First off, if you haven't heard of H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos, go and give yourself a boot to the head for being so uncultured. Then go and read Call of Cthulhu and Shadow Over Innsmouth. I'll wait...
But not for long.
Anyway, it isn't often that any media form has acknowledged Lovecraft's genius, so I was rather surprised to see this game in stores when it was first released. Unfortunately, that was back when I still wasn't old enough to legally buy M rated games on my own. And by the time I was able to buy M rated games on my own, this little beauty was already a hard-to-find collector's item. But, finally, Bethesda released a Steam version of the game and I was finally able to buy this game.
Starting off, the game is pretty immersive, putting you in the shoes of a private detective that starts the game off by, investigating some weird cultists and going insane as a result. Some years later, he appears to be cured, but unable to remember anything about his six years in an insane asylum. Then you go to Innsmouth to look for some store clerk. The first thing I noticed is just how unfriendly, unpleasant, and down right suspicious the folks of Innsmouth are in the game. Which is great because this was true to Lovecraft's work. But then, after a few save points later, the game crashed, and when I started the game up again, my saves had disappeared. The developers were now bankrupt and Bethesda wasn't supporting the game. So I tried the only unofficial patch I could find... While it did improve the gameplay a bit, I still couldn't save and load. And the game kept crashing anyway. So a fat lot of good that did me. Bugger. Which is why this is a first impressions rather than a full review.
Which is a pity because I really wanted to play through the whole game... Ah well... Maybe Bethesda will start making patches for Call of Cthulhu now that they've put in on Steam... And maybe I could convince Yahtzee to be more forgiving towards video games, people, and the world in general.
But not for long.
Anyway, it isn't often that any media form has acknowledged Lovecraft's genius, so I was rather surprised to see this game in stores when it was first released. Unfortunately, that was back when I still wasn't old enough to legally buy M rated games on my own. And by the time I was able to buy M rated games on my own, this little beauty was already a hard-to-find collector's item. But, finally, Bethesda released a Steam version of the game and I was finally able to buy this game.
Starting off, the game is pretty immersive, putting you in the shoes of a private detective that starts the game off by, investigating some weird cultists and going insane as a result. Some years later, he appears to be cured, but unable to remember anything about his six years in an insane asylum. Then you go to Innsmouth to look for some store clerk. The first thing I noticed is just how unfriendly, unpleasant, and down right suspicious the folks of Innsmouth are in the game. Which is great because this was true to Lovecraft's work. But then, after a few save points later, the game crashed, and when I started the game up again, my saves had disappeared. The developers were now bankrupt and Bethesda wasn't supporting the game. So I tried the only unofficial patch I could find... While it did improve the gameplay a bit, I still couldn't save and load. And the game kept crashing anyway. So a fat lot of good that did me. Bugger. Which is why this is a first impressions rather than a full review.
Which is a pity because I really wanted to play through the whole game... Ah well... Maybe Bethesda will start making patches for Call of Cthulhu now that they've put in on Steam... And maybe I could convince Yahtzee to be more forgiving towards video games, people, and the world in general.
