Xbox: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Ratings

Graphics:7.00 [Bar of Width 70]
Sound:7.50 [Bar of Width 75]
Gameplay:8.00 [Bar of Width 80]
Replays:6.50 [Bar of Width 65]

Our Take

I am an H.P. Lovecraft fanboy. I needed to get this out of the way before I start talking about Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Developed by Headfirst Productions and published by Epic-Mongers Bethesda, this title has been in the pipes for six years; eons by the ADD afflicted Halo generation. Lovecraft fans have been waiting for a long time for a game that wasn’t just inspired by his works, but based directly upon them. Games such as Eternal Darkness gave it the old college try, but were missing the smeared language, haunting atmosphere and hopeless nature of the horror. Does Dark Corners deliver what we have been waiting for? Aside from some flaws, you bet Yog-Sothoth it does.

Dark Corners is a strange hybrid of a game, a HUD-less First Person Adventure. Sure that term has been contrived since Metroid Prime, but here it applies. Shooting takes a back seat. You are Detective Jack Walters, walking into a house to talk to some strange cultists who have holed up there. You find some ghastly things in the basement and go out of your mind, ending up with some sort of psychotic amnesia. The game really starts 6 years after that, when you are “recovered” and back in the working world. You get a phone call to investigate a burglary/disappearance in the fish scented town of Innsmouth. The events unfold there in similar fashion to Lovecrafts tale, “The Shadow Over” you guessed it, “Innsmouth”. Since you are a detective, the lack of HUD really makes sense in this, um, sense. You look at things by hitting the action button and Jack talks to himself about the thing you are looking at. So needless to say the game is very puzzle oriented, using things you read and physical clues to unlock the esoteric secrets of the Order of Dagon, the resident creepy cult of Innsmouth. You start out with no weapons, and you don’t get any weapons for a good portion of the game, which serves your wits even better, needing to think and use “sneak” mode. Sneak mode basically makes you hold your breath and lets you peer around corners. There’s no stealth meter ala Splinter Cell. You need to hide behind things crouching, holding your breath until the ugly residents and creepy things pass by. This mechanic is a bit shoddy sometimes, enemies seeing you when you are in the shadows and sometimes being practically in their face as the walk right by. It makes for great suspense, but a little more trial and error than some may prefer.

The atmosphere and tension in unparalleled by all, except perhaps in the case of the Silent Hill series. The sense of foreboding in the ill town of Innsmouth really can creep you out, especially as you peel apart the disgusting outer layer to find things even more revolting underneath. The pacing between detective work, balls out killing and running for your sad sorry life are only accented by the Sanity effects. I know what you’re thinking “Woah, way to rip off Eternal Darkness”, but its not like it at all really. These effects happen to Jack, not to “you”, but you are Jack. Get it? They are real effects, like vertigo, hearing voices, blurred vision and in the case of a supreme shock, Jack will kill himself with a revolver in the mouth. Hardcore. The cool thing is you do get scared, not in the “out pops a cardboard zombie” kind. More like a “HolysweetJesusIcantkillthatthinghowamIgoingtogetoutofhere” Kind of way. The lack of HUD enhances this. You can only see what’s in front of you, no map, no comfort knowing you have a clip full of ammo, no meter to tell you that you aren’t crazy. You aren’t insane, are you? The storytelling in the game is superb, the voice acting serves the game well, though I’m not a fan of it in general. The story is directly Lovecraftian, so some of us might be able to predict the ending, but all in all its great.

I hate talking about graphics, but I must. The graphics suffer from a bit of low res textures hear and there, and the occasional clipping, but the level design is balanced and the town is greatly done. Those of you looking for bright colors in your game need not apply.

I can gush all day about the greatness of the game, and how well the hybrid system works well to the telling of the story, but with all greatness, comes the…uh…ungreatness (I made that up just now). Hybrid adventure games, as so aptly named, take elements from all over, so not everything is going to have a synergistic flow with the rest. The healing system for instance is a bit self serving. You have your arms, legs chest and head to heal with Bandages, sutures, splints and antidotes. You can apply first aid to everything, or select areas. The problem is that you will usually bleed to death if you don’t, so trying to conserve supplies doesn’t really work. Jack also has leg bones that are made of glass. While the fact you can break your legs and not die is deliciously evil, he breaks them as easy as jumping 6-8 feet down. It does help with the atmosphere however, trodding along on broken legs trying to get to behind a box to heal up. It is more immersive, and I like it, I just think maybe it should have been plotted a little better. I shouldn’t die from lost blood from a scratch.

The AI in the game is also can be quite spotty. Sometimes the enemies will follow you to the ends of the earth, and other times they wont so much as notice you staring them in the face. This doesn’t really detract from the overall game, but it lacks a synergy with the stealth that brings it down a bit.

At the end of the day, Headfirst and Bethesda bring us the definitive Lovecraft experience, and better than any other medium outside text. If you like horror games, puzzle games, FPS or adventure games, give it a spin. I loved every second of it.

Overall Rating: 8.50

Lucas Allmon
November 26, 2005