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"Nintendo is pulling out
all the stops, in hopes to vanquish their kiddie
mentality. Eternal Darkness shoves the game down kiddie-critics
and gives GameCube owners something to cheer
about."
Intro
Right. You finally managed to sleep with lights off
again after beating Resident Evil. Don't get to
comfortable, because the next step in evolutionary
gaming is here. Silicon Knights has put some
serious time and effort in the developmental process of Eternal
Darkness, and it shows. While the game might not be
as aesthetically as impressive as Resident Evil, it is
sure to beat it on a deeper scale.
The initial game was planned for a release on the N64,
but thigh deep into the programming they ditched the
effort after watching the system go down in a ball of
flames. Resurrected, Silicon Knights revamped their work
and focused on a GameCube release. With this kind of a
game, it is good they didn't ditch the plan.
While Eternal Darkness is a hybrid of the
survival-horror game, it really does take the genre to a
new level. Die-hard fans of the genre be at ease though.
There are plenty of puzzles and button switches to make
any puzzler get puzzled, and enough action to appease
the most adventurous adventurer. Eternal Darkness
combines many aspects of similar games, yet the
influences are just that... influences. Eternal Darkness
is in a category all its own and should be respected as
a solid well-built title.
This can't be happening!
The most unforgettable factor in ED has to be the
overall experience that it gives you. Aside from
the smooth controls, the surrounding events always make
the game extremely memorable. Throughout the gameplay it
really tries to mess with your mind. One time about 20
hours into the game, my menu system popped up and confirmed
that my saved game was deleted. It looked so real, that
I was frantically hitting my controller. Events like
this really twist your thought process. At other times
you will see a realistic "volume display"
lowering and raising on their own accord. These events,
again, look so real that you at times lose what is real
and what isn't. The effect is great, but at times you
might get a bit aggravated as your character will
scream: This can't be happening! and then switch
back to "reality". A good example is this:
Your character opens a door. The screen switches and an
enemy appears totally annihilating you. You then switch
back to reality and open the door...
One of the biggest complaints of Resident Evil was the
quirky controls. Luckily Eternal Darkness is a breeze to
control and easy to master. The overall physics are
nice, and the button allocations are ideal for the game
style. The "twist" of ED is the semi-ingenious
targeting actions. Using a combination of your right
trigger button and your analog stick, you can target
different areas of an enemy’s body. This means you can
chop off the arms or head of a charging zombie. While
the effect is brilliant, I find myself opting for the
basic free-form attack with no targeting. The free form
is generally faster, but at times it is ineffective.
There are times where you must target an enemy;
such as the Horror, and focus on one point on their
bodies..
Since the combat system is so elementary, I expected
some glitches in the matrix, and I was right. The
biggest complaint of the game has to be fighting in
tight situations. Trapped in a small corridor with
enemies at both ends tends to be insanely frustrating.
Swinging your weapon, will hit the walls realistically
thus dulling your blow. While I appreciate the realism
and physics of the scenario, the developers should have
given the player the ability to lunge or thrust instead
of a mammoth swing. Aside from that, the gameplay is
truly classic old school. You will find yourself going
from point "A" to point "B" to
activate switch "C" and then back to point
"A" to place item "D" in slot
"E". You get the idea, and it does take a bit
of patience to deal with this type of old-school
gameplay.
Puzzles are scattered throughout the game, yet it
doesn't seem to hinder the fast paced action that the
game brings to the table. While no game can match the
puzzle-ness of a RE, Eternal Darkness does give it a
good shot. As fate has it, even the most novice gamer
could figure out the puzzles in this one. There is no
need for a guidebook here... The simplistic puzzles seem
to compliment the brilliant storyline and energetic
gameplay. Speaking of storyline, it is a fantastic one
at that. While I admit the initial story is fairly
stupid, ok really stupid; the games diversity and
playable characters bump this up to one thick plot.
Basically the silly plot is to find out who killed your
grandfather. 90% of the enjoyment of the game is the
story and reading anything into it would be like
stealing Christmas morning presents from you...
The game could easily be substantial enough as it was,
but Silicon Knights through yet another layer to its
already complex game. Magick. While the game is by no
means an RPG with limitless spells, it does provide some
unique aspects of a magic system that I grew to love.
