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This thread has been linked to the game 'Eternal Darkness'.
Oh don't we know it. Nintendo and their second party developers are infamous for bringing us a plethora of games full of cute characters, joyous sound effects, bright and cheery environments and colourful soundtracks. From Nintendo's very own Super Mario series and the Hal developed Pokémon series, to the Kirby range and ex-second party developer Rareware's Banjo Kazooie series. Although I am not complaining as these were all quality titles, it is just great to see Nintendo, with the aid of Silicon Knights, have come up with something that's dark, atmospheric and full of horror enough to make me wonder what that bump in the night was!
So what is Eternal Darkness? Well, for the Playstation 2 fans or the X-box fans who wont touch a Nintendo game, not even with an extremely long stick used for pole vaulting and comedy 'accidents', because of the image surrounding Nintendo, Eternal Darkness is a horror/action game in which you have to link to the minds of people fron the past, telepathically, to save the world from a great evil that would devour the Earth and keep it in a state of (you guessed it) eternal darkness. There's not one single cutesy character in the game, and there isn't an ounce of Mario Kart 64's brightly coloured settings to ruin the atmosphere generated by the audiable and the visual in game.
Hang on a second! Eternal Darkness, being a horror/action and survival game, has been released just over a month after Capcom's Resident Evil series. Both games are set in mansions and they both focus on mutated humans. Have Nintendo made Eternal Darkness too similar to Resident Evil? Suprisingly, no. Eternal Darkness goes a completely different route from Resident Evil, adding a few elements from role playing games such as spells and wizardry as well as bringing in something entirely new in such a game. A sanity meter.
The sanity meter is basically a bar indicating your state of mind, much like a health bar most commonly seen in games such as Capcom Vs SNK 2, decresing as you get hurt. How the sanity meter works is simple. You see some kind of horror, a zombie, a demon, anything living and out of the ordinary, and you lose an ounce of sanity, but there is one way to gain it back, and that is to 'finish off' your foes by making sure they're dead once they're slain. Basically, cutting them up into thin slices of meat fit to be served in a sandwich. If you lose enough sanity, you'll begin to hallucinate. The camera's angles will go wonkey and strange things will begin to happen. I was very suprised to see my TV suddenly display 'mute' and the sound go off, only to find it turn back on just before I had enough time to reach my remote. Five minutes later, the volume bar on my TV went down, and back up again. It wasn't until I decided to test to make sure my TV's settings were ok that I realised that my TV displays those messages in cyan, not the lime green in which they displayed! It got me freaked though! Ofcourse, a character from mid millenia A.D. wouldn't even know what a television is, so obviously the sanity meter works to effect you as well as your character.
Resident Evil worked in such a different way though. Resident Evil was slow, enclosed and had very little music or sound effects, only when needed. And with the limited ammunition and the fear that a zombie could jump out at you and start taking chunks out of your pulsating neck, you would feel the adrenaline rush in a much different way. Eternal Darkness tries to play tricks with your mind, Resident Evil just tries to scare you out of it, and they're both as effective as each other, despite being so completely different.
I have to say I am more than just pleasantly suprised by what Silicon Knights and Nintendo have achieved. I really did think Eternal Darkness was going to be a spinoff of Resident Evil, but Nintendo's first 'mature' (if that's what you can call it) title, for a long, long time anyway, is a quality piece of gaming that I am proud to have as part of my ever growing collection of videogames. Nintendo for babies? I think not. Nintendo only produces 'kiddie' games? I think not. Nintendo have done something out of the ordinary, and in turn have brought us a game that is way out of the ordinary junk that hits the shelves. I like it.
So what is Eternal Darkness? Well, for the Playstation 2 fans or the X-box fans who wont touch a Nintendo game, not even with an extremely long stick used for pole vaulting and comedy 'accidents', because of the image surrounding Nintendo, Eternal Darkness is a horror/action game in which you have to link to the minds of people fron the past, telepathically, to save the world from a great evil that would devour the Earth and keep it in a state of (you guessed it) eternal darkness. There's not one single cutesy character in the game, and there isn't an ounce of Mario Kart 64's brightly coloured settings to ruin the atmosphere generated by the audiable and the visual in game.
Hang on a second! Eternal Darkness, being a horror/action and survival game, has been released just over a month after Capcom's Resident Evil series. Both games are set in mansions and they both focus on mutated humans. Have Nintendo made Eternal Darkness too similar to Resident Evil? Suprisingly, no. Eternal Darkness goes a completely different route from Resident Evil, adding a few elements from role playing games such as spells and wizardry as well as bringing in something entirely new in such a game. A sanity meter.
The sanity meter is basically a bar indicating your state of mind, much like a health bar most commonly seen in games such as Capcom Vs SNK 2, decresing as you get hurt. How the sanity meter works is simple. You see some kind of horror, a zombie, a demon, anything living and out of the ordinary, and you lose an ounce of sanity, but there is one way to gain it back, and that is to 'finish off' your foes by making sure they're dead once they're slain. Basically, cutting them up into thin slices of meat fit to be served in a sandwich. If you lose enough sanity, you'll begin to hallucinate. The camera's angles will go wonkey and strange things will begin to happen. I was very suprised to see my TV suddenly display 'mute' and the sound go off, only to find it turn back on just before I had enough time to reach my remote. Five minutes later, the volume bar on my TV went down, and back up again. It wasn't until I decided to test to make sure my TV's settings were ok that I realised that my TV displays those messages in cyan, not the lime green in which they displayed! It got me freaked though! Ofcourse, a character from mid millenia A.D. wouldn't even know what a television is, so obviously the sanity meter works to effect you as well as your character.
Resident Evil worked in such a different way though. Resident Evil was slow, enclosed and had very little music or sound effects, only when needed. And with the limited ammunition and the fear that a zombie could jump out at you and start taking chunks out of your pulsating neck, you would feel the adrenaline rush in a much different way. Eternal Darkness tries to play tricks with your mind, Resident Evil just tries to scare you out of it, and they're both as effective as each other, despite being so completely different.
I have to say I am more than just pleasantly suprised by what Silicon Knights and Nintendo have achieved. I really did think Eternal Darkness was going to be a spinoff of Resident Evil, but Nintendo's first 'mature' (if that's what you can call it) title, for a long, long time anyway, is a quality piece of gaming that I am proud to have as part of my ever growing collection of videogames. Nintendo for babies? I think not. Nintendo only produces 'kiddie' games? I think not. Nintendo have done something out of the ordinary, and in turn have brought us a game that is way out of the ordinary junk that hits the shelves. I like it.
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Oh don't we know it. Nintendo and their second party developers are infamous for bringing us a plethora of games full of cute characters, joyous sound effects, bright and cheery environments and colourful soundtracks. From Nintendo's very own Super Mario series and the Hal developed Pokémon series, to the Kirby range and ex-second party developer Rareware's Banjo Kazooie series. Although I am not complaining as these were all quality titles, it is just great to see Nintendo, with the aid of Silicon Knights, have come up with something that's dark, atmospheric and full of horror enough to make me wonder what that bump in the night was!
So what is Eternal Darkness? Well, for the Playstation 2 fans or the X-box fans who wont touch a Nintendo game, not even with an extremely long stick used for pole vaulting and comedy 'accidents', because of the image surrounding Nintendo, Eternal Darkness is a horror/action game in which you have to link to the minds of people fron the past, telepathically, to save the world from a great evil that would devour the Earth and keep it in a state of (you guessed it) eternal darkness. There's not one single cutesy character in the game, and there isn't an ounce of Mario Kart 64's brightly coloured settings to ruin the atmosphere generated by the audiable and the visual in game.
