In this current generation of console games it is considered rare when you come across a first person shooter with a single player mode that outshines its online play, but Project: Snowblind is a good example of this. Set in a futuristic war environment, Snowblind features some very original and compelling ideas that make playing through the single player game an absolute blast, however it's very unfortunate that it just doesn't carry over into the multiplayer portion well at all.

You play Nathan Frost, a regular soldier in an international army known as the Liberty Coalition in 2065 Hong Kong. The game quickly starts out in a peaceful temple that is suddenly overrun by a renegade militia, making for an incredible first level and leaving some remarkable first impressions. Throughout this level and the rest of the game you're hit with short and surprisingly well done cinema scenes that not only show some great action sequences, but also help unfold the story well. For instance, at the end of this first level your character is badly injured, in fact he is just about killed in a well-choreographed scene. Next we see the view from Nathan's eyes as he's pushed along on a gurney by doctors who are screaming and scrambling to save his life. Things are looking grim and the only way to keep Nathan on this side of death is to make him the subject of a government experiment. You are now a secret weapon, the number one soldier to lead an attack and stop another organisation's plot of launching a huge EMP bomb on the world.

Snowblind's single player is incredibly compelling, taking you from great locations such as a rainy city street swarming with enemies to a sewer infested with some sort of supernatural creatures. What makes this title special though is your character; even though he may not be the most likable guy and character development barely exists, it's his special abilities and weapons that make the experience unique. Frost is equipped with several augmentations that can be used at any time during battle. One is a simple vision enhancement that highlights nearby enemies, even through walls, while another can make you completely invisible. Of course, what kind of action game would be complete without the good old slow-down-time ability? Though not necessarily original, it is quite cool to have the effect in a first person shooter game. Other abilities are unlocked as you progress, as well, such as the ballistics shield and electrical storm powers.

As with any first person shooter, the weapons are perhaps the most important aspect and Project: Snowblind is loaded with some original and great gadgets. Almost every weapon comes complete with a secondary fire as well, for instance the Carbine doubles as a rapid-fire assault rifle and a grenade launcher while the pistol is capable of firing silenced shots as well as a not-so-silenced mini-rocket. The fantastic shotgun obviously can hand out some lethal close range blasts but also is capable of launching four sticky grenades onto walls or enemies. Snowblind also features a lock-on rocket launcher, an electrical overload gun, a futuristic sniper rifle and even a neat but almost useless gun called the Kicker that pushes or pulls objects (not enemies). This gun is only really useful if you need to quickly pull some health or ammo to you without leaving your cover, however you may also be able to pull off some innovative manoeuvres involving barrels or crates.

No war game should be without a good assortment of grenades and Snowblind takes it even further: instead of simply throwing a frag grenade and waiting for the explosion, you can also detonate it in midair for quick kills. EMP grenades, flash bangs and even grenades that spawn a temporary riot-wall shield where it lands await you - there's even one that turns into a robotic spider! Other surprise gadgets await and all are not only lots of fun to use but also add a lot of strategy to the game. There are multiple tactics you can use to take down enemies and one of the coolest methods is one I haven't mentioned yet... the icepick.

The icepick is a tool that allows you to hack into just about any electronic device, from computer systems to giant enemy mechs. You may stumble across a hidden console that you can hack, thus allowing you to take over a mounted turret or camera. Shooting an icepick at a mech grants you control of it, so you can storm through hoards of enemies. A number of vehicles can also be driven but often they feel more optional than anything and usually don't last very long or get you very far.

Most of the level designs are surprisingly fun, in fact most contain multiple routes you can take and hidden rooms with items that make surviving easier. I personally feel the game starts to go downhill a bit after the incredibly enjoyable first few levels, such as one where you and a squad are pinned down inside a building while enemy forces run rampant on the Hong Kong streets, as you fire from any window you can find, but also must make sure to stand back while explosives go off. Whilst this is happening you must also sniff out an enemy hacker who is keeping your exit shut. I usually refer to it as pulling a Medal of Honour; though the game does remain remarkably entertaining throughout, it just doesn't recapture the intensity it creates early on. Also found throughout each level are specially marked doors, which indicate a save point is inside. This is a very interesting idea, with each save room differing from the previous one; you'll also find supplies inside and sometimes fellow soldiers trying to take cover.

Unfortunately there is not much interaction with your squad other than running and shooting with them; if they die it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. A couple of squad members become regular characters, some of which could be interesting but they're never really developed much. The character models themselves all look a bit odd and similar, especially when they're laughing or talking; Frost himself doesn't appeal much, he just doesn't say 'action hero' to me and looks very basic, but this helps put across that he really was just an average soldier until the experiment, I suppose.

The flaws - well, rather shortcomings I should say - don't stop here; Frost has the ability to pick up a variety of objects around him Deus Ex style, but there really is no reason to do so. Throwing them at enemies does little damage if you can even manage to hit them and tossing them at friendly soldiers either does absolutely nothing or just barely nudges them. Occasionally they'll make a funny remark but oddly it doesn't seem to work for every soldier. You can harass them or just talk to them briefly as you walk around, which is nice but there isn't very much depth to it. They simply make a sly remark or give you a compliment, or maybe Frost makes one at them. Interestingly, if you start a conversation and quickly run away, you can still hear the person talking way back in the distance and Frost even responds despite being nowhere nearby! It would be good if picking up items actually showed your character holding the item but instead you simply see it directly in front of your walking path and if you decide to walk up against, say, a wall, then the item will go right into it. With a little more polish, length and character development, the single player could have been even more special.

