Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering... fearing... doubting.."

Originally supposed to be a Nintendo 64 game that would function without the use of the expansion pak. Then it was supposed to be a launch game for the Nintendo Gamecube back in November of 2001. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem was pushed back to February of 2002. Then pushed back again until June. Finally, after Resident Evil craze has come and gone. We have Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. Five long years in the making and one of the most chilling and haunting games I have played in a good long while.

The story of Eternal Darkness spans the course of over 2000 years. But the game itself starts in present time. As the game starts up, a piece from one of Edgar Allan Poe's poems. ''Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering... fearing... doubting...'' Then it moves on from there. The game starts out when a girl by the name of Alexandra Roivas, who gets a call from the police saying that her grandfather, Edward has been murdered. When she arrives in Rhode Island, the police do not have a single clue to follow up on. And some three weeks pass and the game begins. Over the course of the game you will play as a number of different characters in a wide variety of settings (A temple in Cambodia which is loaded with booby traps, to a Rhode Island mansion that goes through the centuries, etc.).

Graphics wise there is nothing truly groundbreaking here. I mean, it does not top Resident Evil. No wheres even close to it. The backgrounds and lighting effects are nice. The games brought to us with a nice 3-d background. That means no multi-billion camera angles that can throw off someone in the heat of gameplay. As with the character designs. All the characters are up on par with the next generation console requirements. Not really all that flashy. The game throws the right kinds of atmosphere for each of the settings. Like fog in the temples, hiding the trap switches, to the mansion with all of it's little secrets. So on and so forth.

Moving on to the gameplay issues. This is where the game truly shines. The game handles like a gem. No real complaints to be found. The best part out of this entire game, probably the most innovative thing out of this entire game is the ''sanity meter.'' If an enemy spots you, you'll gradually lose your sanity unless you kill the monster. The sanity effects range from small little things like hearing voices in Latin. As your sanity deteriorates, walls begin to bleed, statues begin to follow you. A lot of strange things happen. this will ultimately affect your health to as you progress. Becoming almost impossible to tell what is real, and what is an illusion of the mind.

The sound department gets no complaints here. Voice acting is right on cue. Featuring some of fine voice talents like David Hayter, Paul Eiding, Jennifer Hale and Rino Romano, just to name a few. The sounds are authentic, from sword swiping to pistol firing, the footsteps, the screams, they really bring the game to life.

The music is rather scarce. Which is good. Because too much music tends to take away the replay value. The music will cue up as usual when you find an item of importance and several zombies come to life that were laying dead on the floor just a few seconds ago.

Silicon Knights did a fantastic job of bringing this game to life. Everything from the insanity effects, to the deep plot which did not fall into the confusing category. This is another must-own game for the year 2002. Sanity is a fragile thing. Who knows, you might have a hard time telling what is real and what is fake. This game will definitely be disputed as one of the best games of this year. But right now, Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness are competing for that top spot right now in the survival/horror food chain. We will have to wait and see with Resident Evil 0 coming out in November. But for now, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem reigns supreme as the Gamecube'sbest survival/horror game. For the moment.

Graphics: 9

Detailed character models and backgrounds look nice but they pale in comparison to Resident Evil. Albeit there was no stuttering during this game.

Gameplay: 10

Nothing beats zombie hacking and demon killing with a nice easy-to-handle controls. But where this game truly shines is with the Sanity meter and those insanity effects. It is almost scary to see a character loss their grip on reality.

Sound: 10

Nothing wrong in this department. Not a thing. Top notch voice acting and a haunting score.

Replay Value: 9

A total of 12 chapters in the whole game, a bunch of different paths to take along the way, a deep dark story line is just what we need. It may not be as engrossing as Resident Evil's story, but it is one of the more memorable ones.

Final Thoughts: This game alone was going to be a classic. This is the first game to ever use something as innovative as the sanity meter and just that use alone makes this game an instant classic. I look forward to what Silicon Knights (the developers of this game) will make in the future. The real question begs: Will there be another Eternal Darkness on the way in the near future?

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