Hang on a second! Eternal Darkness, being a horror/action and survival game, has been released just over a month after Capcom's Resident Evil series. Both games are set in mansions and they both focus on mutated humans. Have Nintendo made Eternal Darkness too similar to Resident Evil? Suprisingly, no. Eternal Darkness goes a completely different route from Resident Evil, adding a few elements from role playing games such as spells and wizardry as well as bringing in something entirely new in such a game. A sanity meter.
The sanity meter is basically a bar indicating your state of mind, much like a health bar most commonly seen in games such as Capcom Vs SNK 2, decresing as you get hurt. How the sanity meter works is simple. You see some kind of horror, a zombie, a demon, anything living and out of the ordinary, and you lose an ounce of sanity, but there is one way to gain it back, and that is to 'finish off' your foes by making sure they're dead once they're slain. Basically, cutting them up into thin slices of meat fit to be served in a sandwich. If you lose enough sanity, you'll begin to hallucinate. The camera's angles will go wonkey and strange things will begin to happen. I was very suprised to see my TV suddenly display 'mute' and the sound go off, only to find it turn back on just before I had enough time to reach my remote. Five minutes later, the volume bar on my TV went down, and back up again. It wasn't until I decided to test to make sure my TV's settings were ok that I realised that my TV displays those messages in cyan, not the lime green in which they displayed! It got me freaked though! Ofcourse, a character from mid millenia A.D. wouldn't even know what a television is, so obviously the sanity meter works to effect you as well as your character.
Resident Evil worked in such a different way though. Resident Evil was slow, enclosed and had very little music or sound effects, only when needed. And with the limited ammunition and the fear that a zombie could jump out at you and start taking chunks out of your pulsating neck, you would feel the adrenaline rush in a much different way. Eternal Darkness tries to play tricks with your mind, Resident Evil just tries to scare you out of it, and they're both as effective as each other, despite being so completely different.
I have to say I am more than just pleasantly suprised by what Silicon Knights and Nintendo have achieved. I really did think Eternal Darkness was going to be a spinoff of Resident Evil, but Nintendo's first 'mature' (if that's what you can call it) title, for a long, long time anyway, is a quality piece of gaming that I am proud to have as part of my ever growing collection of videogames. Nintendo for babies? I think not. Nintendo only produces 'kiddie' games? I think not. Nintendo have done something out of the ordinary, and in turn have brought us a game that is way out of the ordinary junk that hits the shelves. I like it.
So what is Eternal Darkness? Well, for the Playstation 2 fans or the X-box fans who wont touch a Nintendo game, not even with an extremely long stick used for pole vaulting and comedy 'accidents', because of the image surrounding Nintendo, Eternal Darkness is a horror/action game in which you have to link to the minds of people fron the past, telepathically, to save the world from a great evil that would devour the Earth and keep it in a state of (you guessed it) eternal darkness. There's not one single cutesy character in the game, and there isn't an ounce of Mario Kart 64's brightly coloured settings to ruin the atmosphere generated by the audiable and the visual in game.
Hang on a second! Eternal Darkness, being a horror/action and survival game, has been released just over a month after Capcom's Resident Evil series. Both games are set in mansions and they both focus on mutated humans. Have Nintendo made Eternal Darkness too similar to Resident Evil? Suprisingly, no. Eternal Darkness goes a completely different route from Resident Evil, adding a few elements from role playing games such as spells and wizardry as well as bringing in something entirely new in such a game. A sanity meter.
The sanity meter is basically a bar indicating your state of mind, much like a health bar most commonly seen in games such as Capcom Vs SNK 2, decresing as you get hurt. How the sanity meter works is simple. You see some kind of horror, a zombie, a demon, anything living and out of the ordinary, and you lose an ounce of sanity, but there is one way to gain it back, and that is to 'finish off' your foes by making sure they're dead once they're slain. Basically, cutting them up into thin slices of meat fit to be served in a sandwich. If you lose enough sanity, you'll begin to hallucinate. The camera's angles will go wonkey and strange things will begin to happen. I was very suprised to see my TV suddenly display 'mute' and the sound go off, only to find it turn back on just before I had enough time to reach my remote. Five minutes later, the volume bar on my TV went down, and back up again. It wasn't until I decided to test to make sure my TV's settings were ok that I realised that my TV displays those messages in cyan, not the lime green in which they displayed! It got me freaked though! Ofcourse, a character from mid millenia A.D. wouldn't even know what a television is, so obviously the sanity meter works to effect you as well as your character.
Resident Evil worked in such a different way though. Resident Evil was slow, enclosed and had very little music or sound effects, only when needed. And with the limited ammunition and the fear that a zombie could jump out at you and start taking chunks out of your pulsating neck, you would feel the adrenaline rush in a much different way. Eternal Darkness tries to play tricks with your mind, Resident Evil just tries to scare you out of it, and they're both as effective as each other, despite being so completely different.
I have to say I am more than just pleasantly suprised by what Silicon Knights and Nintendo have achieved. I really did think Eternal Darkness was going to be a spinoff of Resident Evil, but Nintendo's first 'mature' (if that's what you can call it) title, for a long, long time anyway, is a quality piece of gaming that I am proud to have as part of my ever growing collection of videogames. Nintendo for babies? I think not. Nintendo only produces 'kiddie' games? I think not. Nintendo have done something out of the ordinary, and in turn have brought us a game that is way out of the ordinary junk that hits the shelves. I like it.
I think this is better than Resident Evil! I mean how many games do you know of where you can sever heads of enemies and then completely finnish them off when they are on the floor.
I always new this game would be good, but I didn't know it would be great!
I always new this game would be good, but I didn't know it would be great!
Yeah, other insanity effects are bugs crawling around on the TV screen, quicksand in certain rooms, and whenever you use a spell sometimes the top half of your body explodes. One I've heard of is that your head falls off an you can pick it up and start chanting words from Shakespeare's "Hamlet", "To be or not to be, that is the question..."
The visuals are also quite amazing too.
The visuals are also quite amazing too.
Interesting review Edgy :D.
So would you guys say it was essential, like Sunshine and StarFox?
So would you guys say it was essential, like Sunshine and StarFox?
Yeah, if you want at least one horror game in your collection. It's my first since 'Turok 2'
I'd say it's essentail.
Absolutley fantastic game. I'm only on Chapter 3 but I'm enjoying it immensly.
I hope theres a sequel, or another game along similar lines.
Although it's fantastic you can tell it was originally made for the N64.
Absolutley fantastic game. I'm only on Chapter 3 but I'm enjoying it immensly.
I hope theres a sequel, or another game along similar lines.
Although it's fantastic you can tell it was originally made for the N64.
It would be hard to make a sequal but I would gladl wait another 4 years for it!
Are the graphics fairly poor then?
Nope, nothing wrong with the graphics.
But most of the cutscenes use game graphics and the effects aren't quite as good as they should be. If it was made for originally for the Gamecube I would expect it to come on two disks and use FMV scenes instead. Then they would be absolutely incredible.
The fighting could be a bit better too, again, theres nothing wrong with it, but the way the characters move could be a bit smoother and more refined.
Still, there small things, just ignore what I said and buy it, it's brilliant.
But most of the cutscenes use game graphics and the effects aren't quite as good as they should be. If it was made for originally for the Gamecube I would expect it to come on two disks and use FMV scenes instead. Then they would be absolutely incredible.
The fighting could be a bit better too, again, theres nothing wrong with it, but the way the characters move could be a bit smoother and more refined.
Still, there small things, just ignore what I said and buy it, it's brilliant.
The the graphics are great! I mean just because they are proper 3d backgrounds and not pre-rendered like Resident Evil. They are still very good!
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