When Final Fantasy VII made it's debut on the Play Station, video gamers everywhere realised that video games had then become a new medium for telling stories. Just as novels could never be translated properly into movies, so to the narrative of a video game remains distinctive and offers a story that can be told with originality and style. So Nintendo takes its first steps into a new genre with Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. Telling a two thousand year long story with second party developer Silicon Knights at the helm, famous for the Blood Omen series.
The story starts with an enigmatic monologue by the narrator Edward Roivas, and then we are thrust into the shoes of his grand daughter Alex. After a dream sequence where she is chased by zombies, she awakens to a phone call from an Inspector Legrasse from the Rhode Island Police who tells her there's been an "Accident with her grandfather."
A quick flight later, and Alex deals with the sight of her grandfathers mangled body, as well as an inept police force. Frustrated by the police, she takes it on herself to find the culprit and so unfolds, what is in my opinion, one of the best told stories in a video game, and for any other medium for that matter.
Dark magic, darker characters, and the now famous 'sanity meter' forge this delightful foray into the horror genre. The game is classified as a "survival horror", but this is a poor way to describe the game. More of a psychological thriller, the game isn't scared to try to mess with the players head, and mostly succeeds.
Borrowing from classic horror stories, we see numerous references to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Even the character Inspector Legrasse is named after the Police Inspector from The Call of Cthulhu, so it's no surprise that the game is brimming with eldritch terrors and ancient beings vying for the future of the planet.
The sanity meter itself is an ingenious device, sitting alongside the health and magic meters. When an enemy locks eyes with you, the meter drains. This varies between enemies. The lower the meter is, the more insane the character is. This causes a wide range of hallucinations, from a dismembered head reciting Shakespeare, to a message stating the control is unplugged when monsters are swamping you. This latter effect is one of the games most magnificent features, playing with the player's head.
GAMEPLAY- The game play mechanics are simple and solid. The stick is used to move around, A is to attack and B is for everything else. You can unleash a small combo using the A button repeatedly, or select body parts to hack at with a simple targeting system, though the selected limbs flash obtrusively. A major annoyance is that using horizontal attacks is useless in small areas, which the game is filled with, as the swords will always clash with the wall. Eventually you'll learn to aim at the heads of all enemies, this brings the blade down vertically and it's the weak spot of most of the enemies anyway. After you learn the magic spells though, you can assign spells to four 'quick spell' buttons, so you don't have to dig into your magic book for the spell you want over and over again.
GRAPHICS- When first playing, the graphics seem rather outdated. This isn't too surprising as the game was in production for a long time and was originally slated for a Nintendo 64 release. The models are clunky and the textures seem overly pixelated. But as the character is drawn more and more into the world, so too is the gamer. The larger rooms are impressively awe-inspiring as well as the imaginative sets. But the lighting effects are what make this game visually stunning. The spell casts are always a pleasure to watch. The camera angles are excellent, stylistically giving us a full view of what is going on, and never becoming obtrusive.
SOUND- The sound effects and music are top notch. Eternal Darkness has Dolby Surround capabilities, which really show off the extra touches. Echoing footsteps, insane whispers coming from behind you, and creepy music that reverberates throughout the house. It's horror as best as it comes.
An excellent and well-crafted game, with one of the finest stories ever told. This is the kind of game that game makers should inspire to make.
