"Darn, I can't think of a good Poe line to quote"

What was arguably one of the most hyped Gamecube games since launch has finally been released. It is not by Nintendo that this little gem was made. Nor was it by Rare or Capcom, who is highly known for their excellent survival horror games. Instead, this was made by a washed up company called Silicon Knights. Older gamers will remember them as the makers of the original Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen. For a long time they did nothing. And, many gamers doubted that this would be any good when they originally announced it. But alas, miracles can happen. We have all misjudged Silicon Knights, and frankly this game has blown me away.

Just glancing at the game is a strange feeling. It was originally an N64 game, and it somewhat shows. Somewhat. The characters are a bit blocky, which is rather disappointing. Not all of them do, but the majority is rather low-polygon. The first few characters seem to just have a higher resolution on them. Nonetheless, later characters like Pious at the end of the game look quite good. The backgrounds are also a bit disappointing considering what other games for the time had done.

That is not to say the graphics are bad. The characters and backgrounds may be, but like Luigi's Mansion, it more than makes up for it in the other sections. For one thing, the lightning is beautiful. In the first few areas it is not very noticable, but going through the dark halls with a torch, or the torches on the walls you see how good it really is. Perhaps the best part about the graphics is the amazing special effects. Spells like chain-lightning will make you realize that Silicon Knights actually did put some good effort into it. Not only that, but when you have tons of explosions and bosses which take up an entire screen, the game still manages to run at an astounding 60 frames per second.

Surprisingly, SK managed to actually put a deep story into the game. We all know that there was supposed to be a story in the Resident Evil series, but rarely did they focus on it. Hell, besides RE2, there were hardly ever any cut-scenes. Not only does Eternal Darkness manage to stay focused on a story, but it's actually good. Just skimming through the game it seems basic. You must stop the world from holocaust. But, as you play through it you get more and more into the idea of the different gods which all seek power, and the ancient counterspells to stop their summoning. There are plenty of plot-twists to keep you amused. Hell, Pious, the second person you play as, ends up becoming the main enemy of the game! That would seem like a spoiler, but this happens within the first five minutes of the game. There is alot more, but I don't want to ruin it for you.

The game's engine was sort of risky when you look at it. Survival horror games were never meant to be about combat. They were always supposed to be about you being horribly out-numbered and running away. Here however, you actually fight your way through these guys. SK actually came up with a deep combat system to the game.

One would argue that because of this, you are less scared and therefore it can never be a successful survival horror. Fear is always what drove you through the RE series. Well, it is less ''scary'', but that doesn't mean it's not the freakiest thing you have ever seen. Instead of being driven by fear, you are driven by sanity. Rather than feeling helpless and wanting to scare the hell out of you, this game just wants to screw with you. The most hyped part about the game is its incredible sanity effects. When your character gets scared by overwhelming odds, strange things will start to happen. They might start shouting gibberish, not to as much damage to enemies, or take a little more damage. That is only basic sanity effects. But, as your characters gets more and more scared and loses sanity, stranger effects start to happen. The walls will start to bleed. You might walk into a room and suddenly it is filled with a dozen enemies you can't possibly defeat. By the time your fear meter is dangerously low, you are in the middle of an Edgar Allen Poe story.

But, when you're not stabbing at mid air, it does have a way to actually kill the freaks. Instead of just attacking your enemies and either attacking again or watching them die, you actually must put some effort into how you fight. Each enemy can be killed in different ways. There is a targeting system which lets you target any of the enemy's limbs. So, chopping off their arms will make them nudge you in hopes of eventually doing some damage. Chopping of their legs will leave them hobbling and slicing at you. And, chopping off their heads will leave them blind. Many hours of enjoyment can come from watching two blind, headless zombies continually hit each other. While you do have guns, the ammo you must find to use them is really not worth it. Instead, you are encouraged to use swords, axes, and in some cases whips.

Since you have to fight through hoardes and hoardes of monsters, it had a very high potential of becoming tedious. But, SK managed to avoid that by changing characters every chapter. This allows ED to always stay fresh. The characters have a wide range. While one may be a bit slow and use alot of guns, another might be very fit and use several swords. Most of the characters are interesting enough to not only progress you through the game, but make you want to use them again (I was sad to know that I wouldn't be using Karim again). Unfortunately, you do play as several old fat guys, which does not have very fun combat. Overall though, it had even precautions to stop the game from ever becoming tedious.

One thing which surprised everyone was how incredibly deep the magic system was. SK informed people that there was one, but would not give out any further details. Knowing that this was a survival horror, we were all expecting a bland system which would do nothing more but open some doors here and there. How wrong we all were. To first use your magic, you must find magic runes. Each rune has a special power. After you find a rune, you must find a codex, or an inscription which tells the effect of the spell. After that you must find a scroll which tells how the spell is made. Finally, once all the runes, codexes, and scrolls are acquired, you put them all onto a circle of power and viola! You have a brand new spell at hand.

Spell mixing happens to be very fun and rewarding. Since there are so many runes, codexes, and scrolls, you can't find everything as soon as you get it. So, you may have a rune for awhile before you find a codex to use it for. But, if you don't want to wait and you just like experimenting, you can make your own spells before you find the scroll! You will not know its official name, but you can make it. You can also set your spells to different types of magic. Making a healing spell that requires a red rune will have a totally different effect from one that requires a green.

Spells also play an important part of the game. Not only do you need them to save your ass in battle, but they are also required to get through the puzzles. Say there is a door with a blue barrier around it. First, you must find a dispel magic. But, that is not enough. Sending a blue dispel at a blue barrier won't be strong enough. You must find the spell's counterpart. A green dispel would be the only way to take it out. In combat, it works the same way. If you are in a room full of green monsters, imbuing your sword with red magic would do double the damage to them. The system gets even deeper but I won't tell you anything more.

Control was quite good, despite how easy it would have been to screw it up. It is in full 3d, but still has the RE fixed camera angles at times. However, the camera will follow your character through halls, so battling is not such hell. And, there are plenty of handy options. The targeting system helps alot when fighting enemies, even though not doing it lets you do combos. And, there are buttons you can set to spells, so you can do it quickly instead of casting the summon over and over.

The sound to the game is no disappointment. The soundtrack enhances the scene very well. In creepy hallways, an eerie music will play. At boss fights, a more fast-paced battle theme will ring. Much like Resident Evil, there's a tune to fit every situation. One thing which really surprised me was how good the voice actors were. Despite all other survival horror games having terrible voice acting, and most games in general having pretty bad ones (with the exception of Metal Gear Solid and a few others), this managed to have very good voice acting. Even though it would've been very easy to, they did not give minority characters cliche'd or stereotypical voices, which I am happy about. And Pious has a great voice actor.

The game is short, like most survival horrors. But, they gave plenty of reason for you to play through it again. At the beginning of a game, Pious chooses a god to worship. The Red god's game focuses on combat, Blue's on spells and puzzles, and Green's on sanity effects. Each game has a different ending (which, I might add, has wonderful FMV's), depending on which god was chosen at the beginning. If you beat the game 3 times with all three different gods, you get the special ending, which hints about the secret god you have been getting help from. And, once you get that, you can play through the game with invincibility, or go through any chapter with all of the spells.

Overall, this is a game not to be missed. It takes what we love about the survival horror genre, adds a solid combat system, and encorporates a good story, good voice acting, and a great soundtrack. The sanity and magic systems are some of the best around, and playing through the game will leave you begging for more. This is one of the best reasons to own a Gamecube, so I strongly suggest you pick it up. I assure you, it will not be disappointing.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/03, Updated 03/06/03