Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth  Review for Xbox

Thursday, November 10, 2005

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Title: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth .............................................. System: Xbox .............................................. Genre: Adventure .............................................. Publisher: Bethesda Softworks .............................................. Developer: Headfirst Productions .............................................. Release: 10/24/2005 .............................................. Online: No .............................................. ESRB: Mature (M) .............................................. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is based upon H.P. Lovercraft’s immensely popular short story. Dark Corners of the Earth is a first person-person-shooter/adventure game that contains a mix of action, horror, and suspense to bring the story to life. Developed by Headfirst Productions, Dark Corners of the Earth tells the story of Jack Walters. The game begins in 1922, at the Arkham Asylum where a patient is scribbling symbols on the walls in his padded cell. Next, you see the patient slowly step on a chair, make a ring in a rope around his neck, and then hang himself. The story rewinds to six years ago, where you find a private investigator named Jack Walters; a true gumshoe. Jack is in the middle of a raid on a empty house full of dead cultists, a hidden room with a dreadful scene, and a chamber that unleashes a force that drove Jack to the nuthouse, where we seen his attempt to hang himself. But the next time we see Jack, he is very alive, and very insane. Jack has no memory of his stay at the Arkham Asylum, or any memory of his attempted suicide. Jack starts taking on cases that involve the unexplained, and is somewhat obsessed with the whole aspect of them. When Jack receives a call from Mister Anderson, Jack is about to dismiss the case until he learns that it involves a store manager in the town of Innssmouth suddenly vanishing in what seemed to be a store burglary. The case does not make any sense, so Jack accepts the job and heads to the town of Innsmouth. When Jack arrives at the town, he starts his investigation and starts to sense something evil. What was supposed to be a simple investigation turns quickly into a fight for survival against the forces of evil. If you’re a fan of H.P. Lovecraft’s short stories, you will be very happy to know that the game has the ability to tell the story perfectly. It does a fine job keeping you on the edge of your seat, and almost causes you to lose your sanity yourself! This first-person adventure offers no head-up display, and gives a great feeling of total immersion into the game. In the first six hours or so, the game has you investigating with no form of defense to protect yourself. The designers did a great job at creating a feeling of dread around every dark corner in H.P. Lovecraft’s world. You will see the haunted town of Innsmouth through Jack’s eyes very convincingly. When you first head to the town, the bus you arrive on is driven by a spooky chauffeur. Once off the bus the town right away doesn’t feel right. The folks of Innsmouth are very unfriendly, pale, and are obviously hiding some secret that Jack has to uncover by exploring the creepy and mysterious town. Jack meets up with a guy named Mackey, who’s the only normal looking person there. Since Jack is a private investigator, he will work out ways to get inside buildings without being seen or caught, talking with the most mysterious cast of characters, and picking up clues along the way. You make Jack interact with the environments and solve puzzles, which could result in death if you fail. The game excels big time in creating high levels of tension. Jack’s sanity is tested throughout the game, and the controller shakes at any disturbing images you witness. Jack—when in a safe area—recovers sanity. While in the safe areas, Jack’s heart and breathing rate will slow down, and then level out once sanity has been restored. Sanity allows Jack to withstand the effects of assaults on his mind. If sanity goes to zero, Jack will kill himself with a weapon or with his bare hands if you have no weapon at the time. Careful management of Jack’s mental health is very important and plays a large role in the game. When Jack suffers, he will drop in sanity and then develop one of the following conditions: blurred vision, hearing loss, hearing voices, shaking, dizziness, and reduced speed. Blurred vision causes the screen to go blurry. Hearing loss causes the environment’s sounds to diminish, but Jack’s heartbeat, pain-oriented sounds, or heavy breathing are not silenced. When you hear voices, you hear mysterious voices from various game characters…but not normally—in Jack’s head. Panic causes the camera motions to blur (sort of like you’re drunk). Shaking means that the camera will shake, and cause Jack’s teeth to start chattering. Dizziness causes the screen to distort and oscillate. Jack will also suffer from slow down, which makes movement speeds to be reduced and a shorter jumping distance. The controls are fairly simple, and do not take much getting use to. The game runs smoothly as you control Jack to explore and investigate the environments. Pressing the A button will examine various objects, and you will hear Jack’s inner thoughts. The basic control layout is as follows: Left thumb stick - Move Right thumb stick - View D-pad – Cycle/Ready Weapon Left trigger – Aim Right trigger – Attack/fire A button – Action B button – Crouch X button – Jump Y button – Reload Black button – Inventory White button – Quick heal The game gives visual hallucinations when you panic, and foes attempt to tear your head off, which can lead to a series of horrific sound effects when you have to use a bookcase to block your pursuers, lock a window latch, and accidentally miss a leap to a balcony only to end up landing in a bone-crunching thump, causing blurriness or a momentary blackout. Damage is body-part specific, which means falling on your legs can result in hobbling and panting in pain. Once you regain your vision, you may spot something down the dark streets coming toward you. A lack of offense means you run scared almost all the time. Later on in the second half of the game, you gain the ability to shoot foes with firearms or sneak up on them and plunge a knife into their backs. There are numerous mysteries and puzzles to solve. Graphically, the game looks two years old, but the game has a dark grainy feel to it. The character models are not bad, but yet not perfect, but overall the graphics could have been better. The only other minor problem is that closing doors frantically can cause enemies to glitch into scenery. Where the graphics fail, the sound effects excel. The game is filled with detailed sounds, a creepy soundtrack that will help set the scary mood, and very good voice acting that really makes you feel like you’re there. Jack narrates as he makes discoveries, and his dialogue is what you would expect to hear from a gumshoe in the movies. The sound effects themselves will creep you out from start to finish, adding another level to this already creepy game. The game developers did an excellent job in the sound department. Dark Corners of the Earth is a hidden gem in the dark corners of your local game store. It is a game that takes you on a journey in an unimaginable world—one that no one should enter. The minor glitches should not turn you away from the game, but this game is an experience everyone should try. If you find games like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and even Alone in the Dark not spooky despite what your friends say, then give this game a try. This game offers about 15 hours of high tension, teeth gritting enjoyment, and one of this year’s most frightening first-person adventures. Dark Corners of the Earth is a great game, but it's one of those games that once you beat it, you really don't feel like playing through it again. Once you've seen and experienced everything, it takes away the scare element, so this leads to low replay value. However, this game will easily become a true cult classic.   The Core Score Overall 8.1 Fun 9 Gameplay 8 Graphics 7 Audio 9 Replay 4   How we score games