Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth [game review]

I learned about this game from the report about the e3 of 2005, at that time I was 9 years old, and I loved “horror films” where you can shoot in monsters. I especially remember from the trailer a large “water” on the ship. I managed to test it only in 2007. I went through the prologue and safely abandoned it because of immature.

10 years have passed, a summer sale in Steam, leafing through the pages of games up to 150 rubles I stumble upon Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth: price 50 rubles;I am familiar with Lovecraft’s work;In certain circles, it has a cult status;My eyes still have a huge “water” from the 2005 trailer. Scrolling in the head of these 4 factors I thought: “Why not” and bought this antiques so that I was already in adulthood and with a monocle in my eye appreciated this work, because we all know that games, as wine become better over time ..

We will praise here

Despite the fact that the game has many problems (there are really many of them) it can rightfully be called the best work based on work Howard Lovecraft. At the moment, there are no worthy film adaptations of his work, and games are limited to borrowings and not large Easters (example Alon in the Dark). So if you were a fan of Lovecraft and re -read all his work and did not eat, then the best decision would be to close this review and play this game, with the legacy of Lovecraft here were very careful here.

Unfortunately the game is divided into two stages. First third, this is Advenchura with elements of the shooter and stealth. The remaining two -thirds, this is a shooter with elements of Advenchura, and Stealth went for a walk and did not return, as he realized the whole meaninglessness of his existence. The first stage turned out great, but the second is extremely ambiguous.

During the passage, you will be bored in this place

When you arrive in this strange town of Innsmunt, you begin to communicate with its inhabitants, meet characters who are well aware of what is happening here, and say to the character, something like “Run, bitch, begia!”, Here you will feel the atmosphere of the city in which you are not happy. But since the character is repulsed, and we want to play, the investigation begins as a result of which you find out what you should not know. The city is controlled by sectarians from the secret order of Dagon, and they are not happy with tourists, especially if a tourist detective investigating the loss of man. The locals are so not so tolerant of the hero that the whole city is hunting for him for the first night, which leads to excellent chases and, if you used to walk quietly around the city, now you need to move extremely carefully, since you don’t have a rebuff for a long time and you can’t fight back. The game, as it should be good Adventure, absorbs you with its dense atmosphere (Innsmunt is the last place on Rovna with Sailet Hill, which you would like to visit) and an interesting story in which it is even curious to read the diaries and notes of the characters, as they really complement the story with interesting details. But all this is only in the first stage.

From the locals you can spread in pairs of phrases (the one that is as if sketched from my bati)

Here we will scold

At a certain moment, the game simply fills the character with weapons and cartridges (which we begin to collect for a long time before we find the firearm itself). The game begins to seem that the hero is not a detective, but a paratrooper. There is nothing wrong with the weapon itself, the opportunity to rebuff it is fine, especially when you play for a former policeman (not a paratrooper, the difference is big), who is obliged to be able to use weapons at a high level. But with the advent of weapons in the game, the feeling of vulnerability completely disappears, and the point is not only that the cartridges are always enough, but that the AI ​​of the enemies are so bad that if you plant it to play chess with AI COD: MW (which came out at the same time and was not a fountain), then AI from MW would just sit in a board, what a figure, how the figure, and the AI ​​of theKtulhu would take a horse and choked in attempts to swallow it. They are slow, deaf, oblique, blind, that you begin to ask the question “this I ran away from them for so much time, seriously?”. This is how Stlas died, and the places where the game hints at him can be calmly alarm and save a lot of time. At the end, the action becomes more interesting when monsters appear, but people are complete failure.

Monsters are trying to crush in number and, Online unlike people, they manage to annoy the player.

Also, if at the beginning the levels are spacious and it was interesting to explore them, then the game drives the player into narrow corridors, in which the game sometimes goes crazy and begins to respond a large number of enemies even in places where you killed everyone a minute ago. At this point, people only irritate, and do not create a beam. At this stage, the game is saved by puzzles and history.

About half of the game will take place in such close and visually boring locations.

Briefly about gaming mechanics

The game has its own unique mechanics, these are systems “Psychological health” and character damage and subsequent treatment. The character falls into “horror” when he is surrounded by a large number of enemies or if you look down from a great height. In other cases, seizures happen according to the script and it is not always clear what exactly provoked the character. This leads to the fact that the character is dizzy, he becomes inhibited and cannot aim well. The idea is funny, but not spinning, since the gameplay itself has no particular influence, but at least not annoying.

Inventory of the hero. By the cardiogram, we determine the overall state of health. Through the plate below, select which limb to treat.

