Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

             The GameCube may not be the most popular console that has ever been released, but I'm not going to deny how many great games I've played on the little purple box. In no specific order, my favorite games for the system are Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.  I'm still debating in my head if Metroid Prime or Eternal Darkness is number one, but that's for another time and place. What you need to know is that Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem is a gaming experience like no other, and anyone that has a console capable of playing GameCube titles that hasn't played this needs to do so.
 

Pros

- Mature, engrossing plotline that covers a period of over twenty centuries

- Almost perfect camera design gives everything a cinematic feel without sacrificing gameplay enjoyment

- Large range of weapons at the player’s disposal

- Combat system that gives players the ability to target specific points of an enemy’s body

- Magick system provides a surprising assortment of cool enchantments and spells

- Twelve playable characters that feel different enough to keep things interesting

- Insanity effects make gameplay even more unpredictable and will have players second-guessing everything while playing

- Among the GameCube’s best-looking titles; it still looks good today

- Nearly 60 hours of total playtime that includes branching paths

- Creepy sound effects that fit the moody atmosphere

- Intelligent puzzles that aren’t so simple that they don’t require thinking but not so complex or confusing that they feel cheap

- Amazing musical score

Cons

- Issues with collision detection

- Some of the insanity effects are either over-used or not as scary as they’re intended to be.

- Character models aren’t very detailed, especially when compared with the rest of the game

- Although it is very rare, players will occasionally encounter a less than ideal camera angle

- Eternal Darkness requires an investment; don’t expect instant pay-off.   

           Overall, Eternal Darkness is a masterpiece. It pushes the GameCube to the limit, and will undoubtedly go down in history as one of those titles that successfully did things no other game has done before or since. You owe it to yourself to play Eternal Darkness. It is like nothing else out there, and that's what makes it so unique and fantastic.