Nintendo has released the first must-own game for the GameCube system – “Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem.” The survival horror game is the second mature-rated title released for the system.
Alexandra Rovias, a young college student, receives a call telling her that her grandfather has been horribly murdered. Unsatisfied with the way the police are progressing with the investigation, she decides to do some investigating of her own.
As she snoops about the Rovias mansion, she discovers a secret room. In it, on a desk full of her grandfather’s notes, Alex finds the “Tome of Eternal Darkness.” As she reads it, she discovers a threat to humanity that has existed for thousands of years.
Sounds like a lost Edgar Allen Poe story? Or maybe a new thriller starring Bruce Campbell? Nope, just the latest game from Nintendo and the developers Silicon Knights.
In “Eternal Darkness,” players control Alex as she wanders her grandfather’s mansion, seeking clues to his death. Whenever a chapter of the “Tome” is found and read, players switch to a new character, each of whom has already encountered the Tome.
Covering 2,000 years of history and spanning several locations across the globe, this game is thick with atmosphere. On the flip side, the complex plot may prove to be overly confusing to some.
Many have immediately compared the game with the previously released M-rated game “Resident Evil.”
The controls in “Eternal Darkness” are more fluid than “Resident Evil.” Simply push the analog stick and the character moves in that direction. The combat and spells systems are equally elegant in simplicity, letting players fight less with controls and more with zombies.
The one game-play feature that stands out as a new innovation is the Sanity Meter, which works like a health status bar for the character. Every time a player runs into a room full of enemies, the Sanity Meter will drop a percentage for every monster who notices them. Sanity is regained by finishing off the defeated foes.
When the Sanity Meter starts to dip too low, the screen will begin to tilt the view of the character, bugs will crawl across the monitor and the monitor will flash off, only to return with the character standing there screaming.
These are just samples of a multitude of tactics this game uses to frighten the player. Some of these effects are rather unnerving, especially when played at night with the lights turned low.
Get your friends together and save the admission price to “Halloween: Resurrection.”
