n 1834, Halley's Comet passed over the Earth, and viewing the spectacle from the small New England fishing town of Illmouth was one Lord Boleskine - a distinguished British scientist. He found himself there after studying ancient tomes of forbidden knowledge that told of malevolent gods and ancient rites. And it all pointed to the comet, and Illsmouth.
Shadow of the Comet is a classic adventure game set in 1910. You play as John T. Parker, journalist and amateur astronomer who, 76 years after Boleskine, arrives in Illsmouth to write an article about the British scientist, and to witness the Comet for himself when it passes over in three days time.
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You must uncover the truth about Lord Boleskine's claims of nefarious doings by investigating the town, and its strange inhabitants. The people of Illmouth are none too friendly, and some are downright dangerous. As you walk about the town talking and looking for clues about Boleskine, you can't help but get the feeling that something is very wrong in this town.
The atmosphere exuded by the game is at times chilling. Uncommon in adventure games, there are many ways to die here, and many are unexpected and sudden. Saving often is a must.
The graphics, though behind the times even back then, work really well regardless. They are colourful, detailed, nicely animated, and clear. The hand drawn images have a quality all their own, and they are perfect for the game. The town looks great, with detailed houses and other locations, and the forest is creepy looking, even during broad daylight. Only rarely is an item difficult to spot as Parker will look at items with a dotted line shooting from his eyes to the item in question. Characters are well drawn, and it's amusing to see some of the close up dialogue character shots, as a lot of them bare striking resemblances to various famous people. Vincent Price, Jack Nickolson, and Willem Defoe are just some of the more recognisable actors to be rendered.
Here's Johnny!
The voice acting is equally good in places (CD ROM only), varied and dramatic as required. Some of the more colourful dialogue is amusing to listen to though, as characters cry out unpronounceable chants like 'Yghnaiih thfthkh nga YOG SOTHOTH!'. The sound effects are appropriate and generally very good, and the music is the standard MIDI of the time, but it is low-key and suitably creepy. See the Media page for samples.
The game is controlled via the keyboard (mouse control was added later in the CD version, but is twitchy at best). You walk around the town using the arrow keys talking and gathering clues and items. Luckily there's a map of the town to view, as it would be easy to miss some locations. There are a lot of paths that lead off in different directions and so you could miss some from time to time.
A very big house in the country.
Whilst the gameplay is generally solid, there are moments of frustration. On a couple of occasions there is a maze type scenario (one in the forest, and one in the catacombs) that have you wandering around the same couple of screens and ending up back where you started unless you luckily take the correct path. It's an old method of 'getting you lost' without having to draw new and different screens for each journey. The game uses a flip screen method to move between screens.
Later on in the game, the difficultly ramps up considerably, and you need to rely on pure luck by attempting to combine items with very little or no clues given as to what you're meant to be doing, or what item you should be using.
A statue of Dagon.
Naturally this game gets a very high 'Cthulhu-ness' rating due to it being an official Call of Cthulhu product, but in a certain ways it goes overboard. Facing off against one Great Old One (or Great Ancient as the game calls them) is horrifying enough, but having to deal with four of the blighters is asking for trouble. Cthulhu, Yog Sothoth, Nyarlathotep and Dagon all make an appearance (or half an appearance), before being dispatched.
Overall a great adventure game full of Cthulhu references, though very difficult at times and can be frustrating. Still, it remains to this day one of best Lovecraft games ever made.
The towns name of Illsmouth is a play on Innsmouth, from the Lovecraft story The Shadow Over Innsmouth. The original title for the town was Isthmuth, but was changed during production.
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