Call of Cthulhu: Prisoner of Ice

As many others have said, quick time ‘life or death’ action events and pixel hunting reduce the fun of this game. As this has been well covered in other reviews, I’ll discuss some other things: I’ve never felt that sound/music ruined a point and click adventure before, but something that really got to me was the constant headache inducing chaotic ‘urgent action’ music which felt completely out of place most of the time (surely something that conjures up suspense and mystery or even some silence would be better). Also the voice acting is obnoxious and awful (appears to be Americans doing British impersonations worthy of an episode of Family Guy, but then dipping back into American accents now and then. For both sound and music the audio quality was awful with the pitch changing suddenly and odd words/sounds being ear piercingly loud and there was almost a static/interference like effect for most of the game which I don’t think was deliberate. The cut-scenes ran as if I was using my old computer from the 90s, lots of juddering and skipping/freezing of frames (and for years I assumed games ran terribly because I had a slow/old PC as a kid, but perhaps this is just poorly optimised). Not a deal breaker but it shattered the little bit of immersion that was left. I don’t expect hand holding, but there are no objectives or reasons for a lot of the things you do (you assume you need to get into a room because it’s locked, not because you/the character are aware of a need). The story telling is bad and at times might as well have been a series of unrelated escape room games in a mobile app. Between the points mentioned above, you won’t get a suspenseful Lovecraftian adventure out of this, it’s devoid of atmosphere and fun. I got it for about £1.19 on sale and still left feeling like it was a waste of time and money.

I'll say I don't have this copy, but the original PC release. That said, lets go over this.. It is meant to be part of the 'Call of Cthulhu' series based heavily on the works of H.P. Lovecraft.. long-time fan of his work, I can pretty much say that.. if you removed a couple of names, then there is nothing Lovecraft about this. the Call of Cthulhu Series was always a mess which was based on someone having heard a copy of lines and that was it, but this is really BAD. So, first thing, Ignore anything that says it's got any relation to Lovecraft.. and it's a pet peeve I know but can people that want to cash in on his work remember, Cthulhu was the Prophet of the Great Old Ones. HE wasn't one of them. And if you are going to quote his work, get the quote both right and in context, else it's just meaningless. Voice Acting is pretty bad, Drawn graphics are good. CGI graphics are... not BAD but the animations and movements are very bad. A lot of the Script doesn't make much sense and can be pretty much contradicting itself. I must give it points for gameplay in that there isn't anything SERIOUSLY wrong with it, but it's a case that pretty much the only things you can interact with or look at, at things you need. And often they are small and bland so they are hard to see.. just wave your mouse over the screen and you'll probably find more stuff, not great for adventure games. Some have said this game has a promising start but then goes down hill.. I'm not sure in what way.. The intro can kinda be figured out as to its relationship with the game, but it's not a great fit. You start on a sub, Monster appears, Action right of the batt which does show that this game isn't one about depth or detail. mostly slowly walking around with no regard to 3 dimensional space. By the end of the game, well.. I was thinking 'Didn't Harlan Ellison write a better version of this?' and well, if Ellison wrote a version, he did right a better version of anything.

I very much enjoyed the first CoC story set in Illsmouth, so I fully expected a similar adventure. The controls and graphics are improved here, but everything else is worse than in previous game. Where previously you had the entire town and forest to explore, in every chapter here you're confined to only a few screens. There are too many timed sequences where you have only a few seconds to do the one correct action (or even pixel hunt!) in order to avoid the game-over screen. Gone is also the slowly creeping dread of the peaceful town with a terrible secret. Instead, monsters appear at the very beginning, killing suspense. The Chtulhu mythos is underused, restricted to a few monsters and statues. Near the end a convoluted time travel plot is revealed which makes little sense; the game would've been better off without it. The game is also very short compared to its predecessor. Skip this title and play the Shadow of the Comet if you want a real Lovecraftian experience!

I am baffled that this game has nearly the same rating as Shadow of the Comet. Shadow of the Comet is a complex, atmospheric game with brilliant puzzles and an interesting story - despite its outdated keyboard-based interface. Prisoner of Ice is the exact opposite. It is a very simple and short game, based on an uninspiring story that mashes together themes from Lovecraft myths, Indiana Jones tropes, and low-grade sci-fi comics. Although some background graphics are good, the pre-rendered 3D characters and their atrocious animations feel completely out of place. This, combined with the terrible voice acting, makes Prisoner of Ice more comical than atmospheric, which is a very negative point for a Cthulhu game. The puzzles are incredibly easy (basically find the key in a drawer and use it to open the door nearby, that's the average complexity!). I never hesitated a minute during the game, and the only difficulty came from a couple of small items that required pixel hunting. Summarizing, it is a game that has zero challenge, no atmosphere and a bad story. For me, it is really difficult to recommend this, even to the most devoted Lovecraft fans.