CoC's shortcomings are FAR overshadowed by it's pure mastery of the source material, and of the genre. BUY THIS GAME!!!
The Cons:
-Main character's attitude doesn't match his degrading mental state
-Enemies repeat themselves too often
-Frustrating repetition caused by limited save system
-Closing a door from the wrong angle can sometimes make you unintentionally go through it (bad for stealth!)
The Pros:
-Excellent voice acting, music, and especially sound
-Invisible interface (no HUD) is immersive, shows charcter's hands manipulating objects very often (So often, in fact, that I would only complain that it doesn't happen when opening/closing doors), sanity effects work great (although the "vertigo" effect is too sensitive in my opinion), aiming done with gun sights instead of an aiming reticle!
-Great pacing, with tension gradually building up throughout the game - you don't get any weapons until you've played a few hours
-Runs smoothly, with almost no noticeable errors or lag, even on a GeForce 6150 LE with graphics settings all the way up (Mine is an onboard graphics card, not the greatest) and with only 512 MB RAM
-Environments are top-notch. Graphics may be dated, but they are some of the cleanest and most well done around.
In my own personal opinion, having played and finished Silent Hill 2 as well as various other horror games, this is the absolute scariest game I have ever played. I have jumped on numerous occasions while playing, been afraid of the dark afterwards, and even had a nightmare or two. If you like horror games, if you think you;ve played the scariest out there, you need to try this out. Bethesda really outdid themselves.