The survival-horror genre has been around ever since the Release of Resident Evil in 1996. Since then, many games trying to reenact the feeling that came from Resident Evil have been released. Most of these games made the genre look pretty bad for a while, while others like Silent Hill improved upon it. Most just use the same ideas that all the others before it have used, such as Dino Crisis. As soon as the Gamecube was announced by Nintendo, so were two survival-horror games. One being the remake of the best one known to date, Resident Evil, and the other one being Eternal Darkness. Eternal Darkness was supposed said to harvest all that there is about the Gamecube and use it in the game. Not only does it do this, it does it very well. Eternal Darkness is not only a survival-horror game filled with the same sort of ideas that can be seen in all other games in the genre, but it adds a lot of new ideas which makes the game very unique. It more or less puts the game into an action adventure as well as a survival-horror.
The gameplay is the features part of Eternal Darkness. Though it is a survival-horror, it adds a lot of objections to it. One of these being a ton of puzzles. Another unique idea that is used throughout the game is that the main character, Alexandra Roivas, uses readings that she finds throughout the house to figure out the mystery behind her grandfather's death. In this, as she reads the stories, she actually becomes the character in the story, allowing a player to 12 characters throughout the game. After a chapter is complete, something new is either known about the mansion in which Alexandra is in, or about what her grandfather was doing. Some of these chapters even take place at an earlier time in the household, while others take place very long ago. The goal throughout all of this is to unlock all the secrets that the mansion has to offer, to find out what happened to her grandfather.
While the chapters are an interesting aspect of the game, there are a lot of other things that make the gameplay so unique. While playing, there is a sanity meter on the side of the screen that goes up and down according to the different things that take place in the game. It goes down if a weird noise is heard, or if an enemy is seen, and rises if an enemy is killed. When it gets to a very low level, extremely odd things start happening to Alexandra, which really can freak out the player. Some of the events that occur may just shock the player, or maybe just make them sick. Even though, this is the most innovative feature that the game has to offer. The enemies in the game are very unique as well. Good technique must be used to defeat most of them, and sometimes it is even a puzzle to figure out. The gameplay is truly a gaming experience that should not be missed by anyone.
Resident Evil's graphics pushed the Gamecube to its limit. Though it had pre-rendered backgrounds, the graphics were very realistic and extremely pleasing, or horrifying to look at. Eternal Darkness has some very pretty graphics as well. Thought the character models are not as realistic as they could be, the game is given a fantasy feeling from that, which allows it to work. The environments throughout the game as in the stories are all unique to themselves. They are all set in a different time period which all has its own environment. Also, the graphical power is seen with what happens as the sanity meter is lowered. As it lowers, graphics are distorted, and it is very well done. Other graphics that are noteworthy are the lighting effects. The shadows and the light from the sun are quite amazing to look at.
The sound is a very important part of the game. Throughout the game, you can hear Alexandra talking to herself, or even all the characters used in the stories do the same thing. The environments also all have a sound of their own, and in some places, someone freaky talking can be heard. Actually, they are talking backwards. The sound effects in the game are also very good. When opening doors, not all of them have the same sound, and walking also has a unique sound for each character. The mansion itself has some creepy noises in it, and can cause some people to become a little wet in the pants.
The survival-horror has been revived in Eternal Darkness, which also feels like an adventure game as well. The game spans many hours of frustration for the player, but those who can take the abuse of the sanity meter will enjoy the game thoroughly. Eternal Darkness is a very unique game which is a breath of life to gamers looking for something new. Anyone who checks this game out will not be disappointed with it.
Create an Account
Member Login
