he year is 1937 and the British submarine HMS Victoria is in Antarctica on 'Operation Polaris' - an attempt to recover creatures that were discovered trapped in the ice. Aboard the submarine is Lieutenant Ryan, an American intelligence officier working with the British Royal Navy as part of the operation.
With two crates aboard, each containing a creature, the Nazi's show up and after a brief skirmish between your submarine and their battleship, a fire onboard melts the ice on one of the crates, unleashing a beast upon the crew. As Ryan, you dispatch the creature before safely returning the submarine to the Falkland Island's for debriefing. But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Prisoner of Ice is the squeal to Shadow of the Comet, the second (and last) game in the Call of Cthulhu series. It takes place 27 years after Shadow of the Comet, but ties in during the course of the game as trusty old John T. Parker (and others) make an appearance. The voices aren't the same however, and Parker seems to have become a middle-American yokel after originally being an upper-class Englishman. But generally the voice work is good all over in that there are no moments where it detracts from the experience. One problem is that the overall story revisits some scenarios from Shadow of the Comet, and so if you've not played that game through, you could be confused by some of the elements here.
The Nazi's are attempting to recover the creatures for themselves, and thus begins a cat and mouse chase across the globe (and time) as you attempt to stay one step ahead of them in learning the secret behind the beasts, and the Nazi plot to rule the world. The story is, in a word, crazy. It's really clever in a way, but kind of over-the-top in other ways, as you discover the nature of your own background as Ryan, and your destined purpose to foil the Nazi's, and their attempts to once again open the gates to the Great Old Ones. The problem is that the story doesn't hold up well to any kind of scrutiny. It's full of holes and assumptions.
I've always been a fan of time travel, looping stories, affecting ones own actions from within a different time, all that stuff. And it's all here in this game. Think Back to the Future II and you'll have an idea of what I mean.
The game is controlled via the mouse, and is implemented correctly (unlike in Shadow). It's a much simpler system of left or right clicking to perform all actions. The graphics are very detailed, and the animation is very precise. Motion-capture was used to record over 60,000 frames of animation, and it shows in the smoothness of the actions. Sometimes they are too smooth though, as despite things getting dangerous near the beginning of the game with a creature loose on the submarine, the characters still calmly interrupt their walking animation to step over the bulkhead when passing between areas. No big deal, by mildly amusing.
Ryan walks about on the HMS Victoria.
The creature animations however are another story, probably has about 3 frames of animation - though granted it's not something that features much in the game. The creatures are merely a tool by which the Nazi's (the real plot) are using to unlease the Great Old Ones. In fact, if you think about it hard enough, you may discover that stumbling upon the Nazi plot would have sufficed for the whole game, and the creatures trapped in ice are nothing more than a plot diversion. Though they feature as part of the plot, I would argue that unleashing the Great Old One's is pretty much world damning regardless of having these little Alien wannabes running around killing everyone.
The head of Cthulhu, or a teleportation device? You decide.
The game is quite short despite the ludicrous claim of 70 hours of gameplay on the back of the US box. You could complete it in a few hours if you know what you're doing. Playing for the first time, probably about 10 hours. Depends if you get stuck or not. Overall it's easy, the puzzles aren't too taxing, (though the timed puzzles can be annoying) and most items obtained are used in the current scenario, either on the screen you found it or just a few screens away. The conversations are also short and to the point. This limits the character development though - it's all geared to moving the story along quickly, so in that regard it works.
Haven't played Shadow of the Comet? Too bad then, because Parker, Illsmouth, Narackamous, and the stone circle all feature again in this game. Don't know them? Then you're in for a confusing ride.
Something is about to escape.
Although this is an official Call of Cthulhu game, I find it hard to give it a very high Cthulhu-ness rating. This is down to the gameplay which doesn't involve anything in the way of investigation. Puzzles are contrived in a lot of places (especially around the Falklands base) and the 'Prisoners of Ice' are a rather poor addition to the Mythos, more like generic aliens. Also, the fact that the Great Old One's gateway to Earth lies within a stone circle in New England, and 27 years after they almost made it through, that same stone circle is still there untouched - you'd think Parker would have seen it destoryed after the events of 1910.
Overall though, a nice addition to Lovecraftian gaming, if not the best adventure game around. It has its moments, and is worth a play for some interesting cut scenes and strong mythos references.
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