Worth noting is that some sound set ups cause the game to behave differently for some reason when it comes to the sound; noises in the distance, even huge explosions, are barely audible and only come through on back speakers or sometimes even just through the TV, while all other effects come through a stereo. If you have a Dolby set up is should work fine but for some basic stereos you may encounter this problem, which really hurts the overall experience and knocks the sound down a score. I have never once encountered this problem with any other game, so it is incredibly odd.

If the single player mode has a downfall, it's that it ends up running a bit on the short side, topping out at around 6 or 7 hours. All the gadgets and weapons you have not only makes you possibly forget about all your abilities and not use some of them, but also results in the game being a bit on the easy side and it doesn't help that you even have a tool that revives you from death (though it is refreshing to not have to go all the way back to the start again.) The enemy AI doesn't showcase the brightest intelligence ever seen, but it is not the dumbest either; it would be nice if they were a bit smarter though, seeing as how you have all these cool weapons to use to try to overcome them, but instead they just stand there getting shot most of the time, thus making a lot of your gadgets pretty much superfluous.

The adventure is very appealing, engaging and compelling, which just makes you want to play it even more causes it to go by that much quicker and end sooner. This is usually where the multiplayer comes in, giving you plenty of replay value for your buck and helping a great game become even greater. Unfortunately, Snowblind's multiplayer feels like it has a lot of wasted potential and ends up a bit lacking.

For PS2 online, Snowblind is a very welcome addition, as the library of good online shooters for the system is a bit small, especially in the futuristic department. However, on the Xbox there is an abundance of good first person shooters, which makes Snowblind's chances of surviving and taking the market away from Halo 2, Rainbow Six and even Counter-Strike, very slim. Snowblind bears a lot of similarities to other online shooters, most notably Halo, but also tries to do some new things. Unfortunately it feels a bit thrown together and disorganised; even the team-based games feel like a free for all, where teamwork doesn't play a huge factor.

Something that can easily ruin an online shooter for me is the animations of the other characters running around; in Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Halo or Splinter Cell all the characters move fluidly and realistically, even online. However, in some other games the other players can tend to slide all over the place unrealistically, making shooting them a bit of a hassle and it just looks ridiculous. Men of Valor fell victim of this and I regret to say that Project: Snowblind does as well. If you can put up with this then the online component has plenty of enjoyment awaiting you, but to me it feels like a poor man's FPS most of the time. It has plenty of potential and with a bit more polish and effort really could have been something special, but for the most part it feels as if all these cool weapons and gadgets work much better in the single player than they do against real players. To its credit, the level designs are really good and there are a number of unique touches and modes included, as well as the ability to select from multiple classes, each equipped with different weapons, as well as full vehicle support.

When you cruise the shattered Hong Kong streets under a thunderous night sky you'll realise something about Snowblind; the graphics are better than they may have originally let on. At first you may question the bright and colourful graphics, but when you see the rain coming down and the reflections of the buildings and neon lit signs in a puddle back in a dark alley, you'll be fully satisfied. Then you'll go on to punch an enemy from a second floor building to see him fly backwards out of the window and onto a truck, like something out of the film Wasabi. A close range blast with a shotgun usually results in the same fantastic effect and though some of the enemy animations are questionable, they look great for the most part. Electronic explosions, frag grenades and rocket launchers all result in satisfying destruction complete with some buildings that collapse when hit with heavy artillery. One of my few gripes with the graphics are the character designs when it comes to a couple of the lead characters in your platoon; they try to look like big, bad, half-cyborg sci-fi characters but they come off a bit silly and unoriginal instead.

Getting the voice of Mojo-Jojo from the Powerpuff Girls or just somebody who sounds remarkably like him may not have been the best idea for a ruthless big guy either; as much as he really tries, he just can't escape the Mojo voice. If you've never seen the show or heard his voice on it then it should be fine, but for those who have you'll constantly just see a small evil monkey with a huge brain when you hear one of the soldiers talking. The rest of the voices all do a good job for the most part, even the soldiers running around the field sound good in their roles and help the overall intensity. Frost's voice fits him well and though he won't be remembered and highly praised for it (due to the lack of dialogue and development for the character) he surely won't be remembered as one of the worst either. The music in Snowblind is not always too noticeable and doesn't play as big a role as some other shooters (you know the one I'm talking about), however there is often a refreshing nice touch of Asian influence to the tunes, as well as the entire game itself, which is much appreciated by this reviewer!

Aside from the issue with the sound that I mentioned earlier in the review, it is actually quite good, loaded with awesome effects for guns on both the firing and reloading fronts (with excellent animations to boot.) Occasionally you'll even hear enemies chatting if you're quiet; however the game actually tells you to try to overhear guards before it usually happens, which sort of ruins the fun of it. If you do something unusual, such as running away to hide, you'll hear them calling you out to fight instead of hiding and even your team asks what you are doing, which is a nice touch. Overall the sound is very good but would be much better if every player got to experience it the proper way.

Project: Snowblind is a great, fast-paced sci-fi shooter with plenty of fantastic single player moments that make it worth replaying sometime down the line again. Though the single player portion is a bit on the short side, the multiplayer isn't too shabby if you're a really big fan of the game; however, it doesn't try to reinvent the online world and will have a hard time pulling the masses away from an already solid line up of Xbox shooters, though it is a very welcome addition to the PS2 online library. Snowblind makes a great weekend rental and the single player should be experienced by any first person shooter fan, however purchasing the title is only recommended for Xbox if you can find a lot of enjoyment out of the online play; with Halo 2 having taken over and Rainbow Six: Lockdown, Star Wars: Republic Commando and a plethora of war shooters coming along that may be difficult. PS2 online players looking for a future based sci-fi shooter should be pleased with this online effort; just don't expect to be blown away.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).