Shadow of the Comet is a single-player adventure game released for the home computer in 1993 by Infogrames. It was followed by the point and click adventure, Prisoner of Ice, and was also marketed under the title Call of the Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet. Both games are based on the H. P. Lovecraft novel, Cthulu Mythos. The game uses many features from some of Lovecraft’s other works as well, including The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
The premise of the game centres around John Parker, a young English photographer who travels to the New England town of Innsmouth in 1910 to better photograph the rare appearance of Halley’s Comet.
Shadow of the Comet is a single-player adventure game released for the home computer in 1993 by Infogrames. It was followed by the point and click adventure, Prisoner of Ice, and was also marketed under the title Call of the Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet. Both games are based on the H. P. Lovecraft novel, Cthulu Mythos. The game uses many features from some of Lovecraft’s other works as well, including The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
The premise of the game centres around John Parker, a young English photographer who travels to the New England town of Innsmouth in 1910 to better photograph the rare appearance of Halley’s Comet. In 1834, Lord Boleskine, Parker’s predecessor, also visited the town to take advantage of its location to view the comet. Boleskine was certain
the perfect location and remote setting would intensify the viewing experience. Instead, a strange phenomenon occurs, and Boleskine goes insane, living out his days in a London insane asylum. Parker, however, is confident of his own abilities and is determined to succeed where Boleskine failed. Armed with Boleskine’s notes, Parker visits Innsmouth, discovers a wicked conspiracy, and must stay alive for three days until the comet passes.
Shadow of the Comet is a basic point and click adventure with very creepy undertones. True to most of Lovecraft’s work, the mood is sinister from beginning to end, and the game reflects this very well. As John speaks to the townsfolk, a caricature of them will be displayed. Usually, they are modelled after a character from a classic horror film. The game also features cameos by both Jack Nicholson and famed horror king Vincent Price. Aside from the cameo appearances, the voice acting is also very good.
The user interface is very standard and the available actions feature no great surprises. The puzzles are very logical, which is nice since the user will not get frustrated performing silly trial and error acts, just hoping to hit on something. There is only one really bad puzzle that doesn’t seem to fit in, but the rest are clever and follow the eerie theme that holds the game together. Shadow of the Comet is a great adventure for fans of the point and click genre and a near must for fans of H.P. Lovecraft’s literature, or the horror/mystery genre in general.
