How bad could a game possibly be when it stars a talent like William Hootkins? I am here to say that it isn't bad at all. Many people have complained that they feel Nintendo's systems have been geared towards the lower age bracket of the gaming market for a while now. The Nintendo 64 certainly did not do much to shake that image. However, the Game Cube seems to be trying to grow up a little, with the coup of Capcom's Resident Evil series and now the Silicon Knights developed Eternal Darkness.

Silicon Knights should be very proud of the work they have done on this game. Eternal Darkness has been in development for a long time (it was originally being worked on for the N64) and their attention to detail on the overall gameplay experience shines through brilliantly. I originally wasn't all that excited about this title, mainly due to the severely unimpressive demo displayed at the Nintendo Cube Club which showed nothing to be excited about. While I can understand why they would not have wanted to show too much, this game would have been better served with a teaser trailer instead of what was there. Thankfully, the Cube Club experience wasn't widespread enough to tarnish too many gamers.

Even though the demo under whelmed, I did remain optimistic that the game could be at least worth a look for the promised unique features, such as the much talked about "Sanity" meter and century spanning storyline. Silicon Knights did deliver what they have been promising for a long time now. The game features a wonderfully developed story along with interesting play mechanics that really make this game stand out from the crowd. Eternal Darkness will surely also benefit from the timing of its release, which is smack in the middle of the summer gaming drought.

There are a lot of things to like about Eternal Darkness. For starters, let's talk about the story. The game features an "M" rating, and the story takes advantage of that freedom. It's not 'mature' in the way that your average hormonally supercharged teen feels that DoA3 is mature. The story is well thought out, taking advantage of using multiple characters throughout the ages as early as 26 B.C. till today. The characters face challenges that drive them to the edge of sanity and back again, all tying together as part of one complete epic battle against the forces of evil. I enjoyed pretty much all of the story, although I can see some people not caring about it since it deals with great big ancient evil entities and things of that sort. Many people like their games to be more believable, and this isn't it.

The second thing I really enjoyed about this game is how the levels are broken up. The use of multiple characters to tell the story really helps to fend off the boredom that a lot of people would face in a game such as this. Now, that isn't to say that every character is incredibly fleshed out and dynamic. In fact, many gamers might actually hate some of the characters in Eternal Darkness. I would argue that this is actually a good aspect of the game though. There's bound to be characters you really enjoy in this game, and with the number of them to be played, everyone is sure to win out.

The different characters all have their own unique differences but still fall into classic gaming stereotypes. You have smaller characters, like Ellia, who are nimble, while Dr. Maximillian Roivas is dumpy and slow. There are also differences in the different gauges that each character has. You will find some characters with stronger minds that have a higher Sanity meter or Magic meter, while their Health meter is noticeably smaller. Each character also has different levels of physical stamina, which comes into play when you need to run around or fight a lot. Sometimes, you just need stop and take a breather since your character will run out of breath.

Along with the different characters and their attributes, you will be treated to plenty of weapons and items to help you on your quest. Silicon Knights did an awesome job with mixing up the weaponry from different time periods. You basically have a choice between a few weapons in each level, consisting of at least one melee weapon, like a sword or mace, and one that will give you a ranged attack, such as a crossbow, .38 revolver and even an experimental military assault rifle. My favorite part about the projectile weaponry is the attention to detail when it comes to their use, especially when you reload them. For instance, when you are Alex Roivas using the .38, and you decide to reload before your ammo is all out, she will empty out the used bullet casings and only put in the needed amount of bullets. For whatever reason, I really got a kick out of it. It also does add to the strategy of the game, since you have to wait for the reloading animation to finish in order to fire again.

The locations in the game are semi-varied, mainly in three locations: Roivas Estate in Rhode Island, the temple in Persia and the Cathedral in France. Each of these locations are visited more than once, with changes made to the levels depending on how long it has been and what is currently happening in the area. For instance, when you first visit the Cathedral as Brother Paul Luther, it is fully functioning gothic cathedral. However, in the mission during WWI as Peter Jacob, it becomes a makeshift military hospital.

The gameplay and control in the game is perfect for the type of game Eternal Darkness is. It is not your run and gun blisteringly fast action game nor is it the slow lumbering of a survival horror game such as Resident Evil. And while I am on the topic, let me take this time to beg and plead the gaming press to stop calling this game a "survival horror" game, because that couldn't be farther from the truth. It's simply an action-adventure game. I'd accept "action-horror", "horror-adventure" or anything other than "survival horror". Never in the game was I in any danger of running out of ammo, nor did I have to carefully manage my inventory and, for the most part, you really have the overall advantage over most of the zombies.

Genre griping aside, the gameplay in Eternal Darkness works really well. The game features semi-fixed camera angles and the analog control stick controls your direction on the screen. Up is up, left is left, etc etc. Usually this would be a problem in most games but the camera changes in Eternal Darkness don't happen fast enough (nor do your characters move fast enough) to cause problems. The left trigger allows you to run while the X button makes him or her creep quietly through a room. The A button is for your main attack while the B button is a conditional control which opens doors, reloads an empty weapon, etc.

