14 DAY TRIAL // 
I was getting really worried because, until recently I thought that "caucasian" game designers are simply unable to produce sick and disturbing games like the Japanese industry. After seeing and playing "Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth", my concerns can be put to rest because we can be as mentally upset as the next Japanese.
I hope you don't get this the wrong way. I'm not telling you that this is the scariest game ever made and so on. En contraire, the game pushes you on and on through the shadows that you will normally go through with a battalion of trolls ready to die for you. And it's not called for nothing "Dark Corners of the Earth".
Story:
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) was a small writer for his time that thought for some reason that horror science fiction stories will make him some money. He was wrong but his books lived on until today when they became much more appreciated in this ever-wanting-more-adrenaline world.
Thus, some guys over at Bethesda, after some sleepless nights as a direct result of reading his books, decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to put his story in a game. This happened almost six years ago and for a long time we heard rumors about the development of the game. Like any other good game, it stayed in production like forever, but it's worth it.
You are Jack Walters and you hang yourself. Fortunately this is one of those games with a "6 years before" feature. He is a very successful detective in the 1920's. One night, you are called to a manor that is known for sheltering a dangerous cult. The head of this cult wants to talk especially to you so you proceed to the house. Enough to say that everything is going to hell, as the cultists begin firing at the police officers. After entering the house and some exploring, you find a large basement filled with human remains that have been supposedly tortured. The situation becomes even more bizarre when Jack stumbles upon some extraterrestrial equipment with no power. The mistake is being made and with the unnatural attraction of humans for portals, he opens one. The shock is so great that Jack falls into a deep amnesia.
For six years he remembers nothing, only to find that his memory has returned exactly in the same day he lost it. On top of that he gets a case in a strange town that doesn't like visitors and which has something really problematic you can't really put your finger on. Suffice to say the town fits exactly like a glove on the Lovecraft's universe (or could it be reality?).
Concept:
Let's face it: most games these days suck really badly at the concept part, and if the producers decide to combine more than one genre, the chance that a future game will suck even more grows exponentially. Call of Cthulhu is a horror first person shooter adventure game, but despite this unusual alignment of genres he does great at everything.
Let's split it: Horror - check. We got horror. We got so much horror that the character will eventually kill himself if we are not careful. Bethesda calls this feature "Dynamic Sanity System resulting in hallucinations, panic attacks, vertigo, paranoia, and more!" Well, I'm not sure about more, but every other effect is accounted for. The system works like this: if you expose yourself to disturbing images like maiming, slaughters, two-months-festering-with-worms-hanged dudes or some other nasty brain molesting images, Jack will go slowly, but surely, mad and eventually die. If by any chance he has a weapon in his hand? I think you'll know exactly what is the color of a detective's brain. Everyone is saying "Cooool!". Am I the only one having a problem with this feature? Probably. Let's play and make him kill himself with another weapon!
First person shooter: I can hold a weapon which I see and if this is the definition of a FPS, than we got a winner. My personal definition would be BFPS (backward first person shooter). Why, you may ask. Because Jack will be running from his enemies and not towards them most of the time. Run, Jack, run! Contrarily to what a usual gamer would think, this is one of the strong points and it makes the gameplay a lot tenser.
If I could name one defining feature, that would be the lack of any on-screen help, and when I say "any" I mean nothing, zero. No health, no bullets, no cursor that lights up when I find a clue. No hide button, no trick. This means only one thing: it can be done.
Quest: Everything in the world can be a clue. Whatever you think can be of interest it usually is. Just hit enter to pick up or get information. The puzzles aren't easy but they won't give you an excuse to abandon the game. It's very important to remember that you have to read all the books you find. A lot of them contain, besides useless information, very important clues and they provide the background story and myths that are necessary for such a rich game.
Video:
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an old title. Being in production for so many years, it saw its share of DirectX versions. This is the main reason for the obvious contrasts between the poor resolution of textures and excellent facial animation.
Another byproduct of this long development is its compatibility with old video cards and a lot of FPS (framer per second). You will find soon that the game will run smoothly even with 4X antialiasing enabled on lower end systems. I give you this: it's not the most attractive game I have ever played, but let me say this: it doesn't matter!
Audio:
The music doesn't stand out at any moment and right now I don't even remember when I heard it. What I certainly remember are the screams, moans and voices of people hiding the truth. The voice acting is very well done and Jack's voice is just what one would expect from a man ready to go jump from the sanity edge.
Multiplayer:
Going insane online? Not really.
Conclusion:
I played it and I loved it. If you are a fan of adventure games with a touch of horror, this is the right one for you. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an almost perfect blend of fantasy and action. This kind of a successful combination is getting increasingly rare, so you should take this opportunity to play a beautiful crafted story. And when you're running, don't ever, ever stop to look back!
