Cold War [Xbox]

Cold War can be best described as Splinter Cell in the U.S.S.R., because this Prague-based stealth shooter borrows heavily from that popular game series -- a little bit too much, in fact. However, decent gameplay and a couple of new twists make this value-priced title a worthwhile pick.

You play as Matt Carter, an American investigative reporter who travels to Moscow in 1986 to uncover an international conspiracy. You soon discover a fundamentalism faction that doesn't want the Cold War to thaw has framed you as an assassin with plans to kill the Soviet president. With this distraction, the radical separatist movement sets in motion plans to return the U.S.S.R. to a communist state and set off events that could provoke another world war.

The game begins in Lenin's mausoleum near the Kremlin, where you witness a secret meeting between the Soviet president, a CIA operative, and a mysterious woman. To get inside, you must remain undetected from the roaming guards outside. You need to hide in the shadows, obtain a key, and enter the building after deactivating the security system. You must also take down guards by sneaking up behind them and whacking them on the head (you know, something most photojournalists are trained to do). Once a guard has fallen, you must scour their bodies for weapons and other items that can make taking other guards an easier process -- even though you're not allowed to kill anyone. You can drug guards to knock them out longer, as well as drag their body to more discreet locations such as behind bushes or inside a small room. You will eventually be caught and thrown in the KGB's infamous Lubyanka political prison. This will lead you to Grushkov, a fellow inmate, who helps you escape. But the chase is far from over.

As with Splinter Cell and the Metal Gear Solid series, Cold War is played from a third-person perspective as you creep through many indoor and outdoor locations. Gamers must be cognizant of how visible (and audible) they are when approaching the villains. A small display in the lower right-hand screen indicates the likelihood of being spotted or heard by an enemy. The higher the blue bar rises, the more likely an enemy can and will sense your presence. One problem is that the A.I. is far too intelligent so even when sneaking in the shadows as slow and quiet as you can, the enemies seem to always know you're there. Because of this, using range weapons to stifle their advances will be much easier than diffusing the situation with hand-to-hand combat or an ether-doused cloth over the mouth from behind.

Cold War, however, does offer a couple of interesting gameplay mechanics not found in other stealth action games. One is an X-Ray camera you accidentally acquire early in the game. By tapping on the Xbox controller's white button, you can spy on your enemies through walls and examine the room before entering it. Living beings, such as guards and mice, will appear as skeletons. What's more, the gadget can render an enemy temporarily unconscious thanks to a high burst of radiation to the head, and it can also detonate explosive objects from across the room (such as fire extinguishers) or scramble a security camera. In time, you'll be able to add a second lens to the camera so you can zoom in and out by pressing up and down on the Xbox's D-pad.

Another cool addition is an inventory system that lets you collect and store objects in order to create new ones that can aid in your survival. For example, you can make rubber bullets that will stun instead of kill enemies by combining plastic bottles with bullet casings (as you can see, a suspension of disbelief is required). Or you can make a tracing bug by finding and combining a tin can and appliance parts, or you can create a slingshot by combining an alarm and a can. An ether mine, which can be thrown into a room full of villains to put them to sleep, can be made with a tin can and ether. You get the idea. This gameplay component works surprisingly well. Players can also search for briefcases, blueprints, folders, and other secret documents that produce "tech points," used to purchase new gadgets.

This single-player campaign, while on the short side, is paced well. The attractive cut-scenes, made up mainly of graphic novel-esque still images, add to the game's relatively high production values and helps push the story forward. No multiplayer options exist even though an Xbox Live tab is prominently displayed from the main menu; when you click on it, all you can do is view your buddy list and their status, which begs the question why this option is there at all.

That said, at $20 for the Xbox version ($40 for PC version), you could do a lot worse. Lack of originality notwithstanding, gamers in search of an above average stealth action game experience with a good story and couple of minor innovations won't be disappointed with Cold War.