"The Death of Sanity"

Introduction: ''Nintendo is kiddie''. ''Gamecube sux, it only has kid games''. ''HAHAHA Nintendo suxors wit no M games hahaha!''. Sound familiar? It should. But I got a feeling we wont be hearing much of this in the future. Many people will say it's just a half-assed attempt to appeal to the ''mature'' crowd that Resident Evil did so well. But Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is in a league of it's own. It's an incredibly immersive experience that Resident Evil wishes it had. In fact, a lot of people will pass this game off as a Resident Evil wannabe. That couldn't be further from the truth; the control is much more intuitive, the combat is less robotic, and the voice acting is motion picture quality. Silicon Knights have crafted not only the best game on the GCN, but possibly one of the best games to be given an ''M'' rating.

Gameplay: We all know what the story is by now, right? So I'm not gonna bore you with the details, even though ED:SR's story is leaps and bounds ahead of it's competitors' offerings. You play as the main character, the Buffy-lookalike Alex, at the beginning, the ending, and in between the ''chapters'' that you play as other characters. It may sound complicated, but the character switching is integrated seamlessly.

While there are ''hints'' of traditional survival horror (item fetching, puzzles, etc), ED:SR still manages to remain fresh. Characters are able to cast spells through use of magick, a system that is both wonderfully deep and simple at the same time. It may seem daunting at first, but you get the hang of casting spells and the like after a while; it becomes second nature. There's also the much hyped ''insanity effects''. You either love them or hate them, and I personally cannot get enough of these. There are some effects that are over-used, but the majority of them are creepy and perplexing. The combat, at first, seems modelled around the combat system for RE, but it's actually an improvement. You can aim at specific body parts (except the legs, what's with that?), and deliver finishing moves that restore your character's sanity. The inventory system has unlimited slots and you can save wherever, whenever you want, as long as no enemies are in the room. Anti-Resident Evil indeed!
10/10

Graphics: This is where most people will harp on ED. Yes, it doesn't look as pretty as that *other* game does, but that *other* game kinda cheated what with it's pre-rendered backgrounds. ED is completely rendered in real time, and considering that, the game looks damn good. At best, the environments look spectacular (the Oblie cathedral) and at worst, they look simply interesting (the Roivas mansion). Some character models look better than others (the outstanding ones being Pious, Alex, and Maximillion), but on the whole, the playable characters look and animate very well. Particle effects look wonderful, through use of the spells, and the lighting effects are something to behold.
The standard enemy models (the zombies) could've used some more beefing up to make em look a tad bit more frightening, but that's alright. On the whole? The developers wanted to build a creepy atmosphere, and they have succeeded.
9/10

Sound: This is where ED is absolutely flawless. The background music may not seem all that noticeable at first, but when you really listen, you'll hear quality, movie-worthy music tracks that fit each level (be it a Cambodian temple or gothic cathedral) perfectly. Sound effects are realistic and well done. For example, when swinging a sword against a table, it feels and sounds like you're hitting wood. When swinging the same sword against a brick wall, you hear a realistic, metallic ''clang''. Excellent. But perhaps most excellent of all is the voice acting. I can't stress this well enough - the voice acting. kicks. ass. You can hear the emotion, pain, and vulnerability these forbidden ''chosen ones'' express. And seeing how most of the voice actors were lifted from the Metal Gear Solid and Legacy of Kain series, it's no wonder the voice acting is top notch.
10/10

Replay: Think of Eternal Darkness as a really long, really involving, really scary good book. Once you've finished reading, chances are, you're not gonna read through the entire thing again. But there may be particular chapters you liked that you'd wanna skim through a couple more times. Upon beating ED:SR a second time, you'll have the opportunity to play your favourite chapters, and if you beat it another time, you'll be treated to the UberEnding and will unlock the Eternal Mode (unlimited health, sanity, magick). While it all sounds enticing, your first trek through this game will be considerably long and challenging, something that most people will not wanna do two more times, as wonderful as the experience may be. But there is an incentive, so that's what matters.
8/10

This game simply must be seen, heard, played, and experienced to be believed. Unlike that OTHER game, you actually get to care about some of the characters you play. There is character development, something that used to be completely unheard of in this particular ''genre'' (which makes sense, since ED:SR is the first horror game to successfully stray from traditional survival horror). I have a personal affinity towards Alex in particular, because we share a lot of likenesses, right down to her awful dyejob. This made it particularly more rewarding to see the ending, which I wont spoil for you.

Overall: 10/10

Kudos, Silicon Knights. This game deserves all the success and praise it can get.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/02, Updated 06/30/02