Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

"Deserves an eternal spot next to your Gamecube."

Intro: I followed this game's development progress all the way from the Nintendo 64 plans to the release on Gamecube. I didn't get it right away, but I wish I did so I would have had a longer time to play it. Possibly one of the most underrated games out so far for GCN (yes it's that good), this is literally a must-buy. You need this game. Whether you like the creepiness of a psychological thriller, the twists and turns of an ingenious plot, the excitement of exploration, the fantasy of casting magic, or the heat of battle, this game really does have something for everyone. If it was possible, the score I gave would have soared far above ten. It's one of the most ingenious games that is a towering rival to such classics as the Zelda or Super Mario Brothers series, although vastly different from both.

Story: Could make the transition from game to book smoothly. Alex Roivas, away at college, receives a phone call informing her there's been an accident involving her grandfather, in Rhode Island. She gets on a flight right away. Upon arrival, the inspector shows her a hideous sight of her grandfather, bloody and dead upon the floor. There is no evidence as to what happened, so she resolves to stay and find out for herself. She later finds the Tome of Eternal Darkness, which opens her up to a frightening world of chosen ones struggling to overcome an advancing evil, of ancients attempting to come into this world. She'll read the stories of ordinary people who learn too much, and their lives are forfeit because of that. There are four ancients in all, but you'll only be dealing with one, for the time being.... The Tome covers about two thousand years. Throughout the game cutscenes explain the story; it is narrated by the dead grandfather and then shows dialogues and scenes of the actual characters. Not only does the game show what's going on with the ''good'' characters, but between every chapter are cutscenes showing what the villain is up to. This story may seem bland but there is a whole hell of a lot more, but to give it away would ruin it.

Gameplay

Controls: Very easy to master. Move with the analog stick; hold down L to run, and X to sneak. The R button will lock onto your enemies so you can decide what parts to hack off. Z reloads your gun. The A button is used to attack: shoot a gun, swing a sword, and punch if you are not armed. The control pad and the Y button are used for magic shortcuts. The B button is case sensitive, so the actions you can perform will be displayed onscreen. The camera angle is pretty good, it moves to allow view of everything and follows you, so it doesn't remain fixed. Unfortunately there is no first-person view available. The learning curve is very short, you'll have it down in no time, so you won't even need to think about controls. The battling system can be repetitive sometimes but it's relatively simple: just target an enemy's head, torso, or arms and slash away, or repeated tap A to swing your weapon to knock down your enemies to gain breathing space. Alternatively, you can use magic attacks or damage fields to battle.

Difficulty: Not great. The puzzles aren't too much of a strain on your mind, and you'll only be really stuck a few times when the way isn't obvious.Most of the puzzles involve finding particular spells or items and utilizing them. Sometimes, you'll have to look for letters or books to find evidence of what's happening. Enemies will be standing in the way of your goals, and often they are protecting a rune or an important item. You're bound to die sometimes in battles, which will set you back if you haven't saved, so there is some challenge there. However, the save system provides a breath of relief, because you can save at any time as long as there are no enemies in the room.

Features and Replayability: This game includes a magic system which is needed to progress. You'll heal yourself, summon monsters, dispel other spells, attack, create shields, and more. Magic also plays a big role in the storyline. The biggest (or most anticipated) feature in this game is the sanity effects. There's a bubbling green meter on screen, and the more enemies you encounter, the more your meter will deplete, causing your character to hallucinate. Some things you'll encounter are wailing cries, imaginary enemies, and changing pictures; there are a ton more but giving them away ruins the surprise, because if you know about them you won't be fooled. On another note, there is a great cast of characters. Among others, you'll play as a fireman, a monk, an archaeologist, and a messenger-turned-zombie. There's even a man who got sent to an asylum. All of the characters have weapons suited to their time periods: (among others) a deadly two-handed sword, a machine gun with grenades, a poisonous blowgun, and a stunning camera flash-pan. The characters interact with their environments, such as when they turn to look at a crackling torch. When they run for too long, they grow tired and need to walk to regain breath. One character will collect ''autopsies'' of the enemies, and the dialogues which accompany them kept me laughing until I cried, because they're meant to be said by an insane man. This game has a lot of reasons to be replayed, such as the fact that on your second and third times through, you'll get a slightly different story. If you play the game three times, you'll get the ''true'' ending.

