In the last generation we have seen more and more emphasis placed on immersive gameplay, with titles focusing on this aspect becoming highly sought after. Games that take the RPG concept one step further, and make the story into the player’s temporary life. The legendary Shenmue games brought this ethos to the forefront, and with Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit) and now Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, we are getting to enjoy games that involve a greater sensual experience. Call of Cthulhu is a survival-horror game (with some FPS elements for good measure), different to the ones before it. Bethesda have created an game that instantly places you in the character’s shoes, and it’ll definitely freak you out.

The story in Call of Cthulhu is excellent, especially for fans of science fiction. Taken from short stories by H.P Lovecraft, Call of Cthulhu and The Shadows Out of Time, most notably The Shadow of Innsmouth; where the story is mostly set. The plot utilises a mixture of time-warping, complete fantasy - some sights that are almost unbelievable and that edge which’ll have you thinking post-play. Set in the sleepy fishing town of Innsmouth, you’re sent to investigate a robbery and possible kidnapping. Upon arrival, the inhabitants are unwelcoming and rather intimidatory, and frequently advise you that you should leave. But that’s rather favourable compared with what follows.

Gameplay

Most games that we have seen so far in this mini-genre have been played out from a third-person perspective, well the successful ones anyway. Call of Cthulhu on the other hand uses the first-person perspective which, although unwieldy to the uninitiated, becomes the perfect way to enjoy being part of the game. The protagonist of the story is an outpatient of a mental institution, formerly a crack detective, who was committed after the rather weird situation you’ll experience in the prologue. As a result of this he will suffer various bouts of insanity (rather like Indigo Prophecy in a way), mainly caused by some of the horrific things you’ll see in the game, which of course increase the impact of these events considerably. If these become really bad, you’ll suffer an insanity failure and die - generally through emptying your weapon into your head. It’s a happy game.

As a detective you will have to use your deductive skills to solve puzzles, and piece together the evil behind Innsmouth. But at the same time, you’ll also need to be ready to defend yourself from hordes of disgusting and disturbing creatures, many that warp your mind from just looking at them. Mind you, those enemies are viscous and will make quick work of you in numbers, so stealth is often the order of the day. The gunplay is probably the easiest thing to put into a game, it’s something that’s so common in the current marketplace that every developer and his dog will have the expertise to implement it successfully. This is reflected in CoC where the FPS gameplay is good, but not mind-blowing (pun not intended), you won’t really find much wrong with it, but it lacks the panache of the puzzle and stealth sections.

The puzzles in Call of Cthulhu are hard, but they wouldn’t challenge a Rubik’s Cube in terms of complexity. This isn’t to say that they aren’t good, some will make you stare at the screen in amazement at their devilish nature, and they’re definitely the best part of the game. Stealth is also well developed, with a special stealth mode allowing you to sneak, peer and creep your way through the depths of Innsmouth undetected. As with most stealth sections in these types of games though, they grow tedious quickly.

There is also a rather novel way of healing yourself, with a micromanaged repair system. You can pick up a variety of medical supplies from bandages and sutures to splints, which can be used for various types of injury. Should you fail to treat a injury the screen will fade to grey, showing that you’re close to fainting and dying from blood loss. Unfortunately this was ruined by the quick heal option, negating any need to use this feature.

Control / Playability

There are, of course, problems with using the first-person perspective, as demonstrated before in games like Breakdown for example. The game requires you to solve various puzzles, puzzles that often require precise placement, jumping or looking skills. This is made pretty hard with the twitchy controls and limited peripheral vision, but it doesn’t spoil the game, it just makes it irritating at times.

Graphics / Presentation

The graphics in CoC are rather disappointing however. I found the character models especially lackluster, with faces looking blocky, without much attention to detail. The monsters, although disturbing, also look really fake, with blurry textures and flat looking facial features. The scenery is slightly better, but as everything’s the same shade of grey it doesn’t show much. This does spoil the game somewhat, it’s not like the visuals are bad or anything, but they seem to detract from the immersion and it’s definitely something I want to see improved if the developers decide to code some sequels.

Audio

The sound is also of a mixed quality in Call of Cthulhu. On one hand, you have an excellent score of atmospheric music and sound effects, stuff that’ll really make your heart beat fast. And on the other we have some really dodgy voice acting (apart from the odd humourous comment) which can often tarnish the cut-scenes somewhat.

Replay Value

Call of Cthulhu will also take you a while to complete. Not because it’s really that long, but it’s really easy to die. Many things will surprise you, which are impossible to avoid on first contact, or even the second or third times in some cases. This is often annoying to the sporadic placing of save points, but it feels satisfying when you get past these obstacles. There are of course much harder difficulties to unlock and play, if you’re into that kind of thing, which will significantly increase playing time.

Overall Score

Overall Score: 8.1/10 [not an average]

Additional Comments

Call of Cthulhu is a very good game if you can get past things like the perspective issues and you don’t mind dying often. It uses a variety of psychological techniques to scare the hell out of you, it made me jump far more than any Silent Hill or Resident Evil games ever did, which is great fun. If you liked games such as Indigo Prophecy or Shenmue, and you like some action too, then Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is for you.

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