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Luckily for us gamers, the long wait for the game is actually worth it. Eternal Darkness features some of the most exhilarating graphical content, along with realistically stunning sound that will surely leave any gamer insane; if not already. Nevertheless, with great graphics and sound comes even greater game play. Game play mechanics that rule the competition and tower over games like Resident Evil.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem gives an amazing example of what a real action adventure game is meant to be; that’s if you’d call it an action adventure. The game is a mix between survival horror and action adventure, Silicon Knights says the game brings fourth a new genre, the psychological thriller, and in so many ways, it does. Eternal Darkness boasts one of the best storylines to ever hit a console. GameCube being the lucky one, has received a game that will be remembered forever as the psychological thriller that played the mind of the player.

The game focuses on an ancient evil known to mankind as the Ancients, an evil that since the dawn of time had ruled the world until that world began to change due to the merciless advances of ice and snow. The Ancients were forced to dive deep within the recesses of our world to escape the unfathomable conditions until the time came for their return. Throughout centuries, the Ancients have tried desperately to revive themselves for their return and not without the help of some secret organizations either.

These organizations or cults are determined to restore the evil for reason of dominance and the favor of the Ancients in hopes that they will be given rule and power. These cults have worked hard to bring the evil back through satanic rituals of blood and sacrifice as they have hidden behind fake identities, posing as priests and monks of religious qualities. This is where the Roivas family comes in. It has been destined upon the Roivas family to put an end to the evil using an ancient book made of human flesh and bone called “The Tome of Eternal Darkness”. The Ancients have been searching for the book and it is up to the Roivas family to keep the book safe from the dark clutches of the evil that awaits. The game bases itself upon the many generations of the Roivas family that come in contact with the book and have had to protect it from evil.

There are 12 playable characters throughout the game that have adventures that all take place at different time periods. A few of the characters include a Persian adventurer named Karim in 565 A.D., a medical doctor named Maximillian Roivas in 1760 A.D., and a journalist in World War I named Paul. Each story is reviewed and pieced together by a young woman by the name of Alexandria Roivas, the latest in the family’s bloodline.

When she finds that her grandfather has been murdered she makes her way to his mansion in search of clues to his death only to find that his death is just the beginning. The story that is Eternal Darkness will give gamers a thrill that cannot be found anywhere else. Gameplay - Aside from the in depth storyline that Eternal Darkness bestows upon excited gamers, the game features game play mechanics that blow away the competition.

The control in Eternal Darkness deserves mention as gamers have full control of their characters using the analog control stick, where pressing left will Automatically make your character move left instead of having to turn your character like in Resident Evil. This control allows for more simplistic escapes from enemies that have you cornered. The games control scheme is very well set and this makes for a faster learning curve, it should take about ten to twenty minutes the get the controls down to the very core. Each character within the game has its own specs, from weaponry, which relates to the specific time period to differences in health, sanity, and magic.

Gamers will find that with each character they play as they will have to grow accustomed to the Changes in that characters speed, strength, and endurance. While a younger character may move faster, and older character may be stronger. It all depends on your character’s position as a person and health. A priest may withstand the grips of insanity better than a medical doctor, who believes in the reality of science more than the mystical sense of spirits and evil. Getting to know each character only takes a few minutes and due to the large amount of playable characters, gamers will find that it supports an interesting game play experience, something not to be forgotten.

Cutting down zombies is what this game is best for. Eternal Darkness has an interesting enemy targeting system that allows the gamer to choose certain areas of the zombie they wish to slice off. Holding the R button will select an enemy and when you press left, right, or up on the control stick, your character will focus on either the arms, torso, or head.

When holding up on the control stick and R at the same time, you’ll be able to hack the head right off the zombie. Sometimes attacking the head isn’t always the best way to go, hacking off the arms will leave the zombie without a form of attack, once the head is gone and the arms are missing, hacking away at the torso comes easy as pie. When in situation where there are more than one zombie on your tale, selecting different enemies to attack is done by fully pressing the R button, releasing slightly, then pressing it down again.

