Eternal Ring

"It looks good, but it ain't!"

Eternal Ring has been slammed repeatedly by every single magazine that I have read. That should probably tell you something. It should tell you that this game has many problems. Oddly enough, even with all its flaws, it is still a fairly fun game to play...for a few hours anyway.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics are superb. I particularly like the water effects on this game. The enemies are well animated and move very smoothly, as does your main character. Well, his arm does. This game is played from a first person perspective. You never actually see your character during actual gameplay, only during the cutscenes. The only reason that I didn't give Graphics a 10 is that the spell effects are a bit bland. When I cast a fireball I want to see a huge ball of flame that looks like it would do some major damage. You don't get that here. Also, there seems to be an inordinate amount of haze in the the outdoor sections later in the game. This isn't really a flaw, but more of an annoyance. I bet that most other people don't even notice. There is one other thing that I didn't really care for. When you walk, there is this annoying little bounce in your step. It's supposed to make the walking seem more realistic. Thank God you can turn that off in the Options menu, or I would've given Graphics a 4!

Music and Sound: 8/10

This is usually the point in the majority of my reviews where the bashing begins, but I was surprised by the quality of the sound work. There isn't one single piece of music that is just totally horrible. I wouldn't exactly rush out to buy the soundtrack, but the music fits into the game quite well. That's the most important part of game music: how it fits and sounds in the game, not how it sounds in your car's CD player.

When I heard the fisherman at the beginning of the game say his piece I was sure that I would have to write another rant about bad voicework (you can see my review of Kessen if you want to read a prime example of that). Thankfully, every other voice in the game is passable and a few are even good. That was a big shock! Hey, I ain't complaining!

The only negative in terms of sound are the sound effects. They're kind of dry. None of them are really that well done. The sword sounds are especially old hat. I could've made a better sword sound banging together two pots! The sounds effects (except the sword) aren't bad, just far weaker than the rest of the ear candy.

Control: 7/10

Nothing to complain about here. It is very simple to switch between your five magic rings. No cumbersome menus, unless you want to equip some different rings. Your character's movement is very fluid and responsive. It is very simple to perform the one maneuver you need to beat this game, the legendary ''run circles around your enemy'' technique. The only thing wrong here is the small but evident lag between pressing the attack button and the actual attack. If you compensate for this in your strategy then it's not that big of a deal.

Story: 4/10

Let the bashing commence! Think of the story as a combination of Frankenstein and Lord of the Rings, except bad. You, as Cain Morgan, must travel to ''The Island of No Return'' (ugh...) to seek the Eternal Ring, the source of omnipotent power that every poorly plotted game seems to possess. And then you discover that the Eternal Ring isn't a ring at all.... Yawn...wake me up when originality arrives! Normally I would think that something was lost in the translation, but I bet the Japanese version doesn't fare any better.

Difficulty: 2/10

This is the part where most of the weak gamers will disagree with me. Sure, the enemies take off a good bit of energy when they hit, but you could easily go through this game without even dying. Let me tell you right now how to beat every single enemy in the game:

The first half of the game: Step forward, stab, step back, repeat as necessary.
The second half: Run circle around foe, stabbing on occasion. If you can't circle, blast with your quasi-divine spells that you should have gotten by now.

Is that your idea of difficult? If so, then get back to playing Madden 2001 and pray every night for some skills!

Replay Value: 1/10

Almost nonexistent. I'm sure some masochist would want to go through and get every single ring but some folks have real games to play. There's a not-so-hidden dungeon back at the start of the game you can enter late in the game, but who in their right mind would want more? I've never heard a reviewer say: ''The only thing this game needs is more monotony!'' Leave well enough alone. Beat it and then put it away.

I bet you thought this was going to be a nice review at first, didn't you? That's because I put the good at the top! The simple fact is that this game is only suitable as a showcase for the graphical potential of the Playstation 2. There is almost no game here. It's like having a lot of good sauce but no spaghetti. This game is a rental, but just barely. In a few months, when you see a copy of Eternal Ring in a Wal-Mart bargain bin, just let it lie.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/01, Updated 01/25/01