Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for GameCube Reviews by Gamers

Eternal Darkness was one of the Gamecube's early titles and it was greeted with great acclaim from both fans and critics. Sales, however, told a different story. Many people will dismiss this game as a Resident Evil clone but this is completely untrue.

In many ways Eternal Darkness is closer to an adventure game with some elements of a horror game. Awkward cameras and controls are non-existent in Eternal Darkness. You still have some of the same types of puzzles you may find in a Resident Evil game but combat is much faster and action oriented (it's no RE4 but it gets the job done) and controls make navigation much easier.

Production values are excellent in Eternal Darkness. Anything from the brilliant storyline to the excellent voice acting will leave you impressed. The game is full of tiny touches, such as a group of Roman soldiers early in the game speaking authentic Latin.

You will play as 12 characters over a 2000 year time span. These chararacters may range from a French journalist reporting WWI to a servant trying to save King Charlemagne from an assassination. While these characters may be hundreds of years apart, their stories will intertwine over the course of the game and all will play an important role in aiding the main character: Alex Roivas. I don't want to go into detail on the story but I will tell you that it is excellent, and in many instances actual history is made an important part of the game's story.

One final thing worth mentioning is the Insanity System. This separates Eternal Darkness from any game of it's kind. When a character sees an enemy or a disturbing image, his or her sanity will drain. As sanity will start to drain the camera will start to tilt, you will hear strange noises, but as your character really starts to slip you will see some freaky stuff that may even fool the player. It's really not a gimmick, it's awesome.

Really, Eternal Darkness is up there with Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4. Play it.