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If you own one game, own this!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As a devout gamecuber (if I can call myself that) I've found most of the games released for the system in quarters 1 and 2 very, well, kiddy. Nintendo succesfully ended the streak with Resident Evil, featuring amazing graphics and long gameplay hours (if you are getting used to controls), but really, like all RE games, had impossibly [poor] puzzles. Also if you played it for playstation then you get bored quick. I didn't, and never have owned a playstation, or played Re, and i feel i threw away 50 bucks on a dumb graphic fueled game. Well all of RE's shortcomings were made up by Nintendo's exclusive title Eternal Darkness. While the graphics really aren't as good as RE, the gameply is, think of the largest number you know, that many times better. Really I shouldn't compare the two games because RE pales in comparison in every area but graphics, plus the two games are completely different. While RE features a feckless storyline, Eternal Darkness features the best storyline, well, I think maybe ever. This amazing storyline tells an original myth where you can take three seperate paths for the three different gods. The story spans 2,000 years and 13 characters. I'd also like to say that the graphics are nicely detailed in the worlds that surround, but character graphics are a little jagged. The controls are impeccable, where you can target body parts, and the magic you can do could almost be a game in itself. The music is finely detailed and very well composed, although the main theme can get a little annoying. Although I beat the game on all htree modes in three days when i rented it, if you aren't a nerd like me you'd best just buy it because it is long (took me under 30 hours in all, but for most it'll be around 60). All in all this may just be the best game I've ever played. I hope this helped. All I can say now is: Buy it, Buy it NOW!

A Solid Game with Great Atmosphere

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: August 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If there's any game released to date to show that the Nintendo GameCube isn't just a kids' system, but that it can compete with games for the older crowd also, this is it. It has a rating of "M" from the ESRB, and it deserves it. The blood and gore aren't used excessively, either - they fit rit into the game, right into the plot, and even without them, the game would still likely be an "M".

The plot, while not extremely novel, is solid. Alexandra Roivas, having just had a nightmare, receives a call from the Rhode Island police, finding out her grandfather has had an "accident". When she arrives, she sees he's been killed - and in a rather gruesome manner. The police have no clues, and are unable to find out anything, so Alex takes it on herself to first explore her grandfather's mansion, in an attempting to help solve the murder. This begins her involvement in events that have been going on for over 2000 years, where she will learn more than she ever wanted.

The plot is executed with flair, and a rather unusual mechanic - as Alex reads chpaters in the Book of Eternal Darkness, which you find rather soon, she learns in a flash all of the relevant events that happened to the person the chapter is about. However, as the game can't simply put that same knowledge into your mind, you do the learning by actually controlling a character from the past, solving the puzzles, fighting the monsters, and learning what they learn. The manual shows six different characters in it - but you get control over many more than that - I won't give away the exact number. Each character builds on the previous one, and you'll learn more, and become more skilled, with each chapter.

The game play is rather straightforward - you have a third person view of the character you control, and the camera usually keeps focus on that person - though the angles occasionally make it hard to see, but this is not common. You can creep, allowing you to step silently, or run, but you only have so much stamina, requring you to eventually stop and catch your breath. Combat is simple, with a single attack button, and using a combo of a trigger and the joystick, you can target various parts of monsters. Interesting objects can be manipulated with the 'B' button, and the game almost always lets you know when something can be done.

After a little while into the game, your character learns to cast magic spells, and there's some nice mechanics there - three spell alignments, one for each of the three ancients in the game, and you have to learn how the alignments affect each other. You put together runes you find into combinations, some creating spells, others doing nothing. You can either experiment and find new spells, or wait until you're told about them from scrolls you find. They are visually impressive, also.

One of the fun features of the game is the sanity meter. Borrowed from games such as Call of Cthulhu, a role-playing game using H.P. Lovecraft's horror world, as you run into monsters, you lose a little sanity - after all, if you ran into a zombie in the real world, you would surely be affected by it, wouldn't you? As your sanity goes down, your character - and you - start to see and hear things differently from how they are. The screen starts to tilt at a funny angle, voices come out of nowhere, and other effects I won't mention will keep you guessing what is real and what isn't - and many of them are very creative.

The storyline and cutscenes are tied together well, and feature a nice change from other games - great voice acting and dialogue, not feeling as cheap, dirty, and forced as other games. You'll never be jolted out of the game by a horrid voice that sounds like it is reading off of a script. There aren't any big names among the voice actors, but that's not as important as the quality.

The graphics in the game are very nice - Silicon Knights made a smart move in waiting for the GameCube instead of releasing the game on the N64 - animation is smooth throughout the game, never once seeing any signs of slowdown or choppiness. The polygon count is plenty high enough that you don't usually pay attention to it, and the inclusion of colored lighting effects and reflection keep up the atmosphere just perfectly. The dynamic lighting falters in a few moments, but usually you're not paying much attention to it. The 3D environments are wonderfully created, allowing flawless camera movement while not feeling like a simple polygon environment - some areas have nicely detailed statues and decorations.

All in all, the game creates a wondefully horrific mood, with a dark story, dark scenes, creepy monsters, and great music that often makes things even more creepy. This is game that you can play during the day, in the light, if you're just interested in a good game. If you want the full horror experience, though, play at night, with all the lights off, the windows closed, other ambient noises turned off, and by yourself - if you want to be scared, this game is more than willing to do it. I had to stop quite a few times and turn on the lights for a few minutes to calm myself down after a few particularly creepy moments.

I only give the game a 4 instead of a 5, however, as there was room for improvement. The puzzles were interesting, but never truly challenging enough to really make me think. The linearity of the game more or less required easier puzzles so as not to get stuck in one spot too long. Also, while the game provided me over 15 hours of play, I could always use a longer game - though this is less of a problem and more of a wish - after all, 15 hours for [price] is already more entertainment for the cost than a number of movies, and I still have a couple replays for the other two ancients.

Overall, while not a system seller in itself, definately a must-have for most GameCube owners. However, parents, please be careful when considering this game for your kids - the 'M' rating is there for a reason, so make sure your kid can handle it before you get them the game.

New gnere of game, and I love it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

... Finally, I get my game, and I love it.
It's all worth the wait. ... , a Physcological thriller puts your mind to the test and has you questioning what is real and what isn't. You play as Alex Rovias, a family doomed because they have crossed with the Eternal Darkness, and it's now up to Alex to stop it, her own chapter begins. ... Controls are excellent and it fits the atmosphere of this type of game, you can actually select where you want to strike your enemy, so if you want to disarm the zombie you're up against no prob, just target, and slice. ... It even tests you as the player, I won't give any of them away since they are all surprising and is a pleasure to see how this type of game is done. Graphics won't blow you away, but they are pretty and very smooth, .... All in all, Eternal Darkness did what I wanted it to, please me and keep me occupied and want to go through the game more than once, I suggest a definate purchase for this title.

The Darkness Comes.......

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Eternal Darkness is the best gamecube game to date. For you people that might think this is a Resident Evil clone. You are way wrong. Yes some features of the game might be the same as Resident Evils features and yes it has zombies but these zombies are way different than the ones in RE. But this game has magick and really cool wepons. They range from a scramasax sword to a .38 revolver. The save feature is very easy to use. The graphics are drop dead gorgeous. Everything from the detail on a stained glass window the letters on a table. This game looks really amazing. Don't even get me started on the magick system. I'll tell you a little bit about it. Ok you can create your own spells and you discover spells along the way. You need three things to make a spell; a circle of power which let's you know the power of the spell, runes which are the codes you need for the spell and magick codexes which tell you what the runes are for. If you don't have the codex for a certain rune it remains a mystery. The gameplay is awesome. The puzzles are pretty hard. But you can figure most of them out without the strategy guide. The combat system is very well put together, plus the targeting system is really cool. You can cut off certain limbs of the enemies. The camera system is also very well put together. The camera doesn't get stuck behind walls or anything. It is lke a cinematic camera. It pans to where you walk or stand. I give this game a 10 out of 5. I definetly recommend this game.

An Excellent Game, Almost...Disturbing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is an excellent game made by the folks at Silicon Knights. In this game, you control 13 different characters throughout history. At first glance, it may occur to you to be very similiar to Resident Evil. It is similiar in some ways, but it is a different game that is mostly dissimiliar to RE, including a much better control scheme.

[SPOILER] This game does some crazy things that will mess with your mind. You have a sanity meter that goes up when you see zombies and run from them, but goes down when you defeat the zombies. As your sanity meter gets worse, subtle things will happen such as blood appearing on the walls and such. Eventually, the game does sneaky things that can freak you out if you are playing in the dark late at night. The game does things like simulates adjusting your TV's volume, and simulating resetting your gamecube by itself and messing with your memory card.[End Spoiler]

This game is the first truly "mature" game by Nintendo. It will totally dispell the rumors that Nintendo only makes "kiddie" games. This game has an "M" rating, but not because of crude humor, such as in Conker's Bad Fur Day, but because it is somewhat violent and gory, and also because the story is more serious and mature and might not be understood very well by a younger audience.

This game will make you very happy if you are at all interested to the "Survival Horror" genre of games.

You'd be insane NOT to play it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 25, 2002
Author: Amazon User

"Eternal Darkness:" The one game that has affected my very being. It has great gameplay, fantastic graphics, phenomenal sound effects... but the best time to play this is after midnight. With the lights out. With no one else in the room. You hear and see things in the game that make your character go mad... and what is most satisfying about this game, is how it affects you afterwards. You go to bed- "Was that a noise I just heard?" Fear overtakes your life... you literally start to go insane...

*cough* So yeah, anyway, this is a must-own game, for the one and only Gamecube. It's incredibly non-linear, which only makes the experience more exciting. The controls are swift and fast, the graphics are crisp and clean, the framerate is a constant 60fps, with no slowdown whatsoever, the story is unlike anything I've ever seen before, and the overall experience is just plain nauseating (in a good way). Go buy this game, before the darkness comes...

Very entertaining

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: August 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the must have games for the GCN.

Pros: The best part of this game is the wonderful story that lets you play as many different characters in several time periods. I do not want to spoil any of the story, so I will just say that it is a horror story with clear inspiration from Lovecraft.
While a the story is clearly horror, this game is not "survival horror", but pure action/adventure. However, with the horror theme, most comparisons are made with Resident Evil. The combat system and control are both much better than Resident Evil, allowing you to target the particular body part to attack. The environments and story are much more in depth than RE as well. It is also a much longer game than RE.

Cons: The game is long and rich, but also very easy. The puzzles are always too simple and there are no difficult boss battles. When I get involved with a game, I like to be challenged a little more. The puzzles and monsters in RE provide a much bigger challenge. Also, the story is very good, but also very linear. There is not much freedom to explore, you pretty much just go where they let you and solve the simple puzzles and kill everything.

Overall: While a little simple, this game is very entertaining, with some good replay value (you must beat it 3 times to get the best ending), and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes horror in general.

One Of The Most Original Games Ever

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

At 3:33 A.M., Alexandra Roivas, a student, receives a call, telling that something bad happened with her grandfather in Rhode Island. She was his only living relative. She takes a plane to the island, and she sees... Her grandfather is dead, in a real pool of blood. His head has been taken, but there were no hints about what could have done that. Alexandra decides to stay in Rhode Island, trying to find out what happened to her grandfather. But, to do that, she would have to fight against her sanity, and fight against the darkness, the Eternal Darkness.

- Graphics: There are some good graphics in this game. You can't compare them with games such as Resident Evil (for GameCube, also). But they're far from being bad graphics, trust me...
- Fun: It's fun because your adventures happen since before Christ, until 2000... You can use weapons of that particular time, clothes from that time... And there is a lot of violence in this game too. If you like cutting heads off with your sword, or if you like to explode guts, this game is for you. And it's really frightening... Another fun thing is the sanity. When you see a monster or whatever, your sanity drops, and if you let your character with less sanity, it will start to hear screams, babies crying, it will talk to itself, it will see bugs in the camera, blood in the walls and MANY other things. To recover your sanity, you can use magick (yes, it's magick, not magic...) or explode monster's guts, finishing it...
- Educative: There are some educative things because you travel through different centuries with many characters, so you (and your kids, if you let them) can see what weapons were used in that time, what clothes, how were the constructions... But there is also plenty of blood and violence.
- Durability: It is well-kept if you keep it at the package, don't worry.

Nintendo has finally done a mature game, with violence and blood. Be careful with your character's sanity while playing the game... And your own.

Well Researched, Challenging

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Eternal Darkness is the best game I have played in awhile. First the plot is good, it makes you want to play the game just to find out what is going to happen next. The game is challenging, the enemies are pretty hard to kill, and not only do you have a health meter to watch but a sanity meter, as well. This game gives you a variety of charcters to play as and allows you to live the storyline from each charcters perspective. This way it is hard to get bored or distracted. One thing also I must give credit for is the thought put into the plot of this game. You can tell that a lot of time was spent with the plot and it turned out really good.

A Gamecube Classic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I sold my Gamecube a number of years ago and always regretted it for a few reasons. This game is one of them. When I got the Nintendo Wii, I made sure to track this game down. It is just as entertaining as it was when I first played it. For fans of survival horror, I would definitely recommend it. I would also recommend this game to readers of H.P. Lovecraft as the theme of the game is most definitely in his style.

A great game, and a unique one at that. You will not be disappointed with this one.

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