Graphics: Remembering that this game's early days were on the Nintendo 64, the graphics aren't of the highest quality, although fine nevertheless. The graphics, you'll note, are very dark and brooding but that all contributes to the atmosphere of the game, as it just wouldn't feel right with bright, happy graphics. The FMV's are slightly grainy looking. For example, you'll also notice bad graphics in a particular chapter when you must ''dust'' things off with a brush, and the rising dirt doesn't look so much like dirt than as a blocky orange cloud. Similarly, setting things on fire with a torch results in a blocky YELLOW cloud. On the other hand, the graphics really shine when you look at character graphics: They're all unique, and they all move with their own walk or limp. There are four key areas you'll be wandering about, and each one changes as time goes on. For example, the furniture in the mansion during the 1700s is drastically different than that of modern day, where you'll find cordless phones and a refrigerator, instead of a water pump and wooden seats in the bathroom. When you're insane, blood drips from the ceiling and collects into a pool on the floor. The eyes of monsters follow your every move. However, the graphics don't make or break this game, as you can get a lot for your imagination just out of the textual descriptions.

Music and Sound: The music in this game isn't varied. Sometimes there is a soft tune playing, and what you can hear is really good, but most of the time the game is filled with shrieking women and slamming doors and the sounds of knives being whetted. However, there is music when you fight a ''boss'' character. The other sounds range from everything to foot steps, voices of the ancients when you cast spells, whispers, battle cries and cries of pain, swords being swung, the sickly damp squelching noise of an advancing zombie, and the powerful crashing noises of huge monsters. This game's voice acting is some of the best out there, much much better than Resident Evil's. The character's voices don't sound fake or forced, but very real and with emotions necessary to whatever scenes they're in.

Rating and Other Details: This game is rated M for Mature because of its gory content. You chop off arms, legs, heads, and split enemies in half at the torso, all of which gush blood. The subject matter of the game is a little bit more complex than that of games rated E. A lot of the background will be familiar from your history class: for example, in a chapter having to do with involvement of Charlemagne the Frank and the ancients, you'll notice he died in 814 in the game.. Just like in real life. So the game does follow real life details closely, and is accurate. Also, because the game is centered around a ''book'' (the Tome), you'll gain much enjoyment of the game if you read everything in it. You'll often have the option of examining an object or area, which will provide you with a description of it. For instance, when you see an ordinary dead body laying on the ground, and examine it, you'll get a description of just what the body looks like and how it was mangled and eaten away and rotted. Therefore, there's a lot more to the game than just relying on the graphics to tell you what's there.

Pros (+) and Cons (-)

+ Story with great depth
+ Creative magic system
+ Cool weapons
+ Plenty of enemies to satisfy your hacking-and-slashing needs
+ Wide range of characters to play as
+ The sanity effects are an interesting element
+ Beating the game three times will give you some new game options
+ The excellent voice acting
+ Feature which allows you to play any part of a game you want, instead of having to play over and over again
+ Invincible mode

- Inconsistent graphics (great in some plays, lousy in others)
- Battles can grow boring
- Only about three different enemies
- The sanity effects were exciting the first time, but after a while they become a hindrance (+ although, that can be solved )
- The game is very linear: everything must be done in order or you cannot progress

Ender: Buy or rent: You shouldn't even be thinking about renting it. It would be an extraordinary addition to your game collection, one that you'll pick up many times. It has things which appeal to fans of many genres: horror, adventure, RPG, action, and puzzle. There's no point in renting as you'll end up renting it over and over again. I personally have not an ounce of regret for buying it: My gaming career has spanned pretty much my entire life, and this game is my favorite over everything I've played. Therefore, I suggest you get out to your nearest game dealer and get yourself a copy, and experience the greatness of it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/13/02, Updated 12/13/02