It was a future war set in the confines of a war torn Hong Kong and your role as a combat soldier was to stop the opposition at all costs, not alone but as part of a unit, which in turn was a part of a far greater force. The same rule applied to your very determined enemy whose objectivity seemed intent on destruction of this once beautiful city. As a soldier of duty and being thrust into the action from the offset as the impending masses of troops cascaded and jumped over the city’s defensive walls into your path, It was down to you and a few good men to hold them off and quash the full scale assault from your adversaries.

As you positioned your self into key locations in a small courtyard somewhere in the city the fire fights and relentless onslaughts of well armed foes began. To your left and right side your fellow brothers were falling, bullet ridden and mutilated by the blasts of incoming fire. With gritted teeth you fought on, it was the only thing you could do as wave after wave of troops closed in on your position. There was no time to think other than when to next reload and what target to aim for next. This was no ordinary war and it was bloody, there was no time for remorse as bullets pierced the faces of friends, companions as their crimson blood streamed on the old stony floors of this battlefield. For them they had truly seen the end of war, yet in your nightmare the war still raged on as you grasped to the life still left in you and continued this will to fight on.

Metal beasts broke through the defences, not dragons or demons that this city portrayed so much in its architecture but beasts with awesome firepower to kill and maim in reality, your reality. You manned the .50 calibre mounted gun turret to stop these bringers of doom and to some success as they fell before you. The honed skills from extensive training were paying off in the heat of the moment. Flying beasts rained down upon you their airborne supremacy taking out many in your unit, but as a true warrior you had to keep fighting. The heat from your turret was reaching critical, however you could not let go until the threat was eliminated, and so be it the battle raged on until there were none left.

Victory seemed to be the very words on the survivors lips as a brief respite in the onslaught brought an eerie silence, with only the crumbling of stone being heard above that of your own heart beat. Was it really over? A companion lay before you injured and in need of medical assistance yet before there was time, the time that you needed, the silence was broken. Bombers over head and with a payload heading for your location there was no time to move away. As you dashed towards your fallen comrade what thoughts were going through your mind as in the harsh reality he was already dead, and so were you. The electro magnetic pulse bomb detonated just as you reached your fallen comrade and for you this was the end. You were dead and war had no meaning anymore or did it? Welcome to Project Snowblind!!

Gameplay:

Project Snowblind started out as Deus Ex: Clan Wars and from the very opening of the game becomes very clear that the two games are closely linked. Both games share the same first person heritage that made the original Deus Ex so entertaining and both share the unique features of what made the Deus Ex games what they are today, bio mods ! Stripped to its core is probably safe to say that Snowblind is pretty much a generic first person shooter, however the developers have obviously spent some time at offering something a lot more than that. Whilst many games offer a reluctant hero or perhaps a super soldier who generally kicks ass its Snowblind’s approach that offers that little bit more entertainment compared to the usual.

Whilst the original Deus Ex games offered the chance for players to mould their character to suit their own style of play, Snowblind opts to do the same but in a far more simplified manner whereby the choices are there in black and white yet its up to the player to actually decide if they want to use them or not. Early on in the game as your character is resurrected you are given the ability to see heat signatures through solid objects, nothing particularly new in video games, yet its implementation is there all the same and is up to the player if they wish to utilise it in their strategy against the many foes that they face. As a super bio-modded soldier, many abilities are bestowed upon you yet if you so choose you can opt to ignore them entirely. This is what I like about this game as nothing is truly forced upon you despite their being many scripted sequences one after one another. The abilities become more and more optional as you gain them such as Ballistic shielding, stealth camouflage or even the ability to speed yourself up beyond that of regular humans. Again leaving the choice of when to use these down to the player and if the player chooses to. The same can be said for those that like a little bit of stealth in their games as Snowblind caters for these players as well where some sections can be completed purely stealthily where players can seek out alternate routes that run and gun players might never know existed in the game.

