Post by Dan-RN on Mar 19, 2004 20:20:31 GMT -5
Teh Reviews 2: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
NOTE: This game is fairly violent and in soem parts disturbing. I'm gonna touch on some of that stuff in this review, so viewer discretion is advised.
ANOTHER NOTE: The previous note was for NSider. Doubt it matters here.
I base my review off 5 criteria followed by my closing statements.
1. Story
2. Graphics
3. Gameplay
4. Sound and Music
5. Presentation
6. Closing Comments
1. Story
If there was ever a game that was focused on it's story, this is it. It has one of the best plots in all of gaming, and keeps you interested. You are Alexandra Roivas. The story starts with her having a dream where she shoots a bunch of zombies and then her ancestor, Maximillion Roivas, appears to her. She's woken from her dream by a phone call from detectives in Rhode Island, where her grandfather's body has been found in the family's ancestral home. Alex flies to Rhode Island and the detective shows her the body. The thing is, there's not much left. It looks like he's been mauled and ripped apart, but there's no sign of intrusion or anything. Alex decides to figure things out herself. So, the actual game begins two weeks later. You start out at the front door of the mansion and are left with a mission to solve the murder. Well, after finding most places locked or unuseful, you stumble across a secret passage in the library. In the secret room you find the "Tome of Eternal Darkness." When she starts to read the Tome she starts "possessing" the person that chapter talks about, and that character becomes the person you control. Anyway, turns out that old grampa Roivas was deep into occult mythology and stuff. The Tome talks of the Ancients, three god-like creatures embodying the forces of strength, wisdom, and sanity. Anyway, the story gets REALLY deep, and you really just have to see it for yourself.
2. Graphics
The only thing you can really say about the graphics is wow. Everything is very crisp and smooth. The cutscenes in particular are great, and the game even has some FMV scenes, though they are a bit blurry. The best one is in the final battle, and it looks aweshome. Anyway, everything works very smoothly and looks great. Sometimes a little too good, especially in the bathtub scene....
3. Gameplay
The game is kinda about exploring, though the path is linear. You still need to pay attention to your surroundings to pick up valuable items. You move with the control stick and use your weapon with A. The aiming system is great. You hold down R and the enemy's body flashes white on the part you're targeting. Press up on the stick to aim for the head, and left and right for the arms. The system works pretty well. The L button makes your character run, but different people have different stamina, so everyone feels different. The X button makes you crouch and walk slower and quiter, but you rarely use it. The Y button and D-pad are really useful - they're the quick spell buttons. You can map a spell to that button instead of going into the pause menu to use a spell. Anyway, the controls work great, but one of the big things is camera angles. Teh angle is always very cinematic. Sometimes it's high looking down at your character, other times you walk into it, not seeing what lies ahead. Anyway, in some of the sanity effects it can get kinda weird. Oh yeah, I havent' touched on the sanity effects yet. You have a sanity meter. When a monster sees you it's eyes (and body, to an extent), turn kinda green and you lose sanity. When the meter gets low, freaky stuff starts to happen. Some are minimal, like the camera turning sideways, but in some whole rooms turn upside down, you get dismembered by an invisible force, your memory card is erased, (not really, but it's EVAL), blood running down the wall, and even some freaky lights appear on the floor and then vanish. From what I've heard I didn't even get some of the worse ones. So, to the characters. You control 12 (I think) cahracters throughout the game. When Alex finds a chapter of the Tome in the mansion, she becomes that person and plays out their role in defeating the Ancients. She doesn't relaly "become" them, you control the character and she just kinda sits in the secret room reading about what happened. Some things don't make sense until you add it to things found in latter chapters, but in the end it weaves a great story.
4. Sound and Music
Man, the sound and music are some of the freakiest parts. It's always kinda low, but deep and brooding. The sound effects are nice, and some insanity effects play on it, such as: the music getting louder, sounds of people knocking on doors, phantom phone calls [freaky], and screams. Yeah, your character will even talk to themselves, though usually everyone uses the same phrases. Monster sounds are just groaning and stuff. The game's dialogue is all spoken, but the lip synching isn't that great and the volume can get kinda low, so be sure to flip on the subtitles. Overall it all works well, but my wonderful mono TV cheated me out of the Dolby Pro Logic II supported sound.
5. Presentation
The game stays on the story throughout, though the story doesn't make much, if any, sense until around chapters 7 & 8. Teh game stays pretty creepy throughout, though it's all just mind games. The game toys with your head. Half the time you know what's about to happen, but it freaks you out anyway, and that's one of the reasons I love this game. No matter if you like the genre or not, it keeps you going. The game ended up less bloody than I thought, but Pious even like, guts someone out towards the end. It gets brutal, but if you can make it through you'll enjoy this.
6. Closing Comments
I love this game. It's fun to play and control, and the story keeps you motivated. The game offers three paths, and each one offers a slightly different story, with the true ending at the end of your third play through. It can get kinda violent, but it isn't near as bloody as I expected. Anyway, this is one of the most quality titles on the GameCube, and also one of the most unique. In the future it is bound to be copied, but it is sheer excellence.
