Learn Game Programming
DeVry's Game and Simulation Programming curriculum will prepare you for taking on various development roles in the game industry.
Game Art & Design Degree
Westwoods’s game art & design program will teach you everything you will need to know before you apply for a job in the game industry.
Before I begin this review I must go on with a very small rant about maturity.
Obviously you must know that Eternal Darkness is a “Mature” rated title. Well it just so happens that this game, along with one of my other favorites, Shadowman, is one of the most mature games I have ever played in my life. Now the word mature can be spread out so very, very far. Not only does the game show mature content such as gratuitous acts of violence, but the game’s story, plot, and ideas surrounding it are ones that can only be understood by a mature mind. This is something that is extremely hard to find in a videogame since many games today tend to try to be playable to “everyone” and thus many elements of a story and even gameplay must be toned down for a wider audience. That said, the game has struck a chord in me and has complimented the very essence of what it is to be a mature gamer. The reason I say this is because there was not one time in the game when I felt like I was being catered to or helped along or treated like an adolescent. It treats you like a mature person. And I wholeheartedly value that treatment from all the fellow employees at Silicon Knights and Nintendo. On with the review!
If you have read any other review of this game, I am going to try my absolute hardest to be unlike all those other reviews. Not being a professional writer or reporter (if that’s what you call video game reviewers) my thoughts are not changed over time from playing too many games, or from getting paid, but they are from the mind of a real gamer, (as are all of the reviews on this site) and this gamer will tell you that ED is an absolutely great game. Like all games, however, this one is not without its flaws, and I think I’ll delve right into those right away.
One of the biggest problems I have with ED is the enemies and the combat system. There are basically 6 types enemies in the entire game. You’ve got your skeleton zombies, your red, green, and blue zombies, your RGB trappers (little scorpion-like things), your RGB big giant scary I’m-gonna-kill-you-in-one-hit monsters called “Horrors”, and 3 more types which I won’t spoil for you. There is a reason why there are red, green and blue types of everything, but I’ll get to that later. Don’t worry about them killing you, because the enemies are really easy to kill. Even though the combat system is cool and all, and how you can “target” different body parts of the enemies (Using the analog stick which highlights them), there isn’t really any reason to target any other body part but the head. Chopping off the head basically renders your enemies useless as they goofily fondle the empty space where their head used to be (except the ones who’s head grows back). So while you play the game you find yourself constantly holding down R, pushing up on the analog stick, and hack-hack-hacking away. It was fun for the first, oh-8 hours or so, but when I look down the road and see that I’m going to be playing through the game 2 more times I roll my eyes and sigh. And since you have your nifty little Sanity meter you almost have to kill every enemy that you encounter. You may think it’s fun at first, but believe me--it gets old.
Well now that I have that out of the way I will get on with the other major qualm I have and that is sanity meter. “WHAT?!” You may ask? “But, but the sanity meter is the coolest thing EVER!” Ah yes, but not when you can start predicting some of the exact “sanity effects” that happen in the game. Now don’t worry I’m not going to mention one little tidbit at all because if you do know beforehand it really spoils the fun. But while I was playing I found the sanity meter really gimmicky. It’s a great idea, and don’t get me wrong, it is pulled off almost perfectly—there was one time where I<