There are only 12 spells within the game, but obtaining
them is a challenge in itself. The magick system is
centered on obtaining runes and codex's in order to
achieve the right spell. Trial and error in creating
spells can be done, but your better off searching for
the spell "ingredients". The spells range from
simply healing yourself to summoning monsters that work
for you. At other times you will find other spells such
as "enchant" that is crucial to the success of
your game. The magick system itself is quite nice, and
perfect for a console based system. You can either
trudge through your menu systems to cast the spell, or
you can quick-assign them to the digital keypad. This
comes in very handy for tight circumstances. However,
just make sure you don't assign larger spells, because
it takes too long to cast. Here's another hint for you
Darkness fans: After you acquire larger codex’s (5
and 7) go back and reconfigure your old spells.
Placing the "power" rune in empty slots will
make your 3 slotted spells much more effective and
powerful.
Lastly, the final link in the game is the
"sanity" meter. Similar to the health meter,
insanity is bad and when it goes up, bad things happen.
Each time you encounter an enemy your character flashes
and the insanity goes up. Depending on the character and
sanity amount also effects what takes place. A high
insanity level will produce visual effects and creepier
gameplay. The only way to lower your insanity, thus
increasing your sanity, is to "finish" the
enemy (a la Mortal Kombat). Once an enemy is
about to die, an option pops up to finish them. The
neat-o animation pulls off the final blow and your
sanity level decreases.
The game is good. Good and long. I've never played a
non-RPG that has lasted this long. The info claims the
game will give you about 50 hours of gameplay. The first
time around I did it in 43 hours (there is a time
value within the menus). I'm on my second time
through, and find it just as enjoyable. I mentioned
before that even fairly novice gamers can figure out the
game and no hint-book is needed. The balance between
puzzles and adventure is well-done and mad kudos to
Silicon Knights. Another problem that many other similar
games run into is the fairly linear gameplay. For the
most part the game is quite linear, but there are
multiple routes to get to the same goal. Since the game
spans through centuries of history, the concept of
collecting pages and actually playing a book is
mind numbing. You'll never get bored with the
transitions.
Feed me Seymour!
The visual effects are nothing less than perfect. While
the overall "wow" effect isn't quite the same
as it was in RE; the complexity is equally as
incredible. The fully active rendering shows how well a
game can be developed and solid at that. The animations
are super smooth, and the creepiness just oozes at the
seems. I mean the graphics aren't necessarily scary, but
it does provide moodiness like none other. Lighting
effects are nicely done, and the environments are finely
detailed. The game is generally all indoors, so we can't
get to see how well the Cube could have handled that
much work... But, I was impressed with the performance
and stability/framerate throughout the game.
Other notable visual impressions lay mostly around the
extra-gaming experiences. These include the
interactivity (or lack thereof) with the user.
These triggered events simulate "real" events
like your TV turning off and the screen going black,
really keeps you on your toes. Visuals also are
dependent on your sanity meter and objects can blur and
twist accordingly. Overall an impressive masterpiece.
In terms of audio, it is a mixed bag. The voice acting
is well done and crystal clear. With Dolby Surround II (glorified
stereo) the sound is quite good. The sound effects
are neatly packaged with some nice dynamic effects. On
the bad side, the soundtrack is fairly dry. At first the
tunes are memorable and dramatic, but simply loop far
too often. The same rendition throughout the level can
be somewhat of an annoyance if listened to closely.
Still, the audio portion of the game is solid and
enjoyable. While much of the eeriness is lost due to the
looping of the soundtrack, it still gets at least one
thumbs-up.
66 Says:
The question I asked myself after completing the game
was this: "Was the game worth four years of
development?". No way. It's not that
good. What it is, is a long journey and rewarding game
to play. It gets a solid four stars, but still is far
from perfect. What would make it a perfect game? I don't
know. The soundtrack needed work, but other than that
there is just something missing. I really can't put my
finger on it, but it lacks the gravitas that one would
expect after reading rave reviews.
Do I recommend this as a purchase? Without hesitation. A
rental wouldn't even skim the surface to be truthful. A
full purchase would be ideal, and should at least
entertain most gamers for scores of hours. I enjoyed the
game a ton, and will probably shelve it after the second
time through. I've read that there are numerous secrets
within the game, but never had the desire to research
any Easter eggs. I feel that Nintendo is still going in
the right direction and is basically rubbing games like
this in the face of kiddie-critics. A solid purchase.
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