Preview: Playtest at Eidos HQ2nd February 2005Early last week, we got a chance to visit Eidos Interactive's San Francisco headquarters and spend some time playing a preview of the upcoming Project Snowblind, due out in February on the PS2 and Xbox. The game is being developed by Crystal Dynamics, who have been behind the Legacy of Kain (both Blood Omen and Soul Reaver) series and are also helming the latest Tomb Raider game. The story of Project Snowblind revolves around Nathan Frost, a low-ranking officer in the Liberty Coalition Army. The LCA is fighting a war that takes place in the middle of Hong Kong in the near future (we think the conflict started when the Motion Picture Association of America got tired of China's video piracy and somehow convinced the United States to invade... or something... we may have been paying more attention to the donuts on the desk at the time the plot was explained to us). Shortly into the game, Nathan makes the mistake of trying to play catch with someone holding a rocket launcher and winds up taking a portable missile to the chest. A cut-scene ensues, showing Frost on an operating table where some government doctors end up turning him into an experimental kind of super soldier, complete with preternatural powers due to "bio-mods" provided by the military. If this sounds like something from the Deus Ex universe, trust us: it's not. The bio-mods are noticeably different than the nanotechnology augmentations in Deus Ex: Invisible War for a number of reasons. First and foremost, the enhancements available in Project Snowblind are not chosen by players, instead they are granted in a linear fashion as players progress through the story. They also will stay with you through the game, whether you like it or not. Believe us, though, you'll like it. Bio-mods range from energy-based ballistic shields to a form of infrared vision to enhanced reflexes to a stealth mode that renders players invisible. Switching between these powers is easily accomplished on the fly with the D-pad on both the Xbox and PS2 controllers, but they can also be managed by pressing start and selecting them from a menu (which will also give a brief explanation as to what can be done with each bio-mod). One of the most entertaining features in Project Snowblind is the way that players can combine powers and weapons to inflict damage in some extremely creative ways. A very simple example of this is using the infrared vision to see one's enemies through walls and then using the Rail Laser (similar to the rail gun in Red Faction) to hit them through a few feet of cover. This brings us to the next truly noteworthy part of Project Snowblind: the weaponry. Since the game is a first person shooter, players will find themselves handling guns, guns, and, (wouldn't you know it?) more guns. There is a fairly standard array of firearms, including pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, and the obligatory rocket-launcher that, but Crystal Dynamics have also had a great deal of fun creating some fairly original weaponry. It bears mention that the shotgun is a very powerful weapon for close combat, complete with the sticky bombs (rounds that adhere to whatever they strike and then explode after a few seconds) fired by its secondary trigger, but the pistol is extremely accurate over just about any distance. The sniper rifle is also a lot of fun because it can be used to temporarily confuse your enemies and turn them against their comrades. The two guns we played with the most during the preview, though, were the Flachette Gun and the H.E.R.F. Gun. The Flachette Gun's ammunition actually bounces off hard surfaces and only stops when it hits something a bit softer... which means that it won't bounce off flesh. This is a gun that is great for literally shooting around corners, but its secondary firing feature is what makes the Flachette particularly noteworthy: a swarm of lights will fly about at a deceivingly leisurely pace and then surround an enemy and attack them. If this is used in the single-player campaign, other enemies will try to shoot the lights but only succeed in removing their attacked comrade from the gene pool. |
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