The folks at Dreamcatcher try to give James Bond a run for his money by introducing us to agent John Cord. Cord was sent to a Volgian refinery/mine located near the Russian border. It appears those dastardly Americans have screwed up once again. An American special agent named Kiefer was sent to infiltrate the refinery, but disappeared within the mine instead. Just like an American agent. Cord is sent to find his American friend before it is too late. Through his exploration Cord finds out that there is more to the mine than meets the eye. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that there is some powerful stuff called Tri-Nepheline inside the mine. This powerful substance can be harnessed into a terrible weapon if it falls into the wrong hands. Don’t these types of things always fall into the wrong hands? As you play through In Cold Blood, Cord tells his story in retrospection and the pieces fall into place. The plot unfolds in a series of cut scenes that show Cord being tortured by the oppressive villain Nagarov. It becomes clear that Cord was betrayed, but by whom?

Where to begin? Where to begin? In Cold Blood could have been a great adventure game. As it stands, it is not a bad game, but it could have been so much better. Lets talk about the positive things first shall we? Control is certainly easy. Arrow keys to walk. Press the left control key to interact with the environment, and spacebar to attack. Not very hard, and the program does support a gamepad option which is always nice. Game play is of the action adventure type. You must sneak around and find certain objects that will allow you to proceed through locked doors. It becomes evident however, that no matter how much you try to use stealth you will have to shoot it out with Volgian security guards. All of the guards look alike and they all love to smoke. The action takes place through a 3^rd person perspective, and predetermined camera angles. The puzzles seem well implemented into the plot, and aren’t extremely difficult. You must hack into security terminals to override security measures. Sometimes you are asked to find an object or person in order to advance. They can all be solved eventually by searching every nook and cranny, and when all else fails through trial and error.

The graphics are a bit dated. The environments get the job done, but the character animations are weak. Unfortunately, music only seems to play during cut scenes, and I found that the game play would have been more exciting if they had added a soundtrack. Remember how cool Jedi Knight’s soundtrack was during battle scenes, or Gabriel Knight 3’s eerie music during night scenes? Searching for objects got tedious by the fourth board, and there wasn’t much variation between the levels. After infiltrating the Volgian refinery/mine, I evaded robots, and shot at guards. I guided Cord through Nagarov’s headquarters/prison. Then I shot more guards, and disabled more robots. When I was on Nagarov’s land train? You guessed it. I disabled robots and shot at guards. The game would have benefited had it adopted a hide and sneak theme that was essential to progress.

The voice acting leaves much to be desired. Please explain this to me. You’re a secret agent with a heavy British accent. You have been sent to Russia where everyone has a Russian accent. Tell me why no one is suspicious of Cord. Cord is the only one in the whole game that sounds like he is not from Russia. If someone questions his actions all he has to say is, "I’m with security" in his thick 007-esque accent. No questions asked. This makes no sense to me. When Cord does finally find his friend Kiefer, it is down right comical at how grief stricken he is toward his fallen comrade. That’s right, Kiefer is dead. Believe me I didn’t spoil anything for you. The actor who portrays Cord does sound British though, so I guess that is a plus.

There are two very nice features within the game that stand out. The first is a little communications device called a remora. With it Cord is able to hack into enemy computer terminals. And the player can also use it to access a map. The map can tell you where enemy guards are situated behind closed doors. This was very useful, as I spent a lot of time shooting at these damn guards. The second feature is a sneak attack maneuver. You can position Cord behind an unsuspecting guard while he smokes, by sneaking up behind him. Then press the attack key, and Cord takes the guard out with one cool neck-breaking blow. Reminiscent of the Vulcan neck pinch I guess, but it looks very cool and was actually my favorite part of the game.

In Cold Blood offers some decent adventuring with some tedious action elements. What can I say? I just got tired of doing basically the same thing over and over again. Although it does get steadily harder as you complete each level. I’d say overall the program is stable; I only got caught in between a wall a couple of times. If you’re an adventure junky with heaps of patience you’ll probably dig this title. The rest of us will continue to wait for Max Payne. And wait. And wait. 

Install: Easy
The game installs off of three discs. It actually took a really long time, about ten minutes. There were no hiccups though; it’s all straightforward.

Gameplay: 7
Frustrating as hell at times. The controls are easy to manipulate, but sometimes the movement was just awkward. Did I mention that I tired of shooting at guards? The game could have benefited from a quick-save feature as well.

Graphics: 7 
The environments are crisp, but the characters fall short. Reminds me of Westwood’s Bladerunner. Overall the graphics feel dated. Of course I just finished playing through American McGee’s Alice so maybe I am being biased here.

Sound: 6
There is really not much here. Gun shots sound like gun shots. The lonely click-clack of footsteps as Cord walks through empty corridors is appropriate. There is nothing out of the ordinary.

Difficulty: 9
The puzzles aren’t really hard, but getting around the blasted guards just gets tedious.

Concept: 6 
Ever see a James Bond movie?

Multiplayer: N/A