Hidden Gem of the Week: In Cold Blood

It's time for another hidden gem from the PC gaming history. This week the spotlight shines upon In Cold Blood - an action-adventure game by Revolution Software.

A solid, but much-overlooked title, In Cold Blood puts you in the shoes of John Cord, an operative of MI6 - the British Special Intelligence Service. What begins as a routine search-and-rescue assignment, ends up becoming a desperate attempt at preserving the global balance of power. John Cord must now use all his guts, stealth and combat skills to prevent a madman from changing the world forever. Pete Davison has sent us his after-mission report, offering you a glimpse of what you missed, in case you haven't played this game yet. If that is the case, now is the best time to get In Cold Blood for only $4.99, as the game is $1.00 off until Sunday, November 22 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

by Pete Davison

Ever woken up wondering what on Earth happened to get you into the situation you now find yourself in? Welcome to John Cord’s world, where his problems are far bigger than waking up with a headache next to someone he shouldn’t.

Yes, John Cord, super-suave, super-British superspy extraordinaire, is having a bad day. A really bad day, in fact. He’s been captured by baddies of unknown origin and is currently being interrogated - or rather, being “encouraged” to talk through a series of rather painful invasions of his personal space. It’s your job to help him through a series of flashbacks in order to determine what happened... and what he can do about it.

Three years before Revolution decided to take their flagship adventure franchise Broken Sword into the third dimension, In Cold Blood was their first attempt at moving the adventure genre away from simple point-and-click. Featuring pre-rendered video sequences and backgrounds coupled with polygonal 3D characters, the game shares certain stylistic elements with console-based adventure titles Resident Evil and Fear Effect. Not only that, though, it also manages to incorporate the stealth elements of Metal Gear Solid and the character interaction of George Stobbart’s adventures into the mix to make a game that is somewhere between traditional adventure, survival horror and stealth action. And rather than being a messy hodgepodge of gameplay elements, the three styles are blended together very well to produce an entertaining, compelling and challenging espionage thriller.

Narrated by Cord, the vast majority of the game sees the player piecing together the events which led him into his current predicament - and in the tradition of every good spy thriller, there are many, many unpredictable twists and turns along the way, with the only constant being that no-one is to be trusted. The “flashback” approach to the story is an interesting one, and the decent voice acting and cinematic soundtrack helps make it a tale well worth seeing through to the bitter end.

The gameplay encourages the use of stealth and lateral thinking in favor of a gung-ho action man approach, though getting through groups of guards is sometimes possible through a bit of good old-fashioned gunplay. Later in the game, however, you start coming across a fine selection of Evil Killer Robots who are immune to gunfire, forcing you to delve into the arts of obfuscation whether you like it or not.

In Cold Blood is certainly a formidable challenge, especially if you’re new to stealth-based games. A single slip-up can lead to an untimely death without warning. While initially frustrating to gamers reared on recent titles that hold your hand through difficult situations, this sense of living on a knife-edge really adds to the tension of the game. In short, it forces you to, as the manual says, “start acting like an MI6 agent; think like one, fight like one and above all, survive.”

Because, as everyone knows thanks to one fine chap called Mr. Bond, MI6 agents are badass.

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