CALL OF CTHULU (XBox One Version)

     Before I go into this let me first mention a GOOD H.P Lovecraft-inspired game. It’s called Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and it was a Nintendo GameCube exclusive. I whooped up on this gem on all three alignments back in the day thinking a fourth one would open up. No such luck. But the feeling of horror and madness sunk in and… it was good.

     Now let’s dig into Call of Cthulu (available on multiple platforms, but my version was the Xbox One version). But not too deep. Why? Because it’s not worth spending too much time talking about it.

     Sure, I am a Lovecraft fan. So I am biased towards completing a game with those lovable daemonic beings from another dimension looking to turn humanity into a tasty banquet. That being said, the story in this game has strong bones, but otherwise doesn’t develop and gets ruined in the developers’ (Cyanide) attempt to, well, make a game out of it.

     Pointlessly tedious tasks disguised as “puzzles” downright pissed me off. This was my biggest beef throughout the game. “WHY the hell am I doing this again?” I found myself asking over and over. The resolutions to the conundrums never made sense. I mean NEVER. Returning to the game after dying or starting later brings a prompt- “Enter Madness”. It’s “madness” alright- because most of the challenges make no sense.

     Aside from that, the graphics, sound, music, and game play are all solid. The story also has choices that affect the ultimate outcome. The ending that I got was quite good. Very rewarding.

     There is enough here for a second outing if Cyanide wants to make a sequel. I would hope they would make their smaller missions more sensible and more fun. There was plenty of good ideas here to have made this game much better, and it’s a shame that it fell short like it did, at least in my opinion.

     I feel that if someone develops a “Lovecraft game”, it should live up to a certain standard. Eternal Darkness, in my opinion (and probably many others’) set the bar. I spent more time being pissed off at the stupid little "challenges" of the game than I did feeling horrified or amazed.  I would hate to see a commercialization-sickness brought on Lovecraft themes the way it has been done to George Romero with the recent and current over-saturation of “zombie” themes in games, TV, and movies. I couldn’t handle it.

     Call of Cthulu gets a 6/10.