This may come as a little difficult at first, but once you get the system down, you’ll find that it works to its full potential in so many good ways. The targeting systems can be used with any melee weapon, including shotguns and pistols, allowing for a more accurate shot. The magic system, known as magick in the game, is one of the most deep game play specs the game features, and due to the addition of magic, it allows for differences in puzzle solving that Resident Evil can’t match.

Within the games early beginning, you will be given a dominant alignment to choose out of three, these three alignments are named after the powers of the three ancient gods. Before a character is able to execute a magic spell, they will need The Tome of Eternal Darkness, a book that possesses the power to cast spells using special runes, which can only be understood and used properly when deciphered by codices. Within the book, you will be given a list of runes that you have collected and deciphered.

Gamers will be able to mix runes together with an alignment in order to create spells. Only when a spell scroll is collected can you determine the actual effect of the spell, however, a spell scroll isn’t needed to cast the spell entirely, you just won’t know what it will do. Throughout the game you will collect these runes, codices, and spell scrolls in order to use the magic to your advantage.

While the magic is used to protect you and damage enemies, it is also used to solve elaborate puzzles, some that come with clues as to how they are solved and some that are conquered by simple trial and error. Not only do you search for the ingredients for spells but you will also come across items, which are used to heighten the strength of each spell. These special items are called circles of power, they are the foundation for which a spell may be created. Each circle of power has a specific amount of points, which a rune can be placed.

The more points found within the circle, the larger and more powerful the spell you create will be. This aspect of Eternal Darkness is the foundation of which the game is built. Using magic to solve puzzles and destroy your foes won’t come as easy as it may sound, it takes practice to become a master of The Tome of Eternal Darkness. Each enemy in Eternal Darkness has their own alignment that can be recognized by the color in which that enemy shows. Whether it be a red, blue, or green zombie, each has its own weakness to which colored spell you use.

It’ll be up to you to find out which alignments affect each other. Casting spells isn’t as simple as it may seem, while casting a spell requires more thought than just performing the action. In order to cast a spell, your character must be standing still until the spell is cast or it will fizzle into nothing. So, when casting a spell, you must be aware of how much distance you have between yourself and the enemy or he may cause your spell to disappear if he gets you.

Also, when casting a three-point spell, it will cast faster than a seven-point spell. To make things a little easier, your able to assign certain spells to specific buttons on the controller for easier casting, instead of having to enter your menu in order to select the spell and cast it.

The most impressive part about Eternal Darkness is the sanity meter and its awesome effects. When your character comes across the rotting evils within the game, he/she loses a small amount of sanity. As your character loses sanity the effects of insanity start to take their toll, starting with slight hallucinations and voices to the horrifying drop into the depths of the human mind.

While seeing blood dripping from the walls is enough to startle you, things will really start to take effect. When hitting rock bottom on the sanity meter, it’ll be hard for even the gamer to realize what is real and what isn’t. This is what captivates the gamer most about the game, due to the fact that it not only features a great playing experience but it also plays with the players mind. Revealing the effects of the sanity meter are all to spoiling, find out for yourself what insanity is all about. The sanity meter doesn’t end there. Once you lose all of your sanity, you will begin to lose health every time you encounter an enemy.

Not to be afraid, losing your sanity isn’t as easy as it sounds, as you are able to regenerate it little by little by finishing off enemies or by using a sanity recharging item such as the priest’s meditation staff. However, not all characters have an item to recharge their sanity, using specific magic spells can help in this little dilemma.

As was told earlier, your character’s sanity depends on their experiences in life, where the priest is more powerful against the intense grip of insanity where a medical doctor isn’t. Gamers are put on the spot to prevent their character from dying of insanity. Nevertheless, going a little insane adds some spice to the gaming experience.