Graphics 10/10
Controls: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Fun Factor: 9.8/10
Replay Value: 9.8/10
Overall Score: [Not an average] 9.8/10
NOTE: This game is fairly violent and in soem parts disturbing. I'm gonna touch on some of that stuff in this review, so viewer discretion is advised.
ANOTHER NOTE: The previous note was for NSider. Doubt it matters here.
I base my review off 5 criteria followed by my closing statements.
1. Story
2. Graphics
3. Gameplay
4. Sound and Music
5. Presentation
6. Closing Comments
1. Story
If there was ever a game that was focused on it's story, this is it. It has one of the best plots in all of gaming, and keeps you interested. You are Alexandra Roivas. The story starts with her having a dream where she shoots a bunch of zombies and then her ancestor, Maximillion Roivas, appears to her. She's woken from her dream by a phone call from detectives in Rhode Island, where her grandfather's body has been found in the family's ancestral home. Alex flies to Rhode Island and the detective shows her the body. The thing is, there's not much left. It looks like he's been mauled and ripped apart, but there's no sign of intrusion or anything. Alex decides to figure things out herself. So, the actual game begins two weeks later. You start out at the front door of the mansion and are left with a mission to solve the murder. Well, after finding most places locked or unuseful, you stumble across a secret passage in the library. In the secret room you find the "Tome of Eternal Darkness." When she starts to read the Tome she starts "possessing" the person that chapter talks about, and that character becomes the person you control. Anyway, turns out that old grampa Roivas was deep into occult mythology and stuff. The Tome talks of the Ancients, three god-like creatures embodying the forces of strength, wisdom, and sanity. Anyway, the story gets REALLY deep, and you really just have to see it for yourself.
2. Graphics
The only thing you can really say about the graphics is wow. Everything is very crisp and smooth. The cutscenes in particular are great, and the game even has some FMV scenes, though they are a bit blurry. The best one is in the final battle, and it looks aweshome. Anyway, everything works very smoothly and looks great. Sometimes a little too good, especially in the bathtub scene....
3. Gameplay
The game is kinda about exploring, though the path is linear. You still need to pay attention to your surroundings to pick up valuable items. You move with the control stick and use your weapon with A. The aiming system is great. You hold down R and the enemy's body flashes white on the part you're targeting. Press up on the stick to aim for the head, and left and right for the arms. The system works pretty well. The L button makes your character run, but different people have different stamina, so everyone feels different. The X button makes you crouch and walk slower and quiter, but you rarely use it. The Y button and D-pad are really useful - they're the quick spell buttons. You can map a spell to that button instead of going into the pause menu to use a spell. Anyway, the controls work great, but one of the big things is camera angles. Teh angle is always very cinematic. Sometimes it's high looking down at your character, other times you walk into it, not seeing what lies ahead. Anyway, in some of the sanity effects it can get kinda weird. Oh yeah, I havent' touched on the sanity effects yet. You have a sanity meter. When a monster sees you it's eyes (and body, to an extent), turn kinda green and you lose sanity. When the meter gets low, freaky stuff starts to happen. Some are minimal, like the camera turning sideways, but in some whole rooms turn upside down, you get dismembered by an invisible force, your memory card is erased, (not really, but it's EVAL), blood running down the wall, and even some freaky lights appear on the floor and then vanish. From what I've heard I didn't even get some of the worse ones. So, to the characters. You control 12 (I think) cahracters throughout the game. When Alex finds a chapter of the Tome in the mansion, she becomes that person and plays out their role in defeating the Ancients. She doesn't relaly "become" them, you control the character and she just kinda sits in the secret room reading about what happened. Some things don't make sense until you add it to things found in latter chapters, but in the end it weaves a great story.
4. Sound and Music
Man, the sound and music are some of the freakiest parts. It's always kinda low, but deep and brooding. The sound effects are nice, and some insanity effects play on it, such as: the music getting louder, sounds of people knocking on doors, phantom phone calls [freaky], and screams. Yeah, your character will even talk to themselves, though usually everyone uses the same phrases. Monster sounds are just groaning and stuff. The game's dialogue is all spoken, but the lip synching isn't that great and the volume can get kinda low, so be sure to flip on the subtitles. Overall it all works well, but my wonderful mono TV cheated me out of the Dolby Pro Logic II supported sound.
5. Presentation
The game stays on the story throughout, though the story doesn't make much, if any, sense until around chapters 7 & 8. Teh game stays pretty creepy throughout, though it's all just mind games. The game toys with your head. Half the time you know what's about to happen, but it freaks you out anyway, and that's one of the reasons I love this game. No matter if you like the genre or not, it keeps you going. The game ended up less bloody than I thought, but Pious even like, guts someone out towards the end. It gets brutal, but if you can make it through you'll enjoy this.
6. Closing Comments
I love this game. It's fun to play and control, and the story keeps you motivated. The game offers three paths, and each one offers a slightly different story, with the true ending at the end of your third play through. It can get kinda violent, but it isn't near as bloody as I expected. Anyway, this is one of the most quality titles on the GameCube, and also one of the most unique. In the future it is bound to be copied, but it is sheer excellence.
Graphics 10/10
Controls: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Fun Factor: 9.8/10
Replay Value: 9.8/10
Overall Score: [Not an average] 9.8/10