The same rules apply to your weaponry as the usual suspects are featured such as sniper rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, silenced pistols and plenty of grenades and even some rather unique weapons such as spider bots. Whilst it’s possible to go though the game using the standard assault rifle; again weapons choice is down to the player, although ammo scarcity can be a problem for those who aren’t as thorough as there are many crates and hidden areas that can yield some much needed pickups and the like.

Snowblind doesn’t stop there either; as there are also some moments where vehicles can be used which adds some neat variety to the package however in my opinion I felt that being your self and using your own abilities was a much more rewarding experience. The element of squad play is definitely high on the list in Snowblind especially during the more intense shootout moments; however the player is given no actual direct control over these men. I guess this is right given the fact that you fight alongside them as opposed to being their commander. Some might argue that this is a missed opportunity, I say not necessarily as there always seemed to be enough action going on especially if you assign your self to the role of protecting your weaker un-bio-modded comrades.

The in game enemies are quite a varied bunch and at times acted fairly intelligently although as I mentioned before, depending on how you play the game will show a different side to the AI. Often being loud and Rambo like produced enemies that would react the same as you as their numbers would try and overwhelm you; however sneaking around for me, allowed for a more involved AI that would perhaps form a small search party if one of their men had just been sniped. This wasn’t always very consistent though which is a shame because I had quite a lot of fun creeping up on the unsuspecting and punching them in the back of the head even though others close by carried on as normal as if nothing had happened.

Graphics:

I wasn’t sure about the graphics in Snowblind as they definitely have a washed out look of their own which I guess you will either love or hate. In some instances the graphics where quite impressive indeed, whereas other areas were duller and the muted colours made the game look a little dated, especially in some interior sections. That said, some of the design in places are of an extremely high quality and are full of much vibrancy that a number of other games could take note of, so kudos to the members of the team for paying attention to the smaller details which really help bring what could appear to be lacklustre, alive.

Sound:

The sound in Snowblind is actually pretty good as you would expect from the heritage of Deus Ex. There are a lot of voices used throughout both in cut scenes and during the game play itself, from friend and foe. In the quieter sections you are able to talk to non playable characters to hear comments and remarks from them which is a nice touch, this is vocal based and is cool addition, albeit a little cosmetic. The ambient sounds from alarms going off and such also added that aural colour which helps to create some of the wonderful atmosphere the game has in places. Overall the sound is pretty good and fitting to whatever is going on at the time, more so during those intense battles where friends and enemies have plenty of things to say.

Longevity:

Snowblind’s single player is not the most lengthy of campaigns and depending on how much you get “into” the character will determine if you feel like playing the game again. I suggest that players take the time to play again to perhaps mess around with a different approach to how they tackled the game the first time round, as I mentioned before the game does offer a lot of choice, albeit in a rather linear fashion, if that makes sense?

If you are tired of playing against AI then the game does come complete with some multiplayer action which will please the Xbox Live fans and those who enjoy system link or split screen. That said I think the game is better suited for Live as the maps are quite large and possibly won’t be as enjoyable with fewer players; either way there a number of modes available to keep fans and players happy and entertained for quite some time.

Overall:

Snowblind has a lot of competition on Xbox what with games like Halo 2 being the gamers choice at the moment. However I feel that given a chance Snowblind has enough personality of its own to shine through as something different to mess around with. Whether this is enough for Halo heads to stop playing their favourite game then I’m not sure, but either way Snowblind offers some intense and fun combat which shouldn’t be overlooked. Like I said earlier the graphics are really a mixed bag and if you re more concerned with how a game looks then you might be disappointed or not depending on your stance.

I found Snowblind to be an engaging and highly entertaining title, and as a fan of Deus Ex was pleasantly surprised at how they incorporated the features into this simplified spin off version of the game. Maybe not a game that is for everyone but definitely worthy of a rental for those unsure. Snowblind is a solid and engaging title for those willing to scratch beneath the surface.