an action-horror game without a suitable amount of gore, and Cold Fear throws around buckets upon buckets of the stuff. Blood splatters on the camera if you get too close to the enemy, while the unfortunate victims of the attack are scattered around the boat in pieces - heads are split in two, bodies are ripped in half, killer whales are found eviscerated, etc. The monsters, too, are quite gruesome, ranging from decaying mutants to pulsating worm-like parasites who seek to feed on the insides of survivors. Bleurgh.

All things considered, it's shaping up to be an enjoyable addition to the action-horror genre. It's hard to gauge just how shocking the game will be, since our experience with the game was made significantly less-terrifying playing in a crowded, noisy room full of journalists, but the action is certainly appealing, and with experienced fantasy-horror writer Richard Dansky - who has previously worked for White Wolf and Red Storm Interactive - working on the game's narrative, Cold Fear is definitely one to keep an eye out for in the coming months.

Preview by: Scot Bennet

Taking time out from some hands-on time with the game, Scot sat down with Cold Fear Project Managers Mathieu Boulard and Florian Desforgo.

GAME: Good afternoon guys.

Straight to the point: what would you say your greatest influence was for creating Cold Fear?

We had no real influences while creating Cold Fear. Our main concept was to create an action-based horror game. There was no real inspiration for creating it. Perhaps some small influences, such as Resident Evil.

What would you say sets Cold Fear apart from other games in the genre?

We wanted to put more emphasis on the action in survival horror games, giving players more of what they want. We didn't want them to play another game where they were frustrated by the constraints of the survival horror genre - we wanted something immediately gratifying. We wanted them to be able to play a fast-paced horror game, and not feel constrained by their movement. We wanted them to be frightened, so we were very careful with the pacing, balancing shocking horror with intense action.

We saw some pretty interesting monsters in the presentation - can you describe them a bit more?

Exorcells [face hugger-type… things] are the main monsters in the game, and it's through these more creatures and mutants are created. The player needs to make a choice - do you kill the mutant or go for the main Exorcel? The Nightcrawler is capable of turning off the lights in the room, meaning you'll have to switch to a weapon with a torch or fight in the dark with only its glowing eyes to aim at. Of course, there are other kinds of monsters later on in the game, including an invisible mutant.

What sort of firepower can we expect to get our hands on?

The entire game will feature 8 unique weapons: the speargun, handgun, MP5, AK47, flamethrower, shotgun, grenade launcher and another [which they couldn't remember at this stage]. Each weapon will serve better in different situations; some weapons are fitted with a torch, although are perhaps lacking in firepower. Some weapons work better on different enemies - Exocells don't like the flamethrower too much, for instance.

Can you explain the speargun a little more?

The speargun is a unique weapon in the game that was created by the scientist who was experimenting with the Exorcells. Each creature reacts differently to the weapon [we saw one creature become paralyzed as it was hit, another was drawn to the bullet which was stuck in the wall] so you can assess the tactical advantages in each situation. However, ammo is scarcely available for the weapon.

The rocking effect on the boat looks great - can you elaborate on how this will affect the gameplay?

When you're outside the boat, you'll see the boat rocking from side to side. If you don't grab on to a stable object [such as a railing], your aiming will be unstable and it will be hard to land precise shots. The higher on the boat you are, the greater the effect. When you are indoors, we have reduced the rocking for gameplay purposes.

How long can we expect Cold Fear to last?

It's the standard length for any action horror game - around 8 to 12 hours long.

You've hired in a recognised author to write the storyline for Cold Fear…

Yes, Richard Dansky. He has written over 100 books for White Wolf and has experience working with Red Storm, writing for several of the Tom Clancy games.

Thanks for your time and good luck with the game.