Silicon Knights’ 4 year long odyssey, Eternal Darkness: sanity’s Requiem (originally a N64 title) has now finally arrived upon an expectant Cube audience, with the promise of a gaming experience as far away as possible from Nintendo’s usual fare.
Spanning 2 millennia and introducing 12 playable characters, such is the games grandeur and enthusiasm you can almost see (and practically smell and taste) the blood sweat and tears that have gone into its lengthy production. Such is Silicon Knights scope; it is difficult to know where exactly to begin. Should we mention the superbly oppressive visuals or the fascinatingly disturbing soundtrack? Maybe we should indulge you with tales of the well thought out combat and spell system or the grotesque monsters and cinematic plot? Ok, calm your eager selves down grab a stiff whisky and well start from the beginning.
The crux of Eternal Darkness lies with the games main protagonist Alexandra Roivas, a feisty Buffy lookalike who has been called in the middle of the night to her Grandfathers stately mansion on Long Island. It seems that the old codgers been brutally slain and with the police coming up with no clue as to whats going on, it is down to Alex to solve the mysterious murder.
It is not long before Alex finds the book of Eternal Darkness and this is where the first of Silicon Knights masterstrokes come into play. A different character plays out each chapter (Alex must find missing pages of the book throughout the gloomy mansion between each of the games levels). While the first few chapters are very short, they perfectly build the games plot and introduce you to the many mechanics you will have to effectively utilize as you get further into this incredible experience.The imaginative combat system is a typical example of the thought that has gone into the games creation. Should a skeleton or the like amble towards you (and believe us youll meet many) holding down the R button will result in one of the creatures body parts being highlighted. So far so seen it all before, its the aftereffect of the creatures injuries that really impresses though. Shoot a limb off and your opponents chance to inflict damage is reduced by 25%, take the other one away and it drops to 50. Should you be really sick, you can simply blow the creatures head off. What follows is hilarious, the decapitated foe will stumble around the screen attacking all and sundry until you or his allies turn on him.
Constantly facing grotesque monsters and unholy imagery can have an effect on even the most hardiest of souls and Eternal Darkness uses a sanity meter to great effect. If you are subjected to attacks from monsters for too long, your sanity will begin to drop. Let it get to dangerous levels and all sorts of bizarre things will happen to you. Walls drip blood, statues follow your every move and the game will even appear to delete a file you have just saved (horrifying the first time that happens). While these effects add nothing to the game other than aesthetics, they are a lovely little touch and just go to show how much thought and attention Silicon Knights have shown to their dark infant.
The great thing about playing characters over an assortment of timelines means that there are plenty of different weapons to shoot, crush and generally disembowel your enemies with. Everything from duel scimitars to assault rifles are employed at certain parts of the game and all do impressive amounts of damage (especially when the action cuts to a lovely cinematic close-up).The games excellent, intuitive magic system is the final piece of a macabre jigsaw. Throughout your exploration you will come across an assortment of glyphs and runes that need to be collected. By combining these spells in different combinations you can summon creatures, heal yourself or send ot destructive waves of energy. One clever aspect is the fact that you cannot move while your magic is being cast, so not only do you have to keep an eye on your spell meter, you must also make sure nothing is around to disrupt you when your spell eventually goes off.
Being an arcade adventure you can expect to find plenty of puzzles through each of the 12 chapters, while initially simple (place gold necklace here, use this key there) they do get more complicated the deeper you get into the game. Fortunately however you are not at a loss for too long and never feel cheated by the sort of illogical puzzles that tend to crop up in other examples of the genre.Its the audio and visual quality that really sets Eternal Darkness apart from the usual day glo colours found on the Gamecube. Though some of the earlier levels (especially the wonderful cinematic cutscenes) show their N64 roots a little too blatantly, things soon get quickly rectified. The games 3 main areas are all superbly realised with strong texturing and some beautiful lighting effects. Character models are very good and animation is superb with each chapters character responding differently to the one before it. Although it is nowhere near the dark beauty of Resident Evil, it is able to generate an eerie atmosphere by having some breathtaking camera views and the aforementioned sanity meter (seeing you character fade in to nothingness or get ripped about by a dozen zombies is very disturbing).
To complement the gloomy graphics is an outstanding score that takes more than a few leafs out of Silent Hill 2s book. Chanting, moans, roars and terrifying screams all build together to create a chilling soundtrack that will have you on the edge of your seat. Voice acting throughout is superb, and again really gives the whole game an impressive cinematic feel (although this is not surprising when you realise many of the Metal Gear Solid 2 actors were involved).Overall Eternal Darkness: Sanitys Requiem is yet another essential purchase for cube-owners everywhere. There are many delights, shocks and thrills to be found in the 20 or so hours it takes to complete the game and ends with an especially intriguing boss encounter. When a game crams as much into it as Eternal Darkness has, it is bound to be subjected to a few niggles. Fortunately however, they are minor and in no way detract from the great playing experience that enfolds in front of you.
Nintendo may no longer have Rare in their stable, but the sleek thoroughbred that is Silicon Knights ensures they are still in the race. Who knows what they will turn their hands to next?
