10-09-2007, 07:25 PM
Okay, so last week or so, I walk into my local software place back in the old country. I'm psyched for getting Bio-Shock, or in case of absence, any more or less decent timesink - because Medieval 2 is fun, but I want something more personal than armies butchering one-another (which is fun too, but gets a bit tiring).
Anyway, they have BioShock, yes, but they also had something else. Something that I've been looking for for quite a while now, and finally managed to find - Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I promptly start a debate in my head about whether or not I should get it, as I'd already had a bit of a fill with another horror-FPS game a bit earlier in the month. FEAR and Extraction Point addon, to be specific.
The box isn't anything special, and the game is getting a bit long in the tooth at this point, with it having been released last year/two years ago or something like that ... still, for some reason, I did pick it up.
I now bow to whatever impulse moved me to do so as divine.
Whether it came from a Great Old One or not is really irrelevant at this point. What isn't is the simple fact that ... well ... let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
This game is not action, with a dash of adventure and some horror thrown in to stuff up the gaps.
First and foremost, it's Horror. With a capital H.
It is perhaps the most immersive FPP I've played, more-so than the Thief series.
It is also the first game I'm genuinely afraid of playing at night, with the lights out, and I've not even gotten to what most would call the 'good stuff' yet.
This is mostly due to several things, but primarily?
The game puts doesn't just put you into some kind of drone character, who you are then supposed to 'simulate' as best you can. The character you animate has a name. Has history. Has such a thing as mental health and can be _shaken_ by the events, and you with him.
To illustrate, two examples, with possible spoilers.
One - at some point in the game, you become indirectly responsible for the death of an innocent person. Then. a bit later on, when you're making your way through some really creepy surrounds, you have several moments where this person's 'ghost' appears, blood and all, giggles at you, and generally does its best to be creepy as hell ... and you genuinely don't know if it's real, a hallucination (possibly - the main character hallucinates quite a bit, partially due to a bit of a clairvoyant/psychometric streak, but not exclusively due to this) or maybe something else. Meanwhile, you're freaking out because the speakers start with presenting to you the quickened heartbeat and near-hyperventilation of your 'avatar', the screen becomes increasingly blurred ... yeah.
Two - the protagonist suffers from a fear of heights, and in various sequences you're forced to escape via rooftops/high ledges. Do. Not. Look. Down. Or you start with a vision blur, sounds become muted, heartrate picks up ...
These 'sanity lapses' can get pretty bad, and depending on the source the character reacts differently. Faced with something truly horrific, not only do those abovementioned effects happen, but you also get treated to listening to the protagonist babbling in fear.
If they get bad enough, the character goes catatonic and you get a game over ... or, if you're holding a weapon at the time, he commits suicide.
This doesn't really reflect the full experience. Not even part of it. Heck, not even mentioning the scripted events meant to build tension (like taking a peek through a basement window, only to see a body being dragged out through the door, or someone who'd hung themselves, or spotting a shadowed something on the rooftops that you very very dearly _want_ to be just some bits of masonry shaped like a gargoyle but you can't be sure because a bit later it's plain not _there_).
What adds to the general atmosphere is the lack of a HUD. You need to remember how many bullets fit into a weapon, health cues are given via sounds (heartbeat, labored breathing) as well as visuals (world going grey due to bloodloss), there is no targeting reticule and you have to use the various weapons' actual iron sights ... more than any other FPP, this game makes you feel like it's you in there, you whose sanity is slowly slipping away and giving way to ... *glurg*
I won't say the game doesn't have bugs, because it does, but I can safely say the good outweighs the bad by more than just a fair margin.
I rec it heartily.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
Anyway, they have BioShock, yes, but they also had something else. Something that I've been looking for for quite a while now, and finally managed to find - Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I promptly start a debate in my head about whether or not I should get it, as I'd already had a bit of a fill with another horror-FPS game a bit earlier in the month. FEAR and Extraction Point addon, to be specific.
The box isn't anything special, and the game is getting a bit long in the tooth at this point, with it having been released last year/two years ago or something like that ... still, for some reason, I did pick it up.
I now bow to whatever impulse moved me to do so as divine.
Whether it came from a Great Old One or not is really irrelevant at this point. What isn't is the simple fact that ... well ... let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
This game is not action, with a dash of adventure and some horror thrown in to stuff up the gaps.
First and foremost, it's Horror. With a capital H.
It is perhaps the most immersive FPP I've played, more-so than the Thief series.
It is also the first game I'm genuinely afraid of playing at night, with the lights out, and I've not even gotten to what most would call the 'good stuff' yet.
This is mostly due to several things, but primarily?
The game puts doesn't just put you into some kind of drone character, who you are then supposed to 'simulate' as best you can. The character you animate has a name. Has history. Has such a thing as mental health and can be _shaken_ by the events, and you with him.
To illustrate, two examples, with possible spoilers.
One - at some point in the game, you become indirectly responsible for the death of an innocent person. Then. a bit later on, when you're making your way through some really creepy surrounds, you have several moments where this person's 'ghost' appears, blood and all, giggles at you, and generally does its best to be creepy as hell ... and you genuinely don't know if it's real, a hallucination (possibly - the main character hallucinates quite a bit, partially due to a bit of a clairvoyant/psychometric streak, but not exclusively due to this) or maybe something else. Meanwhile, you're freaking out because the speakers start with presenting to you the quickened heartbeat and near-hyperventilation of your 'avatar', the screen becomes increasingly blurred ... yeah.
Two - the protagonist suffers from a fear of heights, and in various sequences you're forced to escape via rooftops/high ledges. Do. Not. Look. Down. Or you start with a vision blur, sounds become muted, heartrate picks up ...
These 'sanity lapses' can get pretty bad, and depending on the source the character reacts differently. Faced with something truly horrific, not only do those abovementioned effects happen, but you also get treated to listening to the protagonist babbling in fear.
If they get bad enough, the character goes catatonic and you get a game over ... or, if you're holding a weapon at the time, he commits suicide.
This doesn't really reflect the full experience. Not even part of it. Heck, not even mentioning the scripted events meant to build tension (like taking a peek through a basement window, only to see a body being dragged out through the door, or someone who'd hung themselves, or spotting a shadowed something on the rooftops that you very very dearly _want_ to be just some bits of masonry shaped like a gargoyle but you can't be sure because a bit later it's plain not _there_).
What adds to the general atmosphere is the lack of a HUD. You need to remember how many bullets fit into a weapon, health cues are given via sounds (heartbeat, labored breathing) as well as visuals (world going grey due to bloodloss), there is no targeting reticule and you have to use the various weapons' actual iron sights ... more than any other FPP, this game makes you feel like it's you in there, you whose sanity is slowly slipping away and giving way to ... *glurg*
I won't say the game doesn't have bugs, because it does, but I can safely say the good outweighs the bad by more than just a fair margin.
I rec it heartily.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm