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Play ED and then tell me Nintendo only makes kiddy games.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Initially, I wasn't certain that I wanted to get Eternal Darkness. I got my Cube for Christmas last year along with Smash Brothers Melee and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. I'd heard a lot about Eternal Darkness but wasn't really sure if it was a game I'd want to own. I'd never been big on the whole Resident Evil gig, and my first thought was that ED was another RE clone. After buying both at a game exchange (though looking back I have no idea why I bothered with Resident Evil), I discovered that Eternal Darkness is anything but Resident Evil cloned. True, it has a few similarities, but a few is the key phrase. The story is far far better than RE's, and the gameplay is much more interesting.
The story starts out like your average murder mystery. A young woman receives news that her grandfather has been brutally murdered and travels to Rhode Island to get some answers. WHen the police investigation fails to yield anything, the woman, Alexandra Roivas by name, resolves to get the answers herself. While rummaging through Gramps' mansion, she finds a bestselling book called the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Believing the book to hold the answers she needs, Alexandra begins to read. And thus begins the adventure. Through the Tome, Alexandra experiences events in human history through the eyes and minds of eleven other characters, from a roman legionaire in 26 BC to a Gulf War firefighter. The game spans the last two-thousand years of human history and revolves around a race of beings who---well, I'd better not say anymore or I'll spoil it. Let's just say that with three possible paths to take, you'll want to come back several times to get the full scoop. Besides, there's a secret ending you'll want to unlock.
One of the things that sells the game is the innovative magick system (it's spelled that way in the game). Spells are made, not bought or learned. The game will explain all that as you play, so I won't go into it too much.
The other big selling point of the game is the Sanity system. Each time you get spotted by a monster, you will lose some sanity. This has the effect of altering your perceptions, at first in very subtle ways, then more and more noticeably as your sanity decreases. You'll start to see and hear things that range from disgusting to down right disturbing. The character isn't the only one who'll find themselves jumping at shadows either. Not always, but sometimes, the game will throw in an effect that will make you the player jump out of your skin. Nothing is really outright scary, but then again it wasn't meant to be, and that's what I like. Eternal Darkness works on you in a much more subtle way. So even though it's not a shocker like Resident Evil, it can be quite frightening in its own way. Just try playing it at night with the lights off when you're home alone. Another good thing about this game is that it should once and for all shut up those annoying people who keep saying Nintendo only makes kiddy games. Try saying it again after you've played Eternal Darkness when you're home alone at one o'clock in the morning with all the lights off.Trust me, you won't be so sure after you're done. Oh, and for any parents who read this, this is probably not a game you'd want to get for young children. Quite apart from the creepy way it plays on your perceptions, it contains a great deal of blood and violence. For everyone else though, if you're in for a good adventure that'll creep you out and be a pleasant change from the same old stuff out there, get Eternal Darkness. I found it to be well worth the money. And classical literature fans will recognize a lot of the material around which the game is based.

Most under rated game in modern day history

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Eternal Darkness for the gamecube is by far the most under rated game in the modern day.

When I first purchased the game, I thought it was a resident evil rip off. I was wrong! Eternal Darkness is by far more better than Resident Evil.

I gave eternal darkness a 5 star must buy game.

The storyline is just perfect and should make a movie out of it. The villian Pious Augustus is one bad cat. Great voice acting that grabs your attention.

Eternal Darkness ranks next to Metroid Prime as the best game on the Gamecube. ED actually gives Resident Evil a run for its money.

This game sometimes just gets plain weird, this is what makes it scary. Play this game 2 in the morning and turn off all the lights. Your in for a time of your life.

My hype-meter just exploded

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 28
Date: June 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Eternal Darkness is to M-rated games what Luigi's Mansion is to E-rated games: a big disappointment. It seems that Luigi's Mansion was created to demonstrate the Gamecube's graphic capabilities, as well as its new controller. Unfortunately, it wasn't very challenging or interesting. It seems that Eternal Darkness was created to help Nintendo shed its "kiddie image". Unfortunately, it also isn't very challenging or interesting.

Since there seem to be many, many reviews heaping praise on Eternal Darkness, this review will focus on those aspects of the game that one would either have to read between the lines or play the game to notice. To be fair, I have not finished the game, but I am already 9 hours into it. Some reviews I have read hint that the game gets more interesting after several hours of game play. On the benefit of that doubt, I decided to give the game 2 stars instead of 1.

Here are the biggest problems so far:

1) The puzzle-solving element of this game is insipid and insulting, considering the number of similar games that have come before it. So far, every puzzle has been lifted from Resident Evil (find a fake decoration, then replace the real one with the fake one so you can leave a room, etc.) Since Resident Evil on Gamecube is a remake, I guess it is allowed to rip off itself, but even RE's puzzles somehow seemed a lot more clever than ED's.

