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Better than prisoners of ice

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: October 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have always been a huge fan of Lovecraftian games be they PC pencil&paper or board games. This is a ferocious interpretation of H.P.L.'s legendary work. Bethesda's history of providing ridiculous amounts of sandbox play is a perfect fit with Lovecrafts characters who were usually wandering with no more ambitious goal than to see something fantastic and eerie. I recommend this game to anyone but if you have ever played GTA or Morrowind and enjoy the Horror genre then this is probably the best you can do right now.

Immersive atmosphere, solid game play, and Cthulhu. What more do you need?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: October 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game! It drips atmosphere, and is scary/nerve wracking as hell. While not a traditional shooter, the First Person perspective adds a significant layer to the immersive feel. There's a chase scene early on that is just amazing.

The game also stays true to the source material, sometimes directly, sometimes with little nods and winks. Readers of Lovecraft will see tidbits of various stories intertwined, thought the game is ultimately about someone who is ignorant of the mythos, and learns as he goes, so knowing the material is not needed to enjoy the game.

Much has been written about the HUDless system, sanity system, and the health system - so I wont go into those, other than to say it all works together very well.

The puzzles are decent (so far), and while there are some `get A for B' puzzles, they all make sense and add to the plot. I haven't felt like I was running an errand simply for something to do. It's all part of the investigation, and is believable.

The graphics have a stylistic feel to them, which hints at the time period (scratchy, and grainy), the voice acting is very good.

Hello?!?!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: October 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

With all of my heart, my friends, this is the best game I've played in a hundred years. It took 5 whole years to make this game, and it shows. Immersive is the word. Nothing's immersed me this way. You should try it, and see for yourself.

Best horror game yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: October 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Better than any other horror game I have played, this one succeeds at giving the player real chilling moments combined with the truest survival horror yet.

The first person perspective combined with the many lines of dialogue, the total lack of a HUD, and the effective and creepy graphics really put you into the experience of the game. Add to that the cut scenes which are seamlessly blended with the action, so that you can follow the story w/o feeling like you are watching a movie.

The game features good puzzles, which take investigation and not luck to figure out. I had to give some of the puzzles some thought time, but I never had to go looking for the solution online. The combat is brutal and realistic, featuring a great wound system. The Sanity system is very effective in that it adds to the gamers horror experience, and is not simply a gimmick. When you hear your character whisper "There's someone following me", you feel like watching your back.

Add to all this little touches like your character being afraid of heights and the possibility of becoming addicted to the Morphine used in the game and you have a very involving horror game.

The game is a bit on the difficult side at times. But this is as it should be... after all, you must feel like you are fighting to survive. The game is also very dark graphic-wise, and should be played w/ lights out for maximum effect.

If you are a fan of H.P. Lovecraft, you will love this game. Even if you are not a Lovecraft fan, chances are you will love the unique experience this game has to offer. Just wait until you are creeping along a not so sturdy wooden plank, suspended above prowling baddies far below, while you experience vertigo and hope for a quiet spot to sit and stitch up your bleeding arm...

The Innsmouth Look

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: November 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for this game for several years. I watched in dismay as what was originally going to be a multiplyer PC game shrank into a single player adventure. Finally, I thought it would never come out. That made me sad, as there have been too few Call of Cthulhu computer games (The last great one being Shadow of the Comet). Thankfully, this one was worth the wait.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth was one of HPL's more creepy and claustrophic tales and it is so wonderful to see it translated so well into a game. Seemless plot and some real pulse-pounding moments make this game a must-buy for Lovecraft fans and anyone else who likes the horror genre. Forget Silent Hill and Resident Evil, this is the real deal. Like the pen & pencil game of the same name, this one relies on brain more than brawn but doesn't present any really obtuse puzzles.

I hope this is the first of many CoC-related computer games for the 21st Century. Howard himself would be proud of the dedication that went into visualizing his creation.

IS THIS GAME DEFECTIVE???????

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have replaced this game three times but yet the game freezes up in the exact same spot. Nobody seems to have the same problem. These are the Natural defects that "they" don't want you to know. No other game in my collection has done this(NONE).Sigh... sad that I have to type a disclaimer for such an original game. The game is exciting but this bug I'm experiencing just fu**ed it all up. Boy, these so called game testers sure missed alot of glitches. And no, its not my xbox because 1. All of my games would be doing the same thing and 2. I just had the damn hard drive replaced. The fact of the matter is when I buy a game or anything for that matter, I want it to work.

THANK YOU

Something wicked this way comes. . .

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: November 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

There's something brilliantly terrifying about an evil that is so powerful that mankind ultimately stands no chance of defeating it, and yet so sly and so subtle that it could walk up to you and shake your hand without you being any the wiser.

Welcome to the Cthullu mythos.

H.P. Lovecraft's seminal world of myth and madness has been criminally underused, especially in the video game industry. Aside from echoes of his style found in horror titles like Silent Hill or (even moreso) Eternal Darkness, most of the survival horror genre tends to toward the more plebian and campy nature of the Resident Evil games. However, Cthullu gurus now finally have a game straight from the source to sate their horror appetite with Call of Cthullu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

And hey, it's actually pretty darn good too.

Dark Corners of the Earth is primarily a first-person action/adventure game, mixing mind-bendingly fun puzzles, spine tingling suspense/horror, and skin-crawling action for a unique and (if it's your bad) very entertaining gaming experience. The story, an adaptation of Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Insmouth, is a very well-paced, well-presented, and overall engrossing tale of one man's struggle against terror and insanity. Speaking of which, insanity has visible effects in the game, much like Eternal Darkness's Sanity Meter. The more horrifying things you witness, the more slippery your grasp on reality becomes.

Which will make you start physically looking over your shoulder when the creepy really starts to get to you, mostly because this game's middle name is "immersion." The first-person perspective puts you in the middle of everything, providing the kind of constant "in the world" feel that games like Half-Life 2 excel at. However, Dark Corners goes the extra mile, providing a "HUDless" screen, further pushing the player into the game's whispering and macabre world. Along with the game's stylized graphics (which do a solid job overall) and tremendous use of sound (for music as well as both for voices and. . . well, other stuff; you'll find out), the game has enough enticing scares to have you soiling your britches within the first hour of play.

Which isn't to say that the actual game is perfect. While the graphics are very solid, the textures also suffer from some sameness and lack of detail in places, especially compared to some of the XBOX's premier lookers like Half-Life 2 and Chaos Theory. Additionally, there are times When manipulating objects for the game's myriad of puzzles proves a little problematic (let's face it, consoles still don't quite have that aspect of adventure games down pat).

However, even with these minor shortcomings, the game is easily one of the most unique and enjoyable horror experiences available on consoles. It's not the kind of fast-paced brain candy scare/action adrenaline rush that you'll find in titles like Resident Evil 4, but if you're looking for a dark, smart tale of terror dripping with atmosphere, you couldn't go wrong with this one.

Cthulha: Dark Corners of the Earth

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 28
Date: November 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I found the game rather boring. The load time was aweful you just start to get the thrill and you have to wait for load. It just got frustrating. I wanted to love it, I wanted to love it, I wanted to really but I just can't * Cry

Too much for the Xbox.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 8
Date: December 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Without a doubt, Dark Corners is an ambitious game. The setting is wonderful, the graphics, sound, and level design good, the HUDless system innovative.

Unfortunately, it's too ambitious for the hardware. In the early levels it's adequate, but by the end of the game Dark Corners becomes a sludgefest of stuttering sound and graphics. How does this happen on a console game? The designers had to know what resources they had available, and should have reduced the effects to make it playable.

On a fast PC - with fixes for the minor bugs - this would be a 5 star game, but the inexplicable failure to tune the game for the platform is completely unacceptable.

The horror of the unknown

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: December 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let's admit it - most modern games baby the player. Helpful hints and arrows, spotlit items, bosses sporting "shoot me here!" spots....even top-notch titles like God of War and Resident Evil 4 fall prey to these unfortunate conventions. As games have become more complex, developers have felt the need to include these hints to keep from alienating players. Understandable, sure, but something gets lost from the immersion factor as a result.

What if someone made a game that tossed all these safety features out the window -- a horror title that abandons players in the literal and figurative darkness, leaving them only paltry clues to decipher? As the players slowly understand what is happening, they are given glimpses into a world-shattering truth that tears at the very fabric of reality, threatening to drive them mad with its ancient revelations! Maybe it's best to close your eyes and ignore what is happening....or perhaps you will discover something beyond your imagination.....

If this sounds good to you, your game has arrived.

Behold U.K.-based Headfirst Productions' oft-delayed, long-awaited title, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and Chaosium's pen-&-paper role-playing game. This is not a title destined to be a Platinum Hit, nor is it one trying to cater to all comers. It is a challenging title that demands much of the player, and not surprisingly, pays off in many ways as a result. The Xbox has a disappointingly small number of horror games (and fewer Xbox-only ones), but Dark Corners fills that void with a flourish. It must be mentioned that you don't need to be familiar with H.P. Lovecraft to appreciate it, although fans will notice numerous nods to the author's influential work.

On the surface, Dark Corners is a somewhat awkward game: it's not that pretty to look at, tends to be buggy, and has clunky controls and combat. Fortunately, these technical issues don't have a major impact on the more important stuff: gameplay, story, and atmosphere. In fact, its shortcomings make the experience that much more haunting and realistic, making the player concentrate on the task at hand rather than gawking at eye-popping animation and effects.

As with most of Lovecraft's universe, the plot is essential, so I won't go into much detail here. You play as Jack Walters, a private investigator who's hired to find a missing person in the New England coastal town of Innsmouth. Things spiral out of control from there, as Jack quickly discovers there's much more to the town than its fishy appearance.

The game is played from the first-person perspective, and there's thankfully no on-screen icons to distract you from the surroundings. Dark Corners is all about living through Jack's eyes, and he quickly learns what you don't see is as important as what you do see. Unfortunately for Jack, what he faces is so unspeakable that it can actually drive him insane enough to commit suicide (a creepy thing to experience in first-person). There is a sanity system in place that is miles more effective than the superficial one used in the Gamecube's Eternal Darkness, and the player must be careful at all times.

Dark Corners is not a shooter. The game feels something like an evil combination of Shenmue and Thief, with some stealth content, a sprinkling of platforming, a few shooting sequences and Metroid-ish boss puzzles. It doesn't start slowly despite the fact you will not receive any weapons for the first third of the game. The feeling of dread and helplessness Jack feels as a result gives the game a horror aspect unlike anything Resident Evil, Silent Hill, or Fatal Frame can produce (and it's only slightly reduced once you do arm yourself). Jack must use his wits to survive, and the game excels at making the numerous situations and obstacles challenging in a realistic fashion. You'll have to pay a lot of attention to clues you find, the environment, even noises and conversations you hear. You will more than likely get stuck, possibly numerous times, but the solution is always logical and close at hand. Like the manual states, "You're a detective, not a soldier!" Paying attention pays off big time here.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth has been a long time coming, but it's more than worth the wait. Fans of Lovecraft and horror in general will wonder why it took so long for someone to make a game with this kind of effective design. What Headfirst may lack in programming and artistic expertise, they more than make up for with cleverness, challenge, innovation, and atmosphere. The result is one of the best Xbox games of the year, and one of the best horror games ever made.

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