- One word - information.
You have control of it, you drive the deal.
The other side has control of it, they take it from you...Andrew Sterling
Cold Winter is a 2005 First-Person Shooter developed by Swordfish Studios and published by Vivendi Universal Games.
Ex-M16 Operative, Andrew Sterling, had his identity revoked by his superiors after his arrest in a Chinese prison, with all his files destroyed by M16 to prevent an international incident. Rescued from his captors by his former partner and Old Flame, a rogue Chinese agent named Kim who now works for an independent Secret Intelligence Unit, Andrew - against his will - is one of their many mercenaries-for-hire, recruited for missions far too covert for government agencies.
After being assigned to wipe out an arms cartel in Egypt, Andrew comes across a stolen biological weapon, a secret terrorist organization and a conspiracy to wipe out all life on earth.
The game features a variety of weapons and gadgets, including pistols, rifles, grenades, and remote-controlled drones. It also has a cover system that allows players to take cover behind objects and walls to avoid enemy fire.
My name is Andrew Sterling. My Game is Over...
- Arms Dealer: The stage in Egypt has Andrew assigned to take down an arms dealing ring led by one Mahmoud Al-Fariq, who becomes one of Andrew's major enemies for the game's first half.
- Astronomic Zoom: The game begins with a satellite orbiting around earth, with Andrew's narration in the background before it zooms through the clouds, stratosphere, before finally settling in on a rural Chinese village. And next to it, the political prison Andrew is held captive.
- Bald of Evil: The Egyptian Arms Dealer, Mahmoud Al-Fariq, one of the game's most prominent villains, doesn't have a single hair on his head. And is one of Andrew's most personal enemies, which he makes a point to hunt down after Mahmoud killed Kim.
- Convenient Escape Boat: Used by Kim and Andrew when they escaped Changsha Prison, who conveniently has a river running by it's side.
- Crate Expectations: Crates appears in every level, and Andrew can break them apart to obtain ammo, armor, and other obtainable pickups. One of the first hints in-game is "Some Craters Contains Ammo".
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: John Grey, leader of the Greywings organization, still adores his only surviving relative - his granddaughter, after John's wife, son, and daughter-in-law all passed before him.
- Going Critical: When Andrew sabotaged the Cold Winter's reactor to prevent the project from going online, and he needs to escape as the whole Greywings headquarters explodes behind him.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Because of the game being espisionage-themed with Andrew partaking in missions across various countries, expect mooks to let out random foreign words in thick westernized accents.
- The Chinese guards in Changsha prison, for instance, often spout haphazard phrases slapped together from random Mandarin words and sounds suspiciously British.
"Qing ni bu zhun xian hai wo!" note- Kim's flashback when she escapes from the PRC recruiters have everyone present speaking Chinese. Her VA, Kristy Wu (Chinese-American born in California), gets an A for Effort trying to sound like a mainland Chinese citizen.
- The mooks in Egypt randomly utters "Allahuakbar!" when killed. There are also restaurants in the same stage with the words "Halal" (permissible food and doesn't serve pork, which Muslims can't eat) painted on their sides, despite being set in a district where 90% of it's population are Muslim anyways and the "Halal" reminder seems redundant.
- Gunship Rescue: The final cutscene after Andrew sabotages Project Cold Winter and stops their plans have his escape leading to a balcony, with plenty of enemy soldiers pursuing him. But then his transport helicopter arrives and takes care of the remaining soldiers via machine-guns before picking him off.
- Impairment Shot: In the opening cutscene, when Kim busts Andrew out of prison and he regains consciousness.
- More Dakka: Whenever Andrew obtains a mounted, Browning machine-gun, allowing him to mow down hordes and hordes of mooks left and right. The prison escape have him using one such weapon to take down a helicopter.
- The Not-Love Interest: Andrew and Kim, despite her saving him more than once in the game. Then again she dies before the final act, also before anything resembling a romantic relationship could actually happen.
- The Pen Is Mightier: In Kim's flashback, after eliminating the PRC agents around her, she then finishes off the interviewer via pencil in the left eye.
- Red China: They play a part in Kim's past, with Red Chinese agents trying to recruit her after having Kim's brother arrested for partaking in the 1989 Tiananmen Protests
. - Shrine to Self: Mahmoud has a gigantic statue of himself in his compound, roughly the same size and striking an identical pose as Saddam Hussein's statue (albeit with two hands raised instead of one). The game was released two years after the real thing collapsed by the way.
- Spy Catsuit: Kim wears a sleek, black one when she breaks Andrew out of Changsha. Remaining cutscenes featuring her have Kim in far more practical gear instead.
- Step One: Escape: Changsha Political Prison, the first stage, where Andrew is a captive after he's arrested for espisionage until Kim busts him out.
- Title Drop: The name of the apocalypse to be initiated by the "Greywings" society, which Andrew needs to prevent at all cost - Project: Cold Winter.
- Torture Technician: The game opens with Andrew being "interrogated" by a Chinese torture expert, who gleefully burns him with cigarettes, had Andrew forcefuly beaten up and twists his fingers for good measure. After Kim helps Andrew escape, one of his objectives is hunting down and killing said torturer.
- Unperson: The British government does this to Andrew in the opening cutscene, choosing to erase all files regarding his existance rather than barter with the Chinese government. By the time Kim breaks Andrew out, he no longer have any identity of his own.
- Vengeance Feels Empty: Andrew, having killed Mahmoud and avenged Kim's death, ends the stage walking to where Kim's body is and caresses her face. The revenge is not satisfying to say the least.Andrew: Let the birds have her. Let her rot. Decompose and feed the earth. She'd have wanted that.
- Villain in a White Suit:
- The Egyptian lead arms dealer, Mahmoud, wears a slick white tux to make him stand out compared to his lesser mooks.
- Inverted in Kim's flashback when Red Chinese agents tries forcefully recruiting her to their cause in exchange for her brother's life. Kim is the only one wearing a white version of a Red Guard's uniform, and shortly after she kills everyone and ditches her white clothing.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Ultimately, the game's true main villain, John Grey, turns out to be this; a former RAF soldier who witnessed the horrors of nuclear war, and having his son and daughter-in-law dying before him, John's secret organization, Greywings, aims to eliminate all nuclear threat by creating a nuclear winter. Or as the title puts it, the "Cold Winter" project.
