Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10607 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2006-03-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description
Call of Cthulhu -- Dark Corners of the Earth is a first-person horror game that combines intense action and adventure elements. You will draw upon your skills in exploration, investigation, and combat while faced with the seemingly impossible task of battling evil incarnate.

Other than fighting, you have the ability to interact freely with characters and the gaming environment. To increase the sense of immersion, there is no interface or 'HUD' on screen at any time during normal gameplay. Instead, more intuitive methods are available for you to assess your condition, ammunition levels, and other relevant information. The combat within the game is extremely realistic, with a detailed damage and healing system that breaks down the healing process into conditions and treatments - rather than having the typical FPS 'health packs' lying around everywhere.

The game also allows you to stamp your own style onto the proceedings via an advanced AI system that can react to your method of play. Cthulhu enemies can roam freely around the environment - opening doors and tracking you down single-handedly or in groups. To stay alive you won't just be able to outshoot them, you'll need to outthink them as well.

You will have to keep your mental health in check as you are exposed to the increasingly shocking images of the Cthulhu Mythos. You will need to combat enemies using the environment, powerful and evil artifacts, Alien technology, or by fighting with weapons that are completely authentic for the period.

Set during the 1920s, Call of Cthulhu is based on the Cthulhu Mythos of HP Lovecraft, an American writer of fantasy and horror. Lovecraft's stories tell of unthinkable evil, psychic possession, and mythical worlds and his work has profoundly influenced numerous fantasy and science fiction writers, including Stephen King and Anne Rice.

The technology powering Call of Cthulhu has provided Headfirst with the means to present an incredibly detailed and accurate depiction of the sights and sounds of this unique 1920's New England setting. A diverse range of cutting edge special effects is utilized to ensure both unprecedented levels of realism and an exact portrayal of your mental degredation.

Customer Reviews

Are you serious?!!!
What is wrong with the world today? First i was able to pick up such a classic game as this for a bargain price of ten quid and then find such negative reviews for it online. I happen to be quite partial to lovecrafts writing and, even though it isn't essential to enjoy the game, it was nice to see Lovecraft's famous creatures and settings realised in such brilliance.

Another nail this game hit on the head was the style. The game is easily the scariest experience you can come across in a game, and is elevated into new heights of terror by both the incredibly claustrophobic first person view point, but also by the clever use of imagery symbolism and a narrative switching between predator, prey and some very disturbing flashbacks. It is much scarier than both resi evil and silent hill so be wary not to underestimate its fear factor

I hear a lot of people attacking the graphics of this game, which i suppose is justified in comparison to more modern games. Yet a game that can tell a story this well without crystal clear visuals deserves praise in its own right.

The hud system adds well to the game in that there is no hud. You have to tell your characters health and sanity by subtle cues on screen. It sounds gimmicky, but the system works surprisingly well and really adds to the game.

Overall a near perfect experience but it does have some serious difficulty issues both in the mind-bending puzzles and the near impossible combat sections.

Worth the reduced price on amazon for sure, but it's not for the faint-hearted or the novice gamer.

Dark and Lurking, but flawed
I've never read any Lovecraft but had heard of Cthulhu and knew it to be something worth paying attention too.

I found the gameplay to be very engaging, the world and situations to be dark, almost threatening. It's the first game in years that I dreamt of after playing, one of the few that genuinely unsettled me playing it late at night in the dark.

There was a point that I couldn't pass for being killed that perhaps twenty times made me jump. I knew what would happen but I was so engaged I was lost in the game for a moment.

It is flawed sadly, but the gaming community have come to our aid. Just Google "call of cthulhu patch by Digital ArchAngel" and you'll find the version I use.

Enjoy, but don't play in the dark!

True gothic but terribly bugged (You cannot even finish it!!!!)
The game is throughly exiting and chilling, the dark gothic elements in HP Lovecraft's story are spectacularly capture. The way your vision goes hazzy as insanity encrouches, the voices inside your head, hearing your breath and heart beat fast are all directed beautifully. Also the recurrent old music record that you here in your hear in the course of the game, your fevered vision of the asylum and the girl humming it, this gothic story technique I loved alot.

But, the game is horribly bugged, examples are:
1. Refinery: FBI agents getting stuck and not opening the doors for you.
2. Refinery: Lift conveyor belt, has incorrect clipping and its very difficult to get upon a lift.
3. Refinery: Scene with Yuggoth, sometimes doors cannot open
4. Refinery: Scene on elevator after Yuggoth attacks, difficulty to press buttons due to incorrect clipping
5. Unde-water city: After posessing a deep-one, may be unable to regain control of Jack.
6. Unde-water city: And the "coup de grace": cannot finish the game because a the location of the tunnel were you get captured, you instantly die for no reason at all. There are some ways to avoid this misplaced trigger but are too hard and random. Basically you cannot end the game.

Also there are no patches, and no patches seem to be planned for the game (according to the forums in its official website).

such a sad detiny for such a great game.