Call Of Cthulhu :- Dark Corners Of The Earth (Xbox):
Based on the works of American horror writer H.P.Lovecraft, Dark Corners Of The Earth tells the tale of Detective Jack Walters. After being called to come to a derelict mansion by the police, he discovers that the leader of a weird cult has asked for him by name. But Jack has no idea who the man is and has never met him before.
Currently the cult is in a siege situation with the cops and the leader says he will only talk to our detective chum! Entering the mansion just as a firefight starts, he finds photos of himself and newspaper clippings of cases he has worked on totally covering one of the rooms! Who are these guys, and why are they so interested in our hero??
Hearing a strange noise coming from a staircase leading to the basement, Jack (or you, as you're in control) decides to investigate! Amongst other gruesome things, you discover a strange electronic device and upon powering it up, seem to conjure forth some weird alien entities! Yipes! Passing out in sheer panic, the screen fades to black and it's another 6 years before we catch up with the story....
Recently released from an asylum where he has spent the last 6 years, Jack goes back to being a Private Investigator. Trying to forget about his horrifying ordeal, he takes on the case of a missing shopworker, and travels to the small fishing town of Innsmouth to discover what he can about the disappearance. The locals don't take too kindly to outsiders, and soon Jack is fighting for his life and trying to escape the town and it's creepy inhabitants. As the story unfolds, he struggles to maintain a grip on his sanity as he uncovers more and more terrible and unbelievable secrets....
When you first start the game up, you'll be forgiven for thinking it's going to be a first-person shooter...actually though, it plays more like an adventure game. You creep around investigating the town and it's locked buildings, trying to stealthily avoid the residents and work out various puzzles to help you with the case.
Early gameplay also involves escaping pursuers, and one piece has you running from your bedroom locking doors with bolts behind you as you go and pushing furniture in front of them to further hinder capture! It makes for some pretty atmospheric action, and although it's tricky you'll keep playing until you get past as you'll want to see what happens next...
The game does seem to be rather tricky in general, and I haven't got too far in it yet..but from what I have seen, it only gets crazier and crazier as it goes on. It's certainly atmospheric, and there's lots of fun to be had working out how to proceed past the puzzles. Jack will start panicking occasionally and the screen will blur, or he'll start muttering away to himself as his insanity increases..which is another nice touch!
I do have a few issues with it though...control can sometimes be a bit fiddly, and I especially had problems during the escape sequence mentioned above, but it seems to happen a bit randomly and doesn't really break the game.
The biggest problem for me though, is Jack's voice. Although not actually that badly voice acted, it seems somewhat disjointed from what's happening on screen. Your character can be scared stupid and trying to leg it through a door, but he'll just calmly say something like "Hmm...it's locked. Maybe I should try somewhere else." As you can imagine, this affects the immersion of the game and makes you very aware that that's all it is...
Still, apart from those tiny flaws, it's another great spooky specimen and comes highly recommended!
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