Born for Wii: Eternal Darkness (page 3)

The servants of the Ancients aren't particularly scary or hard to kill, but Eternal Darkness still boasts a fairly unique combat system. By holding down the R trigger on the GameCube controller, it's possible to target the arms, torso or head of any enemy. Did somebody say strategic dismemberment? Couple that with the fact that the variety of time periods results in a similar variety of weapons -- ultimately, the way you're killing zombies and other undead foes is largely up to you and will differ from chapter to chapter. To top it off, the surprisingly robust magic system allows you to (among other things) enchant weapons to dish out even more of a hurtin', whether you're wielding a Gladius or a shotgun.

Eternal Darkness was a great game when it came out, and it's a great game today. Still, after six years, the combat feels a bit sluggish -- there's ample variety and originality present, but the underlying attack animations and character controls aren't what they could be. Even when it was released in 2002, combat was the game's biggest weak point. The critical acclaim Eternal Darkness garnered wasn't enough to guarantee solid sales numbers, and being a Nintendo-published title, the game is a ripe, succulent contender for the upcoming Play on Wii series.

Introducing motion control for combat and slightly streamlining the menu system would definitely benefit Eternal Darkness and help the game feel a bit more hip to the now. For swords, swinging the Wii Remote in a particular direction while holding the Aim button could automatically target specific limbs -- swing the remote upwards for a decapitation, to either side for a limb shot, or straight ahead for a thrust at the heart. Similarly, when using guns or other ranged weaponry, tilting the Wii Remote could target those same body parts, and the A button would fire off a round.


Examining objects can become tedious in the GameCube version; allowing the Wii pointer to be controlled independently from character movement would make exploration slightly faster. The text boxes that pop up with descriptions of things in the environment are also needlessly small -- eliminating the requirement to scroll simply to read a short description would be one more easy fix.

Finally, the game could really use a quick save button. There are no dedicated save points, and any room free from danger is acceptable save territory, but accessing the menu and then tabbing to the correct page takes just a little longer than is really necessary.

Eternal Darkness deserves another shot at the spotlight for being one of the most original games of last generation; few products in the gaming industry can accurately claim to capture the genre of psychological horror. Silicon Knight's Denis Dyack has even stated that the developer is interested in returning to the mythos they developed for Eternal Darkness, and considering the response to Too Human, a return to the struggle between humanity and the Ancients might not be such a bad idea. Until that day comes, the legions of Wii gamers will stand there wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.

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