Cold War (video game)

Lore & Background

Cold War is set in 1986 and follows freelance journalist Matthew Carter, who arrives in Moscow seeking a Pulitzer Prize-winning story. Twelve hours later, he is framed for attempted murder of the president and thrown into a KGB political prison. An unidentified female agent replaced his camera with a prototype X-ray camera; when Carter tested it on a fire extinguisher, the flash powder caused an explosion, alerting guards. Inside the prison, he meets a former Soviet agent and escapes through a shaft to the outer areas. Using only recovered weapons and improvised gadgets, he must evade or overcome elite Soviet forces to defeat the conspiracy and avoid a Siberian prison camp.

Reader's Guide

Cold War is significant as a stealth game that diverges from typical genre conventions by featuring a civilian protagonist without acrobatic moves, emphasizing improvisation through its item invention system. The game allows multiple approaches to completing objectives, adding replayability. Its development saw the Xbox version go gold on September 15, 2005, and it is now supported on Insignia, a revival server for original Xbox games. Reception was mixed on PC and Xbox according to Metacritic, but the Linux version received more positive reviews: Phoronix called it 'truly phenomenal' and 'one of the best single-player shooters we have ever played on Linux,' while LinuxGames awarded it 8.5 out of 10, calling it 'the most enjoyable Linux gaming experience of 2006 so far.' The game's legacy includes its unique crafting system and its status as a notable Linux title.

Did You Know?

• The game was developed by Czech developer Mindware Studios.
• The protagonist is a civilian reporter named Matthew Carter, who lacks acrobatic moves.
• The Xbox version went gold on September 15, 2005.
• The Linux version received more positive reviews than the PC and Xbox versions.