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Six years in the making, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth doesn’t disappoint. The game based on H.P. Lovecraft’s stunning story successfully combines adventure elements, sneaking and first-person action. Fans of the source material will a lot of things to like in the game, as weill fans of the action adventure and horror genres. Because the game has been in development for so long (it originally began life as a PC title), it looks a little dated, but thankfully, the excellent art direction makes up for this.
In the game you play as private investigator Jack Walters who has a history of mental instability. Though Jack claims that he is fine at the onset of the game, he can’t seem to remember a six-year period of his life. Jack soon finds himself in the little town of Innsmouth where he discovers that there is more than meets the eye in this town. He asks too many questions and finds himself fighting for his life. The game wonderfully mimics the original horror story of H.P. Lovecraft, steadily increasing the magnitude of the horror that Jack finds himself in. The story is well told with good insight into Jack’s state of mind and his battles with sanity. You’ll find a few quotes from Lovecraft and some journal entries to flesh out the story.
Though Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth resembles first-person shooter, it mixes the action and adventure elements equally. You actually don’t get a weapon for quite some time, assuring that you use your brains instead of gunfire. The gunplay is solid but it isn’t quite as satisfying as the adventure elements. Everything leading up to the gunfights is amazing but the actual gunfights are adequate at best. The stealth elements in the game are also pretty good. The game doesn’t force your hard to use stealth but it is usually a viable alternative to getting into a gunfight or if you want to surprise the enemies.
Aside from the shooting and stealth, the game includes many adventure elements in which you’ll need to solve puzzles and explore. The puzzles aren’t particularly difficult though they do make good use of the map. The game does try to frustrate you at times and it sometimes succeeds since there is no clear objective list or map, but all it really does is further immersing you in the experience of being Jack. The exploration comes in handy when you’re forced to run away. These moments are quite tense and make up some of the most enjoyable in the game.
Call of Cthulhu manages to immerse you in the game because it doesn’t have a traditional heads-up display that displays health and ammo. The game gives you a sufficient number of cues to know when you’re low on ammo or health though sometimes it doesn’t do it as often as you would like. Even the aiming in the game is without the display, which is to its credit. The game lets you know you’ve been hit because you see blood along the screen and you begin to lose color vision. Thankfully, a first aid kit quickly fixes you up to be in good shape again. The immersion is also amplified by the sanity effects that he game has. As you progress, Jack’s sanity begins to decline, causing his vision to blur and causing him to talk to himself. The insanity effects are definitely well implemented into the game.
Technically, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth isn’t as impressive as could be. The character models are all fairly detailed, but they are blemished with textures that aren’t as sharp as they could be and sometimes stiff animation. The weapon models are a bit plain, too. The environments are all fairly well detailed, though, with a lot of subtle touches that really help it. Thankfully, the commendable art style keeps the game looking great. The game has some visual oddities like how Jack doesn’t put the gun away to climb a ladder or your inability to see your feet when you look down. These were commonplace a few years ago, but seem a bit out of place in a modern game.
With that and the lack of progressive scan and widescreen support, the game’s roots show.
The game’s audio is very impressive. The game’s background music is excellent, providing top-notch audio cues to what is going on. The sound effects are equally good, with gunfire sounding particularly strong and the numerous ambient sound effects performing greatly. The voice acting is great, with solid narration throughout the game.
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an impressive title. The gameplay is great and the presentation is just as commendable. At around 12 hours, the game is even the right length.
-- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 30, 2005
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