Many gamers had waited a long time for Eternal Darkness, from its first conception seen on the N64. Released on the Gamecube after many years of development time, Silicon Knights have created a unique experience that is a complete life sucker.

Video A - Too much caffeine

Not many developers in today’s market emphasise the narrative to create a story driven title, and this is part of the reason that makes Eternal Darkness such a compelling title to play. The game opens up with a strange intro sequence, with you playing the role of the lead character Alexandra Roivas. She’s woken in the middle of the night at the climax of a terrible nightmare by a horrific phone call from the police. This is where the story begins: Roivas arrives at her grandfather’s mansion to find him mutilated. With the investigator being accurately depicted as hopeless dimwit. The game begins with you as Roivas turning investigator, in the hope of discovering the truth about your grandfather’s death.

The game’s narrative and evolution all spawn from a fictional in-game book called ’The Tome Of Eternal Darkness’. Chapter by chapter, you’re introduced to new characters as the plot thickens to save humanity. Each mission is found and embarked upon by scouring around the Roivas mansion for the missing chapters, which have been hidden from you. Each chapter will take you to a different period in time and see you playing as a totally different character - one chapter may have you filling the sandals of a Roman Centurion and the next you could be in the cloistered garb of a monk. This creates a fresh experience every level as each chapter intrigues you even further as the game’s plot progresses.

Light switch?

Instantly from the outset of Eternal Darkness gamers will be impressed with Silicon Knights’ attempt to advance the genre, particularly as they’ve avoided the Resident Evil-style implementation of camera and control method. You move your character in a simple manner by moving the analogue stick in the direction you want to turn. Not the hardest of concepts to pick up on but it’s a breathe of fresh air after developers cloning the sluggish and irritating Resident Evil control scheme.

Not only have the developers gone for a totally different control scheme, the combat methods have been given a fresh lick of paint too. Holding the right shoulder button, you can isolate individual body parts to get a clean shot, or blow, in. The body part highlighting works very well for most of the game, although this control method has a negative side that becomes apparent when you’ve got to brawl with a number of enemies. It becomes very difficult to rapidly flick the shoulder button to target the correct enemy’s limb and, as a result, you will eventually get smacked in the face due to the sluggish targeting system.

I'll give you manuscripts!

The bulk of Eternal Darkness’s gameplay is based on simplistic puzzles and traps. I have to say, after all the refinement that the storyline, sound and graphics received, the core of the gameplay lets the title down. You’ll find yourself back-tracking from start to finish, in order to solve the basic puzzles that run ruin on the game. Numerous levels have the same reused mazes, which will eventually bore you silly. Furthermore, many gamers will find the game very restrictive due to its linearity, particularly as it’s a story-driven title. Luckily, this just serves to underline why Silicon Knights are to be congratulated on a compelling storyline; a storyline that forces you to complete every mission, just to watch the plot evolve.

Video B - Give him a big hand

The game’s main focal point is the insanity effect. As the game uses ordinary guys and gals, unlike many of our normal gaming heroes they’ll be scared to tears at the sight of, say, a shambling member of the undead. So, when your insanity meter drops, all many of strange things will happen as your mind begins to play tricks on you, from more subtle touches like the camera skewing, to hearing voices in your ’head’. Silicon Knights were a little over zealous, and many of the insanity effects will make you giggle instead of scaring you half to death like Resident Evil’s bumps in the night. Firstly the effects happen far to quickly: blink and you miss them. There’s no real suspense unless you’re really bad at the game and you’ve been forced to hear babies crying and the camera tilt for a while. Players will find that the insanity effects are too far fetched, such as your avatar’s body being split in half, randomly and this removes you slightly from the gameplay. For a few moments the game has you pondering ‘how did that just happen?’ You can’t help feeling that, if the insanity effects were a little more down to Earth, and the rate at which the effects occurred were more subtly paced, the game would genuinely become a terrifying experience.

Way too much caffeine

Eternal Darkness, for the most part, excels in the graphical department. Silicon Knights have made the game extremely atmospheric through the use of lighting effects. The lighting in this game is simply stunning; walking through the corridors in the ancient ruins with the torch is something special. The light hits the walls and an amazing glow occurs around your character, and his or her close surroundings. Another example of the stunning lighting effects is during spell castings or once an item has been enchanted - the areas on and around your character have a light source from the item, which stains the surrounding areas with the colour of your rune. Silicon Knights have done a special job with Eternal Darkness; it runs solidly and smoothly and never stutters for a second. The environments are brilliantly crafted, from the cathedral to the mansion itself, with crisp textures around every corner. The cut scenes look wonderful with realistically drawn character models that are believable that further compounds the brilliant atmosphere conveyed in this title.

To continue the trend of this high production title, the sound department doesn’t disappoint. It supports Dolby Pro Logic 2 for those are fortunate enough to play this back; every pin drop can be heard through the surround sound clearly, which adds to the genuinely ominous experience. The voice acting is second to none, with really impressive dialogue to match the effects. The musical score is to a high standard with fitting tracks for the various levels and environments. One thing that Silicon Knights didn’t do as well as the rest of the game are the samples used. The sound and level design departments at Silicon Knights were overzealous with their samples, and the spooky feel that they’re trying to achieve gets ruined with some overused effects. For example, running around the mansion you’ll hear loud banging on a door or walls. This makes you jump the first few times but after the hundredth time within thirty minutes it becomes all too normal and slightly mars the experience.

Too long on a sunbed

With a storyline that could have easily been taken from an award-winning novel, cut scenes that create a cinematic experience and a great twist on genre staples, Eternal Darkness is a must have for not only Gamecube owners but simply all gamers, everywhere. The gameplay might not push the boundaries, but it’s a stunningly well crafted experience that will have you on the edge of your seat.