Introduction
"Call of Cthulhu -- Dark Corners of the Earth is a first-person horror game that combines intense action and adventure elements. You will draw upon your skills in exploration, investigation, and combat while faced with the seemingly impossible task of battling evil incarnate."
Okay, so that's a bit commercial, but essentially, this is an FPS based on the writings of H.P Lovecraft. It's not a straight shoot-em-up, focusing quite alot of stealth and puzzles. It supplies enough of the mythos to both support what happens in the game on its own, and works well at keeping Lovecraft fanboys like myself happy. The story itself seems to take bits from different Lovecraft books, specifically Shadow over Innsmouth and Shadow out of Time. I'm sure as I get deeper, it will have much from the Call of Cthulhu, also.
Gameplay
I found it quite fun to play. It can vary from extremely easy, to almost frustratingly difficult. Even so, I was getting angry with the enemies, rather than the game itself. For a game that has no HUD at all, it works rather well, adding to the atmosphere as it's supposed to. If you're not too sure what's going on, pressing the action button while looking at an object, Jack (The main character) will describe the thing. Not in a way that's irritating or repetitive, and seems to have been done extremely thoroughly. The controls are good, WAXD for some reason, but this can be changed in the menu simply. The guns work like you'd expect, RMB aiming, no crosshairs when not aimed. Realistically, aim for too long and your arms get tired.
The levels are well designed, places look functional, and work for playing in. Sadly, there is no multiplayer, although I can't see how one would really improve on the experience much.
Sights and Sounds
Even before I started playing, just watching the opening credits, the sound was great. It's extremely high quality stuff, little voices telling you to die, screaming for help, that kind of thing. The graphics aren't exactly HL2 or oblivion standard, but the atmosphere pervades every little thing. The design rather than CPU-devouring reflections are what should catch your eye (By this I mean there are essentially none. I do have a bit of a mean machine computerwise, but I think this game is pretty undemanding) . It uses lots of interesting effects, though, such as blurring when scared, I found that Jack has a fear of heights, which makes plank-walking levels very interesting.
Interestingly, it has "cameos" by some historical characters who have no bearing on the books themselves. I'm not sure why, but it does make it more interesting.
Very creepy stuff, however, which isn't really made less scary however well you know what's likely to be going on in the background.
Stuff that sucks
The most annoying thing I found, was how the enemies when killed do not drop guns or ammo. It's plain to see why that was done, for gameplay reasons, but it's still fairly annoying. Sometimes it's alost too easy for Jack to take damage, also, and medical supplies are often hard to come-by. Also, the game has a habit of using items from your inventory on things in the world some times, and other times not. Again, when you think back on each occasion, it's easy to see why, but all the same, it's annoying.
Conclusion
Essentially a good game, well thought out and interesting, although it may drag on a bit, as it is so long.
Score :
