Eternal Darkness
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The Games That I Couldn't Put Down

I had to pull myself away from Silicon Knight's ETERNAL DARKNESS to write this column. I'm obsessed, drawn in, addicted. It doesn't happen often with videogames... last time was the remake of RESIDENT EVIL, the time before that was FINAL FANTASY X, and GRAND THEFT AUTO III preceded that. In this week's edition, I'm going to take a trip down memory lane and remember some of the most addictive games I've ever played. So please make sure your lapbar is secure, seatbelt tightly fastened, and enjoy the ride.

Going back to my childhood days, I remember the first three MARIO games each had a tight grip. Tons of levels, addictive gameplay, and they featured MARIO. I played through the original MARIO BROS. probably more than any other game that I've played. Also back in the NES days was the awesome TETRIS from Tengen. It was an illegal game that had the first two-player TETRIS... I didn't take that game out of the original NES for quite some time.

Another couple of big games were FINAL FANTASY and STARTROPICS. FINAL FANTASY is a given, as it was such a massive game that had a hold on me for quite some time. Not as many people played STARTROPICS, but it was a game I would continue to play even after beating it several times (unfortunately the sequel lost some of the magic... I'm still waiting for an update to the classic game).

Moving onto the wonderful 16-bit age... I have to say I was more of a spectator here. I played some games, but not nearly to the point as in other generations. Nevertheless, SUPER MARIO RPG was one of the most addictive games during that time, along with the great turn-based strategy game for the Genesis that I believe was called LIONHEART. I honestly can't remember the name, but it was an awesome game. Otherwise, DONKEY KONG COUNTRY made a giant impact and immediately sucked me in.

Most importantly from that era of gaming was FINAL FANTASY VI (III in the U.S.). It is, in my mind, one of the finest videogames ever made. The fantastic story, music, and deep gameplay kept me busy for hours, and I've played through it many times, even though it takes quite a few hours. It's still one of my favorite games to this day.

The 32/64-bit age rolled in, and some incredible titles hit. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME, MARIO 64, and GOLDENEYE OO7 hit for the N64. FINAL FANTASY VII, TWISTED METAL and FINAL FANTASY TACTICS for the PlayStation. And heck, even DRAGON FORCE for Sega's Saturn made a giant impression as well.

One game towards the end of the age made perhaps the biggest impression, although perhaps it was because of the lateness of the game. That game was CONKER'S BAD FUR DAY. If any videogame needs to become a movie, it's this one. Hilarious, innovative, and a hell of a lot of fun, CONKER kept me glued to my N64 one last time.

AMERICA'S ARMY: SOLDIERS

© 2002 U.S. Army

And now to the current age. The PlayStation 2 has had some great titles that have kept me playing far past my bedtime. ICO, TWISTED METAL: BLACK (ask contributor Dan Weiland about our late night sessