This is one helluva game, gureenteed to scare you at least once, if not more. The opening sequence shows great detail of the Tome of Eternal Darkness and gives an erie opening to the beginning of the game. This book uncovers the mysteries of the main character's (Alexandra Roivas) grandfater's sudden and unknown death. His body is found by the police, completely torn up and the head is mysteriously missing. The police know nothing of what happened and have no clues. Seeing that the police will do nothing more to help her, Alex decides to solve the death of her father. And she's not leaving until she knows what happened....
Filled with FMV's that help to further explain the story in greater detail than just reading about it. This game will keep you on edge, I'm not one to jump at video games, but I admit that I did jump at one particular spot. There is alot of Resident Evil logic to this game, in that you need to think about alot of the items you have, and how you should use them. Thankfully, you don't have to check every item very carefully, the game automatically does this for you. This prevents you from sitting around saying "I made it this far, now where do I go?". Once you get a page that belongs to the book, you read it and are off again exploring more of the games storyline.
The storyline is based on a timeline of events that all connect together as you experience more and more of the game. You will be wondering what is coming next and where the storyline is going to. But you will never expect the outcome of what is to happen.
A favorite feature of mine is Nintendo's ingenious feature of the Sanity Meter. As you play the game, you will lose sanity, as you lose your sanity you will begin to... you guessed it, go insane. Is that statue following me? What the hell... the game just reset! All my hard work gone. Oh crap, I just sat on the remote, I can't hear what's going on. Damn, I unplugged my controller, quick, PLUG IT BACK IN! Those zombies are killing me! These are just a couple of the things you'll be saying as you lose your sanity, and your character blows up as you cast a healing spell. Nintendo was very mean when they added these features, but you'll learn to love everyone. Beware of unhittable enemies, and that aweful sinking feeling you'll get when you play this game, and make sure you don't turn into what you fear the most, a zombie.
Okay, now for the ratings. The sound is nice on this game, a rather unusual soundtrack but nice never-the-less. You will jump when they want you too, another nice feature. Sound effects are the key point to every game. You can play without music, but never without the gutwrenching sound of bones crunching, or hearing that sword stab your foe and blood splatter on the floor. Oh by the way, this game is NOT RECCOMMENDED FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES. If you get squemish at insects or blood and gore, this game probably isn't for you, otherwise, feast in the gore and blood. Graphics make this game, if it wasnt as dark in certain areas, you wouldn't be able to play this game. It would be too easy, and not as scary, because you never know what may hide in the shadows....
Replay value is always fun, if you want the full storyline, you need to beat this game three times, choosing a different path everytime. The first two paths are relatively the same, the third one is where the story comes together for the final time and makes the most sense. Everything unfolds, everything is revealed, everything makes sense....or does it? When you play this game, you want completion, not the end, keep that in mind (Laughs To Self).
I will never give a game a perfect 10 in any category unless I feel that it is God of that category. Too many people give high ratings without considering whether the game deserves it, or they are just really hyped about the game itself. If I give a 10 rating, it's because I can come back to the same game, years later, and still feel the same way.
Written by: Wolfe Masters
