New Review Posted: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

Daniel Weissenberger · 12-20-2005, 08:25 PM

Mike Bracken reviews Call of Cthulh and has nearly nothing negative to say:

"For some unfortunate reason, the name H.P. Lovecraft is all but unknown to anyone outside the hardcore horror literature fanbase. Unlike Poe and Stoker (who died relatively anonymously yet gained critical praise and respect after their passing), Lovecraft remains a tantalizingly obscure figure—one almost as mythic as his infamous creations, The Elder Gods. Maybe it's the name—Poe and Stoker certainly sound pretty ominous and one can certainly imagine the men who bore those names having tortured souls that yearned to explore the darker side of human existence. Lovecraft, meanwhile, sounds like the name of someone who should have been crafting a series of bodice-rippers wherein the polite exterior of Victorian society is pushed aside to expose the seedy underbelly lurking beneath. Yet, in a way, Lovecraft was all about pushing aside the exterior view of his time—only the underbelly he sought to expose had nothing to do with repressed sexual passion…instead it dealt with madness, man's desire to know things better left undiscovered, and a pantheon of malefic alien gods who were so evil and twisted that to even imagine them was to invite insanity. The most famous of these gods was Cthulhu—a being so terrible that mentioning his name aloud was enough to court disaster. Better to never speak of him at all than risk mentioning his name and having him become aware of you…"

He also enjoys the game, as he discusses here.

EnduroGamer · 12-20-2005, 10:48 PM

So, let me get this straight, Lovecraft doesn't write articles about decorating with doilies for Victorian magazine? I could have swore my mom was telling me about him.

Oh well. Either way, I think I'll have to buy this game. Although I'm a bit leery about any game that gets mentioned alongside "Eternal Blandness" this one sounds really promising.

Thanks for the enjoyable read, Mike.

Mike Bracken · 12-21-2005, 03:26 PM

It's hard to not mention Eternal Darkness while talking about CoC--but CoC was about a million times more enjoyable in my estimation.

Mike B.

Hypatia93 · 01-06-2006, 01:14 PM

I've been gone a long time, so I'm catching up. (Actually, I was considering being a lurker, but seeing your review made me decide not to. Much to your chagrin.)

This is one of your Mary Poppin's reviews, Mike. (Really, I hate to think /anything's/ perfect.)

I agree with you on all respects save one: is HPL really a niche author? Everyone I used to know (and some folks I know now) are very cognizant of him and duly appreciative of his genius. Maybe you just live around stupid people. I know I do.

I pretty muched loved it all -- especially, omfg especially, the atmosphere -- Innsmouth was /perfect/! I am /so/ glad I'll never be trapped there.

When I was moving across country, I got lost late one night in a very small town that resembled HPL's New England towns. That's when I /knew/ HPL and everyone else who wrote/writes about creepy NE towns weren't just making that shit up.

Oh yeah, and I really liked having no HUD, and the way healing was done (even though forget about -- I thought -- healing in mid-combat), the screen turning from being in colour to grey, and the insanity effects. (But what was the morphine for?) All very cool stuff.

So what didn't I like? The darkness factor same as you. Turning up the brightness did help. But anyone who's a wuss and can't play this in the dark -- can't play this game. The jumping sucked ass. I still don't know why people put jumping in anything first person. I don't think it works, and it still didn't work here, only it was harder. Yes, yes, yes, the insane difficulty -- at times. I hated how you just had to figure out which was the "right" course of action to take in some instances. Which required do-overs -- again and again. (Oh, and I didn't know about the score at the end; I, of course, have not yet finished it, but /almost/.

)

So yeah, it's not perfect, but it's great!

Go get this game!

Mike Bracken · 01-06-2006, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hypatia93

I agree with you on all respects save one: is HPL really a niche author? Everyone I used to know (and some folks I know now) are very cognizant of him and duly appreciative of his genius. Maybe you just live around stupid people. I know I do.

I really think he is. Sure, most of the people I hang around with know who he is and have read his work, but I hang around with cool people. If you ask the average guy in the bookstore (who's at least ten times smarter than the average guy on the street) I think you'd find that most of them don't know him--and the few people who do probably haven't read him.

I think this is gradually starting to change, though--and I was delighted to see that HPL was covered in the Library of America series last year. This probably exposed a lot of new readers to his work who might have otherwise remained oblivious.

Mike B.

shun · 01-07-2006, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hypatia93

I've been gone a long time, so I'm catching up. (Actually, I was considering being a lurker, but seeing your review made me decide not to. Much to your chagrin.)

NNNOOOO!!! Don't ever leave us!!!

Daniel Weissenberger · 05-24-2006, 02:25 AM

Brad Gallaway offers his second opinion on Call of Cthulhu, and says:

"Like Mike, I also count myself a fan of Lovecraft's work. Being quite familiar with his writing, it seemed to me that bringing a faithful interpretation of his stories to life as a videogame was no small task. However, Headfirst has clearly done their homework and it shows."

The rest of his comments are available here: http://www.gamecritics.com/review/cthulhu/2nd_op.php