The magic system in the game is also really well done, featuring a rock/paper/scissors-type countering system as well as a way to build and upgrade new spells as you discover the spell building runes. The spells themselves are constructed in a really intuitive manner. For instance, one of the first spells you learn in an "Enchant Item" spell. To construct the spell, you choose an alignment color, then a 'verb' rune 'project' and then the rune for 'item'. It makes sense and allows you create some new spells before you actually find the scrolls that reveal the spell details as well as factoring into some of the game's puzzles. The magic is an integral part of the game since you need to use different spells to solve a great deal of puzzles, as well as the general help it can provide such as restoring sanity and health or enchanting weapons to give you a little extra attacking power.

The graphics in Eternal Darkness are a mixed bag. I'm sure most of the problems are directly related to the game starting out as an N64 title. The character models are the most noticeable. Some of the characters still have noticeable joint seams and drab textures. It is a mixed bag, however, since some are better than others. Generally, the backdrops in the game are the best part. Some of the texturing is really well done, but, like the characters, some are better than others. The lighting effects are also well done in the game, with the backgrounds and characters showing lighting from surrounding sources as well as light from magic (my personal favorite being the light from enchanted weapons.) The graphics in Eternal Darkness are not bad in any way shape or form, but they also aren't going to make people think it's the best looking game out there. There are made new techniques that aren't used in this game which would have made it look even better, however, it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the game in any real way.

It really is great to live in a generation of gaming where most games just look good anymore. I'd also like to commend Silicon Knights for their excellent use of fog in this title. Gone are the days when fog in video games was a cover-up for lousy draw distance or muddy textures. The volumetric fog in this game looks incredible and adds a lot to the creepy nature of some of the enemy encounters. For instance, when you fight a reaper, you will notice a magic colored fog looming on the floor, which dissipates when the reaper is killed. It's another nice touch that adds to the atmosphere of the game.

The real star of Eternal Darkness is the aural experience. The sound in Eternal Darkness is absolutely perfect. The soundtrack fits the mood perfectly and really sets you up to be freaked out at times. The rest of the game sounds are just simply amazing. The creature effects when they move and howl are chilling and sickening as you can hear the dripping zombie flesh. You can hear the skittering of the little trappers in the distance as you enter a room, tipping you off so that you carefully move around the room so that you don't piss them off. The sound is even more key during times when your sanity meter drops to lower levels, creating a lot of unnerving aural effects which should cause most people to feel very uncomfortable.

The second part of the audio that is so wonderful is the excellent voice acting that was put into this game. You may recognize a lot of the talent from their work in the incredible Legacy of Kain series. The voice work is completely top shelf. None of the lines are delivered in a cheesy way and none of them make you cringe from a horrid read. And for god's sake William Hootkins is in there as Maximillian Roivas! (Oh come on... William Hootkins? Porkins from Star Wars? Ekhardt from Batman? Munson from Flash Gordon!?!?) Kudos to Silicon Knights for hiring excellent people to handle the voice work. I can guarantee that this review would be completely different if the voice work sucked like the many games that unfortunately still subscribe to the theory that it doesn't matter.

This brings us to the next big star of the game, the insanity effects. While I'm not going to go into serious detail about the effects themselves (since most of the fun is discovering them for yourself), I will say that most of them are very well done. Some effects may make you laugh, some might make you want to smash your Game Cube, and others will make you jump out of your seat. The insanity meter itself is an excellent gameplay gimmick. Basically, when an enemy sees you or when you are hit with certain attacks, your sanity drops down. You can replenish your sanity in a few different ways. The way that is most fun is the finishing move, which you can perform on a downed opponent. However, sometimes you will need a little extra help from a spell or even a sanity-restoring item, which certain characters have. Every once in a while your sanity will drop to dangerous levels, which can then take from your health when you no longer have any sanity to loose.

In general, the sanity effects are an excellent feature in Eternal Darkness and you will most likely want to wander around a level when you are 'totally insane' just to see what can happen. The common signs of insanity are a skewed camera angle along with a disturbing aural track that begins to play which is truly unsettling. Many of the effects are directed against the in-game character, but every once in a while something happens to try and throw you, the gamer, a little off. Overall, it just adds tremendously to the fun of this title and I for one am really happy that Silicon Knights took their time with this title, making sure everything was ready the way they originally intended it to be.

Overall, Eternal Darkness is a wonderful surprise game. I didn't expect much from it and was incredibly surprised. The game does lend itself to multiple plays, since there is a choice branch early on in the game that affects events later in the game. The game also features a special ending for your efforts. Your first play through will most likely be around 15 hours or so if you are taking your time and enjoying the game. The difficulty level is on the easier side for the most part and shouldn't overly tax any gamer. I felt it was a decent challenge towards the later parts of the game. The puzzles come together naturally and make sense, which is nice compared to some games that basically are made to sell strategy guides. If you are just interested in blasting through the game for a single play through, you might want to consider just a rental. I personally feel this game has a bit more to offer, however the bottom line is that this game should be played.