The game has an advanced system for damage and treatment of a character. A character can cut or break something and depends on it how you will have to be treated. Sew up a wound or you can just bandage it, apply a tire in case of a fracture. If the hand is damaged, then the character is poorly aimed, if the leg, then slowly moves. An interesting idea, but the game is too generous with the first -aid kit and, no severe management of medicines and dilemmas like “What is better for me to cure, hand or leg?»Not here. Again a good idea with a good implementation ruined by small errors.

Technical problems and how to deal with them

But the biggest problem of the game, and sometimes and The main enemy of the player – This is her Technical part. It’s not about the schedule, although it was not particularly impressive at one time, since DOOM3 and HL2 have already been released, which look much more pleasant. But the picture in the game does not cut the eyes, and the granular filter, as in the old movie plays the atmosphere.

At the beginning of the game, I came across at the time where, after a second video, the character refused to go anywhere, solved the problem, changing the sequence of actions. At the level on the ship, you need to shoot from the gun on the island, but these lights are not visible, it makes no sense to shoot at the Fart, this level passed with the help of a trainer (there was a separate fad associated with these glitch). Inventory ceases to work normally at the last levels. Когда ты в него заходишь создается впечатление, что яркость в настройках, выставлена ​​на минимум. But this is decided by the fact that you can go into the diary and return back to the inventory, but that is not all. The plate stops displaying with the help of which you need to choose which limb and how to treat it. Here I had to intuitively click with the mouse, in the hope that I will get where I need. And before the very end, the catacombs begin to collapse and the script does not work in the middle of the marathon (this problem was explained on the forums) and the stone falls on the character. Then I accepted the challenge and gritting my teeth passed this moment from the 10th time with a jump. Reading this paragraph, it may seem to you that the game was against me to pass it and tried my best to interfere with me, so this thought sat in my head for the last 5 hours of passing. But I, like any Russian person, adapt perfectly to difficult conditions and defeated all the difficulties.

Why it happened as it happened

Most likely all these problems are due to the fact that the developers did not have enough time for literally everything. If at the beginning the game was an excellent adventure with elements of survival and quest, where you could approach almost any object, and the character expressed his thoughts (as in the Resident Evil), then all this is replaced by a bad shooter in narrow corridors. After all, such levels are much easier to make than how to create large and interesting locations with characters at the beginning, who speak with you for several minutes.

Ktulhu himself is not in the game, so let it be at least here.

There is a plot in the game, He is exactly such that it was interesting to follow him and study the ENT, reading notes and diaries. There are no interesting characters, scream “This is a turn!”I never wanted to, but the ending (which are two, and they differ from each other in the fact that one is a little more) causes bewilderment and questions” why?”And” What it was?”. If you are a fan of Lovecraft’s work and read his works, then the game will delight you with Easter. Personally, I read only the Call Ktulhu and not noticed the Easter and Easter and Easter Enterprises, since the game is more borrined from the “Shadow above the Innsmut”. In the game, as well as in the book of events, to occur in Innsmunte and the center of evil is the secret order of Dagon.

Small conclusion

In certain circles, this game is considered cult And undeservedly forgotten. Summing up, it can be said for sure that this game does not deserve a cult status due to technical problems and a large number of dull shootings. Is it undeservedly forgotten – yes, the game industry rarely pampers us with similar games, I can remember the Resident Evil series (Kroma 5 and 6), Alon in the Dark and Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, and as if I did not scold the second half of the gameThere were memorable moments (the same bossfight on the ship) and interesting puzzles.

P.WITH. I went through the game on medium complexity and with full Russification (it makes bad and potentially terrible moments funny). During the development of this game, the continuation was announced, but due to the financial problems, Headfirst Productions ceased to exist immediately after the release of the game on the Xbox, and before the release of the game on the PC did not survive at all. It is very sad that the talented team of Igrodelov closed after their debut, of course, not magnificent, but Not bad and original project.

The best comments

Guy, I first got down and looked at the comments … They consider them not – then I looked at the last … Then I read the last paragraph. )))
Further, it did not even read the fact that the game left an indelible impression of me at the time of its release.
I think you just didn’t play at that time. Why do you need to drive the classics. Maybe you will get wound up on our great poets? There is just a top there … That’s just why this is classic and greatness? You don’t know, not?
Well think ..

Dude, at one time, even a airmaker was criticized for criticism. You stepped on an extremely thin ice … I sympathize ..

I did not put a dizlaik – it makes no sense … But you advise you – do not stupidly disassemble the mechanics and implementation of old games.
For me, someone would have released meiu for new technologies, but with classical logic – he would take it without hesitation!