Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice

So viel Nostalgie. Dieses spiel ist einfach schon fasst ein MUSS für jeden Lovecraft-Fan.

This is both better and worse than its predecessor, Shadow of the Comet, but overall, I feel that it's a better experience. To get the bad out of the way, the graphics are very reminiscent of an era where rendered graphics were all the rage, but weren't really that good yet; the visuals are a mix of rendered objects and spritework, creating a weird juxtaposition, and needless to say, the rendered objects don't look that great. The whole experience is so over-the-top that it's often just silly, and that includes the voice acting. The gameplay was riddled with timed deaths (that you won't necessarily know are timed) and puzzles so counter-intuitive that I frequently didn't have any idea why I was doing what I was doing. The story also has one of those plot twists that plague modern writing: the kind that are just thrown in with no thought, add nothing to the story, and don't actually go anywhere; the twist happens, and... they just don't really do anything with it. On the other hand, a lot of this works in its favor. Yes, with the new visuals, gone was the creepy, intriguing atmosphere of Shadow of the Comet, but what Shadow of the Comet needed more of was surreal, horrific creatures, which this game has in spades. The interface is a lot less awful than in the previous game, too; simple point-and-click. Though the timed deaths are a total drag, at least you don't have to actively avoid enemies with bad controls. What Prisoner of Ice suffers the most is the misfortune of taking things too far in the opposite direction, leaving it a bit south of its potential. And hey, at least half of the voice actors actually pronounce Cthulhu correctly; I was very impressed by that! Just not much else. While I felt little more than frustration with most of Shadow of the Comet, Prisoner of Ice was overwhelmingly meh, but that's an improvement, at least.

I played this game, originally, when it came out on PC and I used to play it with the Portuguese voices, which were horrible but entertaining, so I am extremely biased in this case. The game captures very well the Cthulhu Mythos and delivers on a very nice story, adventure, mystery and horror. Dying in this game would send shivers down my spine every time. Visuals are nice and for the time it was amazing. Today it holds up but not completely. Audio is very good. I played the English voiced version this time and it is quite decent. The music and the sound effects are so good and fit perfectly with the theme. Controls can be a bit jiffy sometimes, but not all that confusing. The main problem was figuring out how to open the inventory, but that was eventually figured out. The puzzles in the game are evident but some items can be placed in the weirdest and hardest places to find. Some patience is required. All in all, this is a fine point-and-click adventure horror game and a very good fit into the Cthulhu Mythos, if you are into that.

It's about 2 hours long, story touched very superficially, lots of events in which you have about 3 seconds to find the solution before you die...some real nice cutscenes, but that's it. It's worth about 0,50€, but clearly NOT the 5€!

I’ve played and completed this game a number of times over the years and being a lifelong fan of all things HP Lovecraft I’ve enjoyed the game every time but... it is a flawed gem, especially when compared to its vastly superior predecessor Shadow of the Comet which is a beautifully realised vision of the Cthulhu myth is. The concept is original (horror and Nazis - good combination) and you could argue that the graphics are a step-up on Shadow of the Comet, however I’ll take pixelated characters and a great storyline over rotoscoped 3D renders any day! But I’m possibly being a little too harsh and you’re probably asking why I have given this game 4 stars. Well it’s simple really - the game mechanics are better and it’s easier to manage your character and inventory. The story has a good premise and draws the player into the plot and game. The sound is OK (not amazing). The characters are engaging to a point but they don’t quite gel in the same way as it’s predecessor. Overall if you have played Shadow of the Comet you’re likely to enjoy this game. If you’re a HP Lovecraft fan then you’ll enjoy this game. If you like graphic adventures you’ll like the game (but be warned it can be difficult).