Often overlooked games : Eternal Darkness

Welcome to the first of my looks at games that you really should have played, but might not have even heard of. Now I know there's lists and lists of these kind of games on the Internet but I'm going to try and do it with the following rules

1. The game must be available and affordable to buy. No being pretentious and going on about obscure Japanese / US only limited releases that cost hundreds of pounds on eBay (e.g. Mother 2: Earthbound).
2. The game should be accessible. No really obscure punishing hardcore games (e.g. Godhand, Killer 7).
3. Don't repeat information available elsewhere. If anyone wants to know history of the game, developer information, sales figures, that's what Wikipedia is for!

So basically I'm going to dilute it into my personal experiences with the game, a quick guide of whether it'll be your sort of game or not, and some links to help you find it.

So here goes. My first "Often overlooked game": Eternal Darkness.

I had successfully ignored Eternal Darkness for several years, despite not having a great collection of Gamecube games. Ironically I was mainly put-off by it's crashing price. I believe it was down to £9.99 new within a week or two, and eventually ended up selling for £2.99 new by the time I actually played it! This combined with a complete lack of marketing led me to dismiss it as a inferior Resident Evil knock-off.

I was an idiot.

Eventually a good friend of mine insisted I borrowed his copy and give it a shot. After it had gathered about 2 weeks worth of dust on my shelf, I finally got round to putting it in the console. I then proceeded to play through the entire thing in about 2 long sittings over a weekend, I had been completely hooked from start to finish.

Admittedly it's a very strange game and I can see a lot of people will initially be put off: the control system is a bit finicky; not much gets explained, at least near the beginning; and the regular switching between characters may leave people feeling a little disconnected from the game, but it does all start to come together quite quickly.

There's plenty of combat which luckily is plenty of fun once you get the hang of the controls. The customisable magic system is an interesting idea and in the latter half of the game it gives you a lot of flexibility. The killer hook for me though is the innovative "insanity" system. As well has the traditional health & magic bars, you have a sanity meter. Without spoiling too much when this drops down stuff gets VERY weird. It's the only game that's ever had me sprint over towards the TV in panic. ;)

If any of this interests you I highly recommend not reading anything else about the game. Eternal Darkness' best qualities are it's story and it's surprises. Reading anything about either of them will diminish your experience.

So if this sounds good to you then drop a tenner, get the Wii out, and give it a shot!

Get it if you:

• have a Wii gathering dust, and want to try something new.
• like "Survival Horror" games.
• enjoy games with great sprawling plot lines.
  
• love Being surprised.
• want to see a game trying something new.
• like H.P. Lovecraft .

Avoid it if you:

• must have the latest generation graphics.
  
• are a complete beginner to games (It can be slightly punishing in places).
• scare easily.
• like to stick with one character throughout a game.
  

Where to get it from:

• Plenty of copies going for less than a tenner on eBay.
• Have a look around the 2nd hand section in retail shops like Game & Gamestation. You might find it for a bargain price.
  
• Lots of copies on Amazon Marketplaces, again for less than a tenner.

NOTE:- like any Gamecube game, if you're going to want to play it on the Wii you want to buy a Gamecube controller. Luckily these are dirt cheap on eBay. :)