Introduction

Cold Fear is a survival-horror game, released in 2005 on fancy platforms such as Xbox, PS2 and the PC. Released shortly after Resident Evil 4 and bearing some gameplay similarities, it could probably be best described as a Resident Evil game in it's own right.

But is it any good?

...yes.

It might be my rose-tinted glasses, but I like this game a lot - it's short and simple, it looks and sounds great and now you get to see it too!

So, uh, what's it about?
Glad you asked, because this is the only part that makes any sense.

Manual Prologue posted:

Tom Hansen is just another guy in the U.S. Coast Guard when his crew receives a mysterious order to undertake a hazardous rescue mission in the teeth of a winter storm.

As the waves surge higher, Tom and his crewmates find the vessel, an abandoned Russian whaling ship. They board it, but discover that the ship has only been abandoned by human life. Something else is on board, something deadly, and soon Hansen is the only one left who can stop it.

Joining forces with the only other survivor, Hansen must battle the inhuman menace and seek out its very heart for a confrontation that could have consequences for all of humanity.

And after that? Things get...complicated.

Who is this Bryan Adams lookalike guy?
That's Tom Hansen, and you spend the game in the company of this jerk as he tries to save the day.
I don't like him.
Here's his picture.

Tosser

And his bio.

Manual Description posted:

Tom Hansen

Once a hero, now disgraced, Hansen is happy to fade into the woodwork as just one more guy out there saving lives with the Coast Guard.
All that changes when his vessel receives an order to rescue a whaling ship during a raging storm.
What he finds there will reawaken the dying embers of his spirit, if it doesn’t kill him first.

Wait, so why is he disgraced?

I have no idea. Maybe.

Well, what's the plan with this LP then?
The game is coming in two runs:

Normal - As per usual informative commentary with cuts and all that fancy-pants business.
Extreme - A relaxed, banter-strewn run of the game on \m/Extreme\m/ mode. It's hard. Has a death counter.

Enjoy!

Why are you skipping all this document stuff in the game?
Rather than do sensible things like explain the plot as part of the story or in a tutorial, Cold Fear has an arseload of documents you can pick up throughout the game.

Some are about game mechanics, some are backstory, none are shown in the video.
If you're watching the videos on the BadAids page you can see the documents found in that video at the bottom of the page.

I'll eventually put links to the documents here for those who are watching elsewhere.

Where can I buy this awesome game?
It's for sale on Steam!...wait, Metacritic score of 66? FUCK YOU