Comments on: Horror Game Classics – Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

By: Candlenar.

Candlenar. — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:52:06 +0000

Another great game that has never gotten the attention it deserves.
The only real problems I have ever had with this game is the combat and the fact you can fall like two feet and break your legs.

By: James

James — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:53:49 +0000

I really enjoyed this and I agree with Lightice, it’s a lot easier with the PC.

I loved the sanity system (very well implemented from the pen and paper RPG). Oh and I died from my first battle with Dagorath by loosing so much sanity that it killed me. I really want to experience where you loose enough sanity that you can hallucinate (the friendly NPC’s turn into monsters and attack you).

By: Max Poshtar

Max Poshtar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:18:35 +0000

You know, this one is a good game, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a classic. Penumbra series are far more creepy than this one for me. Those games catch Lovecraft’s atmosphere way beyond this one. Sanity loss and panic are far more effective there than they are in Dark Corners (heart beat and breathing as your character panics, are more realistic to me than just blurry screen). Also, here are not that many monsters or encounters, but when they do happen, you just want to hide somewhere in the dark corner and look away. The game system forces you to do this, because monster can hear you breathe when you panic, and more clearly you see them as your senses sharpen in the dark… well, enough about that.

By: Lar Robideau

Lar Robideau — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:33:11 +0000

Awesome fucking game, thought. Also pretty fucking impossible to beat without help.

By: Taiset

Taiset — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:45:27 +0000

you know if that were me and i went up to a door with the sound of an ailen queen behind it i would tend to not look in there

By: Lightice

Lightice — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:35:46 +0000

This game is A LOT easier with a PC than XBox. Most of the control issues stem from the fact that it wasn’t designed to be played with a pad to begin with, and that can make instances almost impossible.

“I mean, all you got to do is put an octopus on Ken Davitian’s head, paint’em green, and put some wings on him, and boom, you pretty much got the gross anatomy of Cthulhu, which is really a shame when you compare it to the things that I listed earlier.”

That’s not Cthulhu – that’s just what artists have been passing as Cthulhu for decades, based on the much more vague description given in the actual short story. I’ve seen Cthulhu-statuettes that are much, much more alien, and suit in the description far better than this theme park-version you’re describing. Four limbs, two wings, and vaguely octopoid head don’t necessarily make a humanoid-Godzilla – do the proportions right, and any silliness that you may find in the design dissapears. Also, I think you’re concentrating on the entirely wrong aspects of Lovecraft’s literature. I’m the first one to admit that his prose had some huge faults, but he also pretty much single-handedly invented modern existential horror. His execution was flawed, but his ideas were ingenious.

By: Smokin'_Joe

Smokin'_Joe — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:22:41 +0000

Well first off, good little review, and while I say that the game had some decent scares, was a fairly faithful adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft game, and was a bit original for it’s time I couldn’t play too far, mostly for the fact of the technical difficulties on the PC as stated before. I will have to say that Zack Dolan really encapsulated what that game was like for me, the shock scares of seeing a Deep One or a Polyp for the first time was honestly scary, but then you die. Then you die, again, and again, and about the third time about it goes from fear to anger, then to hate, as a wise little green guy has stated. You just wanted to be able to DO something semi-intelligent than just gibbering, especially after you’ve been running into Deep Ones for several levels, you’d think the guy you were playing would be used to it by now. With a game like this you had to put in a sanity mechanic, but the way it was implemented was fairly ham fisted.

The other thing wrong is that the game does stick close to the H.P. Lovecraft stuff, which I know I’ll probably be burnt at the stake for but just don’t really get most of the stuff. Yes there’s some gems in there, but there’s a lot of silly stuff and purple propose to wade through to get to it, as well as the fact that I think that I might not come from the right cultural background/time period/mindset to get some of his stuff. I will admit that he did come up with some really weird aliens, it’s sort of hard to find things weirder than the Elder Things, Yithians, or Mi-Go that you know function on some sort of logic but different from your own. When you get into things more complex than that…. well… I honestly don’t know what’s so horrifying about Cthulhu. I mean yea, if you see him, you’d crap your pants, but no more than seeing King Kong or Godzilla because it’s a big thing going to eat you, and in the end is incredibly anthropomorphic. I mean, all you got to do is put an octopus on Ken Davitian’s head, paint’em green, and put some wings on him, and boom, you pretty much got the gross anatomy of Cthulhu, which is really a shame when you compare it to the things that I listed earlier. Not to mention the fact that the writer was coming from a very prim and proper New England xenophobic direction, hell the man freaked out just by finding out his Grandma was Welsh. Personally I think that whole ‘corruption by the blood’ thing that comes into his stories quite a bit is well worn out and just a bit more like a cop out to drive the story along.

That is just my opinion, and sorry if I went a bit off base here, but that’s just my opinion on the subject.

By: Quek

Quek — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:11:28 +0000

One of the, if not the best horror game I know of. I think it was really ambitious, using a FPS style to do something rarely done (especially at that time), a more realistic and immersive game. No HUD, sanity effects, more adventure-style parts in the game, etc… A shame they never did iron out the bugs of the game or corrected the problems, and an even bigger shame that no one tried to do anything similar. I don’t know why most game developpers make horror games with a third-person view (like the Silent Hill and Resident Evil series), horror is immersive and the best way to do that is with a first-person POV, otherwise everything that happens just happens to that character on the screen.

By: kiya

kiya — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:38:14 +0000

I remember my brother having a game called ‘Full Throttle’… for some reason, the main male voice from this clip reminds me of the lead character voice from that game. The voicing sounds very similar.

I’d like to see a ‘let’s play’ of Full Throttle, while I never got to play it, I loved the story an music from the watching point of view.

By: Daniel Kay

Daniel Kay — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:02:28 +0000

I bought that gmae when i head to the shop to buy a new ventilator for my PC since the old one broke and LOVED the game. I should give it another spin some time.