Hobbyns on 7/4/2006 at 05:32

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I'm halfway through the PC version and have to say that the atmosphere and graphics are exemplary. Some of the effects are amazing, and the levels are almost Thiefesque in their design (Thief 1 especially).

Now the bad news. It is horribly, horribly linear. There is one way to accomplish everything, and one way only. I was tearing out my hair trying to figure out the EXACT and ONLY way to run from the bad guys. While I appreciated the design and liked the cinematic feel to the whole production, the fact that you have to do THIS, bolt THAT, run HERE, push THERE... all in perfect sequence, was the ONLY way to finish the level.

I loved that sequence, really loved it, until my fiftieth try. Like others have already said in this thread, I'm printing out the walkthrough so I can finish it now, just tired of having to figure everything out over and over until I hit upon the perfect sequence of actions to complete a level. Heck, I'd be playing Oblivion right now if I could but my system won't support it for some weird reason, so I'm trying to finish it.

I can't remember where I read it, but someone described this as a "point and click adventure" and they're not that far off.

Oh, another funny thing. As your character is walking along he's thinking "I shouldn't be here..." "that man was dead...!" and just generally freaking out about the horrible things happening around him. Then try a door or something and hear him say in a loud, assured voice: "the door won't open," or "I'd be crazy to go this way", totally ruining the effect. As I recall Thief did the same thing though; sneaking around then suddenly Garret declares in a loud voice "I can't go this way," or something to that effect. At least he could whisper!

I would have played this game again if there were several ways to fulfill my mission objectives, the design is that good. Innesmouth is sinister and dark and wonderfully laid out. But no, I'll never play it again. It's sad really, when you consider how much work went into this, when you consider that I've been watching this game and anticipating it's release for about three years now.

Really, it's games like this that remind me again why Looking Glass and games like Thief and System Shock are still the highly regarded and played games that they are. This one had the makings of greatness, but no.

Still, I'm going to finish it.

Oh, and this mini-review must not be construed to be a criticism against Lovecraft, the master. Me, I'll be having another glass of Shoggoth's old peculiar and finishing this thing. Wish me luck.

The Blob on 7/4/2006 at 10:37

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The most entertaining thing for me is the scare factor here.

242 on 8/4/2006 at 09:04

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Man, that's a must for such type of a game. It's horror adventure, if you had a possibility to save in any place THAT would be sh*t, where is fun in that? Action and riddles in the game aren't that hard at all, at least Silent Hill riddles on hard are considerably more complicated. Plus, I feel like save points in CoC are TOO frequent.

The game is good, not perfect, but just plainly good and it's worth its money I think. Atmosphere is unique and involving, it's close by its "thickness" to those in the Cradle or SH f.e. I don't know how action or riddles will be different on other difficulty levels that should open after finishing the game, but I agree with others - it probably wouldn't be much fun to run through it for the second time. Who knows though, maybe they added additional challenges/riddles for next difficulty levels.

Did anyone find the sneak mode was *absolutely* ineffective in this game? Perosonally I feel like it didn't work - enemies saw me just as well in the sneak mode as in the normal mode, I tried it with various distances and shadows, does it really work at all ?

242 on 10/4/2006 at 08:56

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Answering to myself:
It seems it works but is quite ineffective, it works only on really long distances slightly increasing safe distance between enemies and protagonist when enemies are watching in protagonist's direction. Lighting/shadows are absolutely irrelevant for sneaking in this game.

Can anyone confirm?

TheOutrider on 10/4/2006 at 14:37

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Possibly related to the going-under of Headfirst Productions :(