About as fun as extra-loud TV commercials
"It will appeal to those who liked games like the Thief series and the original Deus Ex." First of all, I'd like to say that I was outright offended that anyone would compare either of those masterpieces to this mediocrity. Although all could perhaps be placed in the same genre, CoC lacks the core game features that made those games so enjoyable. Both Thief and Deus Ex featured extremely expansive environments, free range movement, and an expansive variety of paths you could choose to complete each mission or level. CoC is quite the opposite. There is absolutely positively only ONE way to complete every section of the game. If you attempt to open a door, 99% of the time, your character will say one of two annoying voiceclips: "It's locked." or "It won't open." If you can open a door, however, you can be damn sure that it's the right way to go, because there's only ever one way to progress thru a given level.
Some of the puzzles as well are outright absurd. For example, having to ring church bells in a certain order to be able to move a floor tile to enter a basement??? Honestly, what the f**k.
One of the most infuriating things about the game as well is the lack of save points. You'll be running thru a building, hopping over rooftops, climbing up ladders, and then BOOM. You hit an invisible wall while trying to clear a jump off the balcony and you hit the ground and die. Where do you end up loading? Where you were 30 minutes ago, having to go around finding clues to a safe combination that you yourself already know, but can't enter because your character doesn't. It's frustrations like these that completely take away the suspense from the game. I don't think I ever actually stopped playing because I'd had enough or had to go do something else. I always ended with something along the lines of "F*** THIS SH**!" and then I'd go play HL2 or BF2, or in this case write a review bashing the game.
After reading the reviews it appears that many people don't realize that Call of Cthulhu is a Dungeons and Dragons gameplay type. Anyone who knows anything about D&D, however, will know that CoC:DCoE has virtually nothing in it reminiscent of D&D, save for the necessity of having to "Use" items on other objects or people, as well as the character talking to himself about his surroundings (DM). The things that made the D&D game fun to play, however, are unfortunately nonexistent in DCoE.
Pros:
Available on direct2drive
Cool horror sequences
"Insanity effects"
Cons:
No physics whatsoever
No dynamic audio, no EAX
Stereo sound support only
Some common gfx cards not supported
Glitchy graphics and sound
Glitchy gameplay
Invisible walls
100% linear gameplay
Save points are rare
AI is dumber than a lobotomized lemming
Alt-Tab crashes the game
Bottom line:
Save yourself $30 and go find some geeks to play the original D&D:CoC with. It'll be more fun.