Cold Blood

Developper: Paxanga
Publisher: MSX Cartridge Shop
Year: 2009
Product ID: MSXC05
Medium: ROM cartridge
Sound: PSG

Recently I bought some MSX game cartridges from MSX Cartridge Shop which were still on my wishlist. The MSX game Cold Blood from Paxanga is one of these games. Cold Blood is a mixture between Pacman and Metal Gear and was released in 2009. I had seen it before and played the game once at a Nijmegen MSX fair.

In this game you are PacSnake. You infiltrate a well protected fortress called Ghost Heaven which is filled with evil ghosts. Just like in the normal Pacman the goal of the game is to eat all dots. In Cold Blood these dots are devided across multiple fields. Some fields are closed by coloured marked doors, and just like in the original Metal Gear game these doors can be opened by ID cards. These ID cards must have the same colour and are hidden somewhere in the big maze. You have to search the maze to find them. There are some simular tools as in Metal Gear to make your quest easier. For instance you can use binoculars, compass, cardboard box and ratios. Most important in the game is the use of Xblips, a kind of super dots which you receive when you have eaten a certain amount of dots. You can use them to eat / destroy the ghosts.

The graphics in the game are wonderful. The music is a bit minimal, but what the hack, you don't miss music in a game where 'wackkawackka' in fact is more than enough! ;) The sound effects are fine.

Cold Blood is a very addictive game, especially if you like pacman-like arcade games. Many screens, beautiful levels and very hard to play. I have reached the final boss several times, as so the game tells me, but I didn't succeed in defeating this one. I'm not going to reveal who that is, but I can say it's a very difficult end boss. Even when you reach him with the maximum number of lives left, it is still no guarantee you defeat him.

Very beautiful game. I have waited far too long with purchasing this one. Buy it!