2) The enemies are uninteresting, unimaginative and almost featureless. I had hoped that game developers would have learned from Perfect Dark that injecting completely nondescript, ridiculous-looking enemies into the plot tends to hurt the gameplay, not help it. I guess they didn't. Resident Evil has just about every kind of scary creature you can think of, all in exacting detail: bees, dogs, spiders, snakes, sharks, zombies, mutants and big insectoids. ED's monster list is a lot shorter and a lot more boring, at least so far.

3) The background music is not effective. If you're going to tell a creepy horror story, atmospheric sound/music is very important. This game has some decent sound effects, but music has been almost nonexistent (or at least I didn't notice it).
In RE, mood music was also limited, but when it was used, it was very effective.

4) While the Eternal Darkness "storyline" spans many time periods, the gameplay is actually very forced and linear, so most of the interesting possibilities associated with an eon-spanning epic game are completely squandered. I guess Resident Evil was pretty linear too, but somehow it was more compelling. In ED it feels like "same stuff, different century".

5) ED's storyline is just typical occult mumbo jumbo intended to secure an M-rating. It doesn't tell a story as much as repeat a bunch of images and ideas: Ancients bad, gameplayer good. Or maybe Ancients good, gameplayer bad, I can't really tell. The cinema sequences in Spider-Man for Gamecube tell a much more coherent, interesting story and they're only based on a comic book, not some lofty notion of an epic fantasy horror game. Even Resident Evil's storyline makes a lot more sense and it's not exactly polished.

Some of the problems listed above have been mentioned in other reviews. But somehow they don't seem to add up to much in the other reviewers' estimations. To me, they make all the difference between a great game and a really disappointing game.

Sure, the graphics of the backgrounds and playable characters are very well done. Sure, the camera is very effective, frame rates are great and controls are good. But it all goes to waste if you feel like you're just trying to go through the motions to get to the next cinema scene. And you don't interact with cinema scenes. Yes, the insanity meter and its effect on the gameplay are clever and original, but that in itself is saying something. If it weren't for the insanity meter interfering with the regular gameplay (something most players will try to avoid anyway) the game would be even more boring!

I have made a lot of comparisons between Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness. I'm sure a lot of fans of ED would suggest that these are two very different types of game that don't warrant direct comparison, and that ED has larger aspirations.
That's probably true, but the comparisons are still necessary to explain why RE works and ED doesn't. Remember, these are supposed to be interactive GAMES. If I wanted JUST a fantasy horror story, I could find one in book or video form that makes a lot more sense for a lot less than [money].

I got suckered in by the hype (and the lack of good games for Gamecube), so I ran out and bought ED the day it came out. Big mistake. If you like hype and feel it necessary to own every M-rated game just so you don't have to feel like a "kiddie" when you play Gamecube, then by all means purchase Eternal Darkness. If you just want a scary game that is fun, get Resident Evil and pass on ED. (Oh and make sure to use alternate controller style C with RE, it makes the control a lot better).

Awesome!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'll try to make this not much more of a spoiler than what you would get from the back of the box. It's actually scary like a good horror movies. Unlike other "horror" games, like House of the Dead and Resident Evil, where a big boss will make you think, "Bring it on", ED will have you (and your character) cowering in fear. The game begins as Alexander Rovias investigates her mysterious grandfather's death. Through solving puzzle hidden in the creepy mansion, you are able to find chapters. Once Alex reads the chapters, the character comes to life and you must complete the mission. The backgrounds are spectacular and the characters are pretty well done, but wilt in comparison to the backgrounds. Little things, like how characters turn there heads to look at things and jitter as a torch crackles add a lot, which would explain the games three year development time. If you keep running, your character tires out and has to rest. If injured, your character moves slower. If you keep slashing your character tires. The game would be pretty much a boring hack-and-slash game from there, but thanks to the addition of the sanity meter, it makes it one to remember. As you encounter monsters your sanity drops, causing hallucinations. Losing the first bit, you'll see some very subtle visions, which I won't spoil for you. Then as it drops further, big things start happening, that were not only intended for the character, but also to make the player freaking scared. Just be ready for anything when you play, and just remember,"It's not real,it's not real,it's not real" No matter what happens.
Trying to find flaws in this game are hard. So far in my several hours of gameplay, I've only see about five different kinds of enemys. Attacking an enemy with a large sword in a narrow passage is difficult. I don't know why characters just bring it over their heads. Repeated slashing is hard because your character *sigh* realistically tires. Firing projectile weapons (guns) is difficult because the time for a character to reload. It's generally better to use a sword. The life and sanity meters are very small and *sigh* realistically short. If you die you better have saved because there's no mamby-pamby wimp checkpoint area.
With it's excellent story and sanity meter, it's The Game of the Summer for me, possibly year depending on how other titles work out. Excuse me, I need to go play.

The real Story Behind Eternal Darkness!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I got this game on June 25 from EB Games. Right when I got home I went right down to play it. In the begining it gives the storyline and gets you engaged. Then you solve a puzzle and start to play with Pious Agustus in the Roman times. With him you go through a warp and find yourself in a palace. You collect granite blocks face a boss and start to get the feel for the darkness. After him there are 11 more new characters the next one more exciting than the last. It has a unpredictable ending and is a great game. I hope you pick it up and experience the DARKNESS!

Presenttation-10.0
Graphics-9.6
Sound-10.0
Gameplay-9.8
Lasting Appeal-9.6
Overall Score-9.8

The Gamecube's most innovative title.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User

In a style more similar to "Onimusha" than "Resident Evil", "Eternal Darkness" is one of the Gamecube's most hyped game, and one gamers have been waiting forever for. I bought the game recently, and have been playing it almost non-stop. There are some pitfalls that gamers might encounter, but overall, it is a great game. Here is the breakdown:

Pros:

1. Details. I read somewhere that it took over 4 years to make this game, and you can see where the effort went. The various environments are very well detailed, and the animation is as fluid as they come. The sound and music add to the ambient atmosphere. Sometimes, the music is as insane as the visuals.

2. Originality. The story line in "Eternal Darkness" is unlike anything I have ever seen. The idea being that you play several different characters in various points in history is something new to me, and it gives a new spin on what would otherwise be a "Resident Evil" standard hack 'n' slash.

3. Gameplay. Whatever your skill with video games, this will give you a good challenge. In ED, you have not only to worry about you life meter, but your sanity meter. Throughout the game, your sanity wains the more enemies you cross. This alters your perception. This is an innovative twist. The controls are responsive and easy to grasp the first time playing. A fair warning: The action get pretty intense pretty fast, so be ready.

4. Replay value. With 11 chapters, spanning a good 15-20 hours, there is a lot of reasons to go back. Actions and choices you make early on change the direction of the game, so you are guaranteed something different each time.

Cons:

1. Frustration. Even seasoned "Resident Evil" fans might find the puzzled a bit frustrating at times. To be honest, I didn't even get to the first chapter until I read through the guide. The clues are as cryptic as the puzzles sometimes, so some parts might be unreasonably hard. Much of the gameplay is trial and error, so a guide is recommended.

2. The healing items don't recover much on the life meter, so sometimes recovering health is a tricky thing. This makes the game all the more hard.

As you guessed, I really enjoyed this game, despite some moments of frustration when I had to double-back to find something I didn't get. Will you like it? Fans who like the ultraviolence of "Resident Evil", the puzzle-solving elements of "Silent Hill", and the real time combat of "Devil May Cry" will love this game. Gamers who want something more strait-forward probably will not.

Creepy creepy creepy!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The title says it all.

I picked up this game because I had been hearing so much about it for so long. I figured what the hell, it was the first GameCube title with an M rating, I might as well check it out and show support..

I got more than I bargained for, more times than I care to express here have I literally jumped from a sound or something that happened in the game. I'll say this much, this game plays with your head, A ALOT. I don't want to say anything else for fear of ruining any plot points, but this game is outstanding. The cut scenes can be a bit fuzzy at times, but the depth of the game and the way it sweeps you up make this little quip barely noticeable.

A final thought, I am unable to make myself play this in the dark, especially if I am alone. That along is a mark of a great game.

The long awaited dream

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...since January of 2002 I have waited for this game and now that it is out I can not stop playing it is a heaven sent and is the best thing around. I love it to a point that borders on creepy. The graphics are stunning and ... the controls are easy. The dialog is a nice twist and different from all the other captionated sequences. I would recommend this game to everyone. It is gory and beautiful, the plot is thick and the game is long, I love it!

The Darkness Comes...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Eternal Darkness. You may recall hearing about this game a few years ago. Not surprising for this game has been in development for over 2 years. It started its life on the N64 and has since then moved to the GameCube. After the long wait, was it worth it? Simply put... YES! Some people may dub this as a Resident Evil clone. Sure, they both involve zombies and you fighting for your life, but that's about the only similarities.

One thing that seperates the two games is the controls. The controls in ED are simple and allow for an easy and enjoyable zombie killing experience. So you won't find yourself stumbling around with the controls just to stay alive. Also, there's a magick system which adds to the gameplay and the puzzles in the game. Something that ED introduces into the horror genre is the Sanity Meter. As you run into enemies and don't kill them off, your character becomes more and more insane. And when that happens, well, weird things start to happen. This sort of thing makes you sometimes question things in the game like "Is this some illusion or what?" Great feeling. ED sports some great graphics. They may not look as nice as the graphics seen in RE but they get the job done. The sound in this game is Grade A. For example, you may enter a room in this game and hear cyrstal clear whispers or footsteps. And the voice acting is great. Perhaps the best voice acting seen thus far in a game.

Overall, this is a great game for the GameCube. It is one heck of an enjoyable experience and will last the average gamer at least 15 hours of play time. Truly a great edition to anyones GameCube library. The Darkness Comes...

Amazing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

THE BEST OF THE BEST,ONLY IN ONE WORD: NINTENDO

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