GAMES - Call of Cthulhu -Dark Corners of the Earth
~ Reviewed by One-Eye
Finally the corporate scum have finished pinching off this dream cookie. After hearing it was out AFTER the fact and watching this project mature since 2003 it was not a hard decision that i would buy an XBOX just to play this game. and its worth every cent.
First off, i highly recommend reading several of the key stories in the cthulhu mythos by HP Lovecraft before diving in. Many of his work s you can find online, and as he's been dead for a good 70+ years i don't think he'll mind.
The plotline follows much of what is "Shadow over Innsmouth"; meeting characters such as Zadok and The Marsh family and several events that mirror those of that tale. Yet I raise a barnacle encrusted devil sign to whomever took the plot on its own individual character.
I'm not shy in saying i've read anything by Lovecraft i could get my hands on since i was a kid, and even knowing the "story" you don't truly know what's going on. Which opens the door for the sweetest piece of this game. The feel.
When moving between plot points the screen gets that characteristic scratched and stained film look, so characteristic with the times. At the same time the revealing in these movies really doesn't do anything to reveal, but seeing things from another perspective briefly to impose the fear and horror. as this game truly captures.
Based off the D20 system and of course that was what WotC built from the original Chaosium set we spent many a night in Denny's playing untill 4 or 5 in the morning. Bleary eyed we'd see the sun rise and drive home swearing we heard the Wendigo outside the window in the frozen fields outside casper wyoming. This pulls less "system" and hit points and concentrates more on the storytelling, roleplaying and fear of not knowing completely if you're dying. that's right. there is no HUD, no ammo guage, no health meter, not even an automatic reload when you start clicking madly at some deep one getting ready to trade sushi for your ass flambe'd. Speaking of, don't expect a weapon for a VERY long time. But it isn't COMPLETELY blind.
You can enter your inventory where you can view a rundown of your ammo in your pack, and administer some first aid. You can view your body here and figure ou what you will need to sew that pesky eyebal back in or removing that chunk of your own arm from your head. Basicly there are severe wounds that need stitches, broken bones need splints, smaller wounds need a bandage and infections need an antidote. you can only carry so many of each of these so treating these doesn't always go your way.
such as a broken leg will slow you down and you grunt as you walk making hiding about as easy as making out in a church bench while sitting next to your mother. not that i would know.
Anyways you can take morphine to "deaden" the pain but this also messes with your vision as well as you fall into that wonderful opiate luv. ah and vision.
Well the premise of this game is its a horror game. and the Cthulhu game system was designed around the principle Lovecraft set down so long ago. Sanity and Sanity loss. This is brilliantly executed through the character's vision and reactions. The screen warp and twist as you develop phobias and fears. Case in point you get a fear of heights early on in the game. After this whenever you look down a ladder from a building his eyes warp and lose focus slowly. Best you look up and climb backwards as this will make you loose your grip over time.
Horrible monsters that shouldn't exist, a room of guts spraypainted accross the walls like a food fight i had with my sister, these are all things you shouldn't look at for long periods of time. you can loose your mind with the same game result as losing your life. Game over.
Several times i thought this game should be nearing the end, and the fact is it's still going.
And as i researched it the original story took you through 3 different areas of the world. they decided not to slim it down to fit in one game and instead just chopped it. The next part has been already slated as a sequel set in Antarctica and thus i suspect, similar to "At the Mountains of Madness".
This game gets my first born. That's my rating how goddamn much i like it.
if you'll excuse me i need to remove some corners in my house.
Finally the corporate scum have finished pinching off this dream cookie. After hearing it was out AFTER the fact and watching this project mature since 2003 it was not a hard decision that i would buy an XBOX just to play this game. and its worth every cent.
First off, i highly recommend reading several of the key stories in the cthulhu mythos by HP Lovecraft before diving in. Many of his work s you can find online, and as he's been dead for a good 70+ years i don't think he'll mind.
The plotline follows much of what is "Shadow over Innsmouth"; meeting characters such as Zadok and The Marsh family and several events that mirror those of that tale. Yet I raise a barnacle encrusted devil sign to whomever took the plot on its own individual character.
I'm not shy in saying i've read anything by Lovecraft i could get my hands on since i was a kid, and even knowing the "story" you don't truly know what's going on. Which opens the door for the sweetest piece of this game. The feel.
When moving between plot points the screen gets that characteristic scratched and stained film look, so characteristic with the times. At the same time the revealing in these movies really doesn't do anything to reveal, but seeing things from another perspective briefly to impose the fear and horror. as this game truly captures.
Based off the D20 system and of course that was what WotC built from the original Chaosium set we spent many a night in Denny's playing untill 4 or 5 in the morning. Bleary eyed we'd see the sun rise and drive home swearing we heard the Wendigo outside the window in the frozen fields outside casper wyoming. This pulls less "system" and hit points and concentrates more on the storytelling, roleplaying and fear of not knowing completely if you're dying. that's right. there is no HUD, no ammo guage, no health meter, not even an automatic reload when you start clicking madly at some deep one getting ready to trade sushi for your ass flambe'd. Speaking of, don't expect a weapon for a VERY long time. But it isn't COMPLETELY blind.
You can enter your inventory where you can view a rundown of your ammo in your pack, and administer some first aid. You can view your body here and figure ou what you will need to sew that pesky eyebal back in or removing that chunk of your own arm from your head. Basicly there are severe wounds that need stitches, broken bones need splints, smaller wounds need a bandage and infections need an antidote. you can only carry so many of each of these so treating these doesn't always go your way.
such as a broken leg will slow you down and you grunt as you walk making hiding about as easy as making out in a church bench while sitting next to your mother. not that i would know.
Anyways you can take morphine to "deaden" the pain but this also messes with your vision as well as you fall into that wonderful opiate luv. ah and vision.
Well the premise of this game is its a horror game. and the Cthulhu game system was designed around the principle Lovecraft set down so long ago. Sanity and Sanity loss. This is brilliantly executed through the character's vision and reactions. The screen warp and twist as you develop phobias and fears. Case in point you get a fear of heights early on in the game. After this whenever you look down a ladder from a building his eyes warp and lose focus slowly. Best you look up and climb backwards as this will make you loose your grip over time.
Horrible monsters that shouldn't exist, a room of guts spraypainted accross the walls like a food fight i had with my sister, these are all things you shouldn't look at for long periods of time. you can loose your mind with the same game result as losing your life. Game over.
Several times i thought this game should be nearing the end, and the fact is it's still going.
And as i researched it the original story took you through 3 different areas of the world. they decided not to slim it down to fit in one game and instead just chopped it. The next part has been already slated as a sequel set in Antarctica and thus i suspect, similar to "At the Mountains of Madness".
This game gets my first born. That's my rating how goddamn much i like it.
if you'll excuse me i need to remove some corners in my house.