Of course, stuff like that didn’t hurt it nearly as much as the realization that multiplayer in this game quite simply sucks. At first it looks pretty appealing, with a multitude of gameplay modes (ranging from standard deathmatch and capture the flag to slightly more interesting gametypes, like “Tactical Assault”, which requires players to hack into an enemy team’s nodes to disable the shields around an enemy’s generator so they can destroy it), class-based gameplay, and even a neat “Arms Race” mod, which causes players to acquire weapons and augmentations from those they kill, continuously adding to their arsenal until they die. Unfortunately, once I dared actually join a number of matches, I was quickly educated on the game’s true multiplayer problems. Specifically, the horrid, uncontrollable beast known as “latency” invaded every game I tried to join, regardless of indicated connection quality in the server browser. This led to some incredibly jumpy firefights with jerky animations and consistently teleporting players. There were also a few balance problems I witnessed, particularly involving the deployable riot shields – I witnessed more than one clever player blocking off an entire passage with riot shields in a CTF match while he was trying to get away with the flag, for example, preventing the defending team from pursuing. Even the cool inclusion of vehicles just isn’t enough to salvage what is effectively a buggy, unstable, poorly-designed mess, which is very sad because a well-toned multiplayer component could have been the one significant redeeming feature Project: Snowblind could have offered.

My lasting impression of Project: Snowblind is that it seems to be a somewhat ambitious title that wanted to see if it could meld the high-end, complex gameplay elements of Deus Ex with a more simplistic and accessible combat style, but just ultimately fell short of being anything spectacular. While the kind of run-and-gun gameplay Snowblind strongly promotes may offer a fun experience for some, I personally feel that the game has little to offer beyond a depressingly average experience, marred further by a number of gameplay and interface problems, as well as multiplayer support that feels entirely half-assed. In today’s market of exceptional action titles (especially with games like Republic Commando and Brothers in Arms on the verge of release), there just isn’t any point to picking up a mediocre game like Project: Snowblind. Save your dollars and get something better.