ETERNAL DARKNESS: SANITY'S REQUIEM

Published by Nintendo Developed by Silicone Knights Gamecube only Single player only Priced from about £25 Buy the strategy guides from Amazon

This game has been around a little while now, and many of you will have heard of it or even played it by now. A number of you will have dismissed it out of hand as just another Lovecraft rip. By doing so, you are denying yourself a hell of a trip.

At long last, technology has caught up to a point at which Lovecraft's dark visions can start to be revealed to console gamers. The graphics in Eternal Darkness are not outstanding. They are not as sumptuous, for example, as those in the recent reworking of Resident Evil, a game that unjustly overshadowed Silicone Knights' offering when the two were released. However, while the graphics in Resident Evil were lovely to look at, the play area was incredibly restricted, the controls fiddly and very old fashioned, and the plot very 'this dimension'.

Eternal Darkness may not look as swish as Resident Evil, but it plays a damn sight better and will involve you from the beginning. This is in no small part down to the perfect use of the pro-logic surround sound. If you have even a basic system, Eternal Darkness will quickly surround you in a cunning, perfectly timed and executed symphony of silence and noise. The effects are never tacky, never overused, and are always significant.

Eternal Darkness gleefully celebrates its influences right from the beginning. In the main, the plot follows the efforts of one Alexandra Roivas as she attempts to unravel the truth behind her Grandfather's spectacularly messy death. Her investigations uncover the Truth, with a very capital 'T', and she finds herself caught up in an aeons-old battle against an unfathomably ancient evil that, of course, threatens to engulf us all.

Where Eternal Darkness immediately differs from all others of its ilk is in the way the story unfolds. Alex quickly discovers her Grandfather's secret study. Therin she finds a book called the Tome of Eternal Darkness. In this horrible book, deliciously resembling the Necronomicon, Alex finds stories from the past. The player adopts the persona of the main character in each chapter and plays through their story to the, usually gory, terrifying and futile, end.

As Alex explores the Tome, the mansion and her family history, the plot grows and twists through time - from the days of the Roman Empire right up to the Gulf War (I hesitate to say 'the first Gulf War'). Whoever wrote this knew their stuff and the game constantly surprises and shocks. Anyone with a modicum of Cthulhu knowledge will feel even greater degrees of creeping terror. For every point where the game threatens to become a monster bash, there are moments of mind-twisting shock.

Many's the time when you will pause before a door you've just got the key for, really and sincerely not wanting to open it. It won't be because you don't know what's behind the door. On the contrary - you will have a pretty good idea what might be, while also knowing that every time you've thought that in the past, the designers have been a step ahead.

Much has been made in the gaming press of Eternal Darkness' sanity effects. You see, as well as having the usual strength and magic points (I'll get to that in a bit) you also have a sanity meter. As that meter drops, when nasty creatures are about, the tilt of the screen changes, angles become. odd, and the sounds around you change. In itself, that is enough, but the game's designers go further. If your sanity drops too low, you and the character you play can fall victim to sanity effects. These run from basics like the walls dripping blood, to times when your character explodes when you use a spell only to suddenly reappear, intact, laughing like a loon. There are others, but I won't spoil it.

The sanity effects are a nice touch, but are an extra rather than an end in themselves. Your sanity can be topped up with spells or by finishing off opponents (you are taking control of the situation) before they dissolve away. The sanity effects kick in at their best when you're low on magic, health and options in a situation that spirals out of control. When that happens, you know it has been because you made the mistake. Pulling yourself and the character back from the brink is really satisfying.

While the sanity effects are an added extra, the magic system is essential. Using runes that you find during the game, spells can be created and fired off to achieve any number of results. There are recovery spells and attacks, defensive spells and those that reveal previously hidden things and creatures (a very mixed blessing). It's all wonderfully logical. Often, you can guess spells using the runes you have, and the game rewards such tinkering by giving you the resulting spells 'early' as it were.

The combat system is also handled well. For a start there are, where appropriate, often ways to simply run away from fights. Doing so will usually lead to a greater loss of sanity and the chance that you may have missed something somewhere, but it's nice to have the option. When you want to swing a gladius or fire an assault rifle, a touch of a shoulder button highlights your chosen opponent, and from there you can target specific body parts if you so desire. Take damage yourself and the your character starts to limp and to slow down. Physical recovery comes from use of magic. It all makes sense within the game, which makes for a nice change.

There's a lot to discover in the game, and Eternal Darkness rewards those players who go the extra mile with additional spells, items and even locations. The environments are flexible enough to allow for individual styles of play, while never being either obscure or too easy. There are even rewards for those who want to replay the whole game - complete it three times to view an alternate ending sequence.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is beautifully presented throughout. Nothing has been thrown in 'just because' and the atmosphere never breaks. Only once did I feel that it suffered from 'end-of-level-guardian' syndrome, but that moment passed quickly. Fans of horror gaming really should check this game out, if only for the innumerable ideas it will inevitably spark off. I haven't had this much fun being genuinely scared in a long time. There were moments in Eternal Darkness where I laughed out loud for all the right reasons. There was even a point, in the wee small hours, when I put the controller down - I just got too freaked.

This game is turning up in the trade-in stacks, so you've no excuse now. It should also be available to rent. Get out there and take up the struggle against the Eternal Darkness.

Score: 8.5/10