Graphics - Eternal Darkness supplies gamers with stunning graphics that only get better as the game progresses. Within the first few characters of the game the graphics are a little dull and boring, but with the dull look it does support the dark mystery that the story implements. Once you make your way into the stories of the further characters you’ll come to realize that the games is actually very well done graphically, it seems to improve upon itself as each level progresses. As the game was originally for the Nintendo 64 and was in development for a while using the systems graphics gamers were afraid that Eternal Darkness may not add up to the graphics potential of the GameCube.

Well, the games use of bump mapping multi textures and layering all give the game a very realistic look. However, at times some of the character animations are a little weird to look at but you get over it within the first hour into the game. One good thing about the character animations are the facial expressions and overall look. Each movement of the face is made to match the event that is occurring within each cut-scene.

Each movement of the mouth follows the voice pretty well and the facial movements look exceptionally real. This brings another point across. Each character is involved with the environment around them. While walking down a corridor your character will look around the room, evaluating their surroundings, thus, helping the gamer find items that the character shows interest in. This involvement with the world around the character helps add realism to the game, pulling the gamer into the storyline of each character with a more interested approach.

Aside from good animations, the character models within the game look fairly good and the enemies are well rendered. However, there is a lack of enemy variety. You’ll witness the same enemies for a large portion of the game, until later on when some of the more creepier manifests of evil make an appearance. Aside from lack of enemy variety, Eternal Darkness has a lot of very nice looking graphical additions such as volumetric lighting and fog.

The lighting in the game really adds to the atmosphere with shadows cast upon the walls and characters. When casting a spell your characters face will light up with color and the room will be lit with a blinding light. The volumetric fogging is well done as well, with fog that travels down steps and crevasses, emitting its eerie look. Even though fog doesn’t seem important, it does improve upon so many areas of the game where added fog makes for the perfect evil environment.

And the environments in general are very detailed. Books will be scattered about a room along with candles and tables. Even though the majority of the game takes place indoors, each room looks real enough to be true. Gamers will be pleased with the graphics, even if they take a while to get used to.

Sound - Back in the days of Atari sound was never considered the greatest part of a game, as only beeps were heard. Nowadays music plays a big part in a games overall production and can usually affect a gamers opinion about a game in a big way. Well, in Eternal darkness gamers will be absolutely pleased to find that the sound is absolutely perfect.

The game makes use of Dolby Prologic II allowing for amazing surround sound with perfect quality. Along with great channel separation comes great sound effects and music. >From the sound of your sword slicing through the flesh of a mindless zombie to the sound of a shotgun being fired, each sound effect sounds just like the real thing, that’s if you know what the sound of flesh being sliced sound like, don’t ask.

The music is another thing in the game. While sane the music is well suited to the area you’re in, so when playing as Karim in Persia you’ll hear music that gives the impression that your in that environment. Once your character starts to drop into insanity the music will begin to change and with such perfection that you hardly notice it.

You’ll start to hear voices and strange sounds while the music begins to echo and reverberate within your characters mind. One very horrifying sound effect that is added within the drifting music is the sound of a woman crying as the sound of a knife is clearly heard being sharpened. Suddenly, the woman starts to scream as the sound of a knife being sliced through meat is heard, if you’ve got a friend over expect to turn to him/her and say something like “he killed her, oh my god”.
Expect to be impressed with the games sound, because it doesn’t get much better than this.

Overall Value - Nintendo’s GameCube has finally received a true Nintendo M-rated game and this marks their first major step towards a more mature audience. Featuring some of the best graphics seen in a game to date, along with sound and a story line that will blow you away, Eternal Darkness is truthfully a must own game. As most games with an in depth story don’t usually have the greatest replay value, Eternal Darkness does. While beating the game once will leave you with the need to defeat it again by selecting a different alignment.

Gamers will have at least fifteen hours of playing time the first time through and an added ten to twelve hours for the next two times you beat the game. Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem, bringing the psychological thriller home to you.