"An Incredibly Immersive Experience"

Eternal Darkness has been one of the most eagerly awaited games to be released for the Nintendo GameCube. After numerous delays, as well as switching from Nintendo 64 to GameCube, the game has finally arrived. Well, Silicon Knights and Nintendo can proudly pat themselves on the back. Although it took a long time to get here, the finished product was most definitely worth the weight, as the GameCube receives its best offering yet.

Story: 10/10

Eternal Darkness has a dark, twisting story that deals with the occult, supernatural powers dwelling in a book titled The Tome of Eternal Darkness. The book is bound in human flesh and bone (sound familiar, Evil Dead fans?) and its contents include the stories of a dozen playable characters.

You begin Eternal Darkness playing as Alexandra Roivas, a young college student who travels to Rhode Island to investigate the grotesque death of her grandfather, who was brutally murdered in his own mansion. Alex searches the mansion, eventually discovering the Tome of Eternal Darkness. As she reads the book, the game's perspective switches from Alex to the character she is reading about. As Alex discovers hidden pages of the tome, she is granted the ability to read more of the book, discovering the horrifying secrets she was not meant to uncover.

The story line is excellent. It is enthralling enough to hold the player's attention through the 20+ hours of gameplay. What more can be said?

Graphics: 9/10

I felt that the graphics were the low point of the game, although they are not bad, or disappointing, in the least. The character models can be slightly blurry at moments, but overall, the graphics are very impressive. The disturbing enemies look great, ranging from rotting skeletal zombies to demented blob-like creatures that fill an entire room. Overall, the graphics do their job perfectly, and the imperfections are rare enough to be easily overlooked.

Gameplay: 10/10

The gameplay in ED leaves nothing at all to be desired. Although many will unfairly label ED as ''just another Resident Evil clone,'' that label could not be further from the truth. ED is NOT a survival horror game. Just as Resident Evil was inspired by horror movies such as ''Night of the Living Dead'' and ''Zombi'', Eternal Darkness is very much inspired by classic horror writers, especially Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. The game even opens with a quote from Poe.

The game does not try to scare you frequently with shocks such as enemies crashing through windows or leaping at you from across a room. Instead, Eternal Darkness utilizes a ''sanity meter'' that slowly lowers as you encounter new enemies. Once a character's sanity is lower than 100%, they will begin to lose their grip on reality. Hallucinations will occur, that can be infinitely more frightening than the game's monsters. Without spoiling anything, I will say that the most pleasant surprise that ED had to offer was how the insanity effects can also affect the player as well as the character being played.

Controlling the characters in ED is simple. If you press ''up'' on the analog stick, the character will move in that direction. Simple enough. This makes maneuvering between multiple enemies an easy task.

Combat is very fun, and hardly ever becomes tedious. Each character has their own unique weapons and attacks, and you can either use a simple combo to attack the enemy, or target individual parts of their body to attack. Each enemy has a weak point, and exploiting these weaknesses (for example, knocking the head off of a zombie) makes ED a very fun game to play.

The ''magick'' system in ED is very deep and intuitive, without becoming overly complex. The possibilities are countless, as you can create spells after finding numerous runes. Magick is employed for everything, even the game's puzzles, and it is nice to see that the developers spent considerable time on this element of the game, as opposed to it being an afterthought.

Sound: 10/10

The sound in Eternal Darkness is absolutely mind-blowing. Each ''level'' of the game features background music that perfectly suits the diverse settings that ED has to offer. Whether you're in a gloomy mansion or a Cambodian tomb, the music sets the mood perfectly. Also worth noting are the creepy whispering and chanting sounds that interrupt the music every so often. The music could not have been better!

The sound effects of ED are even more incredible than the music, as they help to completely immerse the player in the game world. As a character's sanity meter decreases, you will hear noises, such as knocking and screaming, in the background. The voice acting is also quite good, reminding me of the excellent voice acting of the ''Legacy of Kain'' series.

Overall: 10/10

Eternal Darkness is an incredibly well polished game for the GameCube. It delivers the most one of the most incredible experiences that the world of video games has to offer. Do not go into this game expecting another survival horror game. It is a unique experience that offers a well-written story, excellent visuals, and incredible sound.

If you own a GameCube, definitely check this wonderful game out. Nintendo and Silicon Knights deserve great praise for spending the necessary time and effort to make Eternal Darkness a truly unforgettable title.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/02, Updated 06/26/02