Calling

Calling delivers a great atmosphere, and it's really one of those games which will make shivers run down your spine; on the other hand, its basic gameplay and so-so graphics keep it from being a must-buy for survival horror fans.

A decent stab at a J-horror sim. We'd be interested to see more first-person scarers. [Apr 2010, p.83]

While leaning heavily on traditional J-horror conventions to deliver scares and suspense, Calling creates a captivating, dark atmosphere and manages to connect with gamers' psyches in a way that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

With its modern setting and effective scares, Calling is not a boring way to whimper away a few evenings. Just a shame silly artistic choices severely dampen the effect. [Mar 2010, p.50]

A disappointment. With mediocre graphics and limited gameplay, it has an interesting yet a bit commonplace story, although in fact the game results are enjoyable despite its flaws.

If your a fan of Fatal Frame and Japanese Horror in general, you will probably like Calling. It succeeds in being scary without the shock and gore factor, but don't expect stellar gameplay.

Calling has all of the technical chops to become a decent horror game. The sounds and graphics are fine, while the controls aren't all that cumbersome. Unfortunately, the story just isn't scary so the game feels like it drags on. If you can't stand to miss any horror game release, then your best bet would be to rent this title.

It's tough to pull off a survival horror game that doesn't feature much combat, but that's no excuse for making navigation a chore and boring us to death. Wii owners who love pointing their flashlights around in the dark should stick with Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, or visit their local cemeteries after midnight.

If you really liked Ju-On, Calling might be for you; just don't expect its story or overall presentation to grab you the way its ghosts do. [Apr 2010, p.83]

A few hairy moments in, and any attempt to get back under your skin is redundant. Mostly this is because the game's resident evil is largely incapable of harming you, and any sense of jeopardy is lost. [Apr 2010, p.97]

Its cheap scares and repetitive gameplay fail to live up to the promise of that first hour and winds up feeling like you're just going through the motions.

Fair but glitched, Calling's one of the most interesting proposals from Hudson in the last few months, a nice horror adventure in which gamers will discover the same gameplay that we saw in Project Zero or Ju-On, based once again in the stereotypical Japanese horror movies. It's your best pick if you're looking for some fun -- for while it lasts.

While the controls are pretty solid and easy to get the hang of, the game is a very boring and uninspired affair.

Calling is an interesting adventure in J-Horror style. There's atmosphere and some nice ideas, although the gameplay is sometimes missing something, and not every situation in the game feels impressive. Worth at least a try, if you're a big horror fan, but don't expect much.

The concept is not that bad, but the main adventure is repetitious and still. No environment interaction and a simple story kills the magic of the first moments.

Mind-numbingly boring. This is one call you should definitely send to answer phone.

The game suffers from slow pacing throughout the eight-plus hour experience, which fittingly ends with an anticlimactic scene. You should just hit the ignore button on this one.

Ultimately, Calling falls flat. Its redeeming qualities, such as the interesting story and atmosphere, are neutered by its meandering gameplay.

The real survival horror here is enduring the repetitive scares and gameplay all the way to the end.

Calling has become a total failure. Fans of the Japanese horror genre will like this game but only if they wait for the price drop. The only gamers that will find this game creepy are the ones who aren't allowed to play it: children under the age of twelve.

Calling's biggest failing is that you never ever feel scared. [Issue#95, p.124]

Even so, while the tragic backstory is worth seeing through and the cell phone concept is novel for a while, all that’s left beyond that is a poorly-paced exploration in the dark, punctuated by a series of startling yet repetitive ghost encounters. So unless that’s your idea of a good time, this is one number that’s probably not worth picking up.

A miserable little game that does nothing for anybody.

Ripping off every Japanese horror trick in the book doesn't make this poor attempt at survival horror any scarier.

Calling is absolutely worthless. The acting is terrible, it controls poorly, and it's chock full of dumb cliches. It’s the videogame equivalent of the more recent Asian horror remakes.

Everybody else should just let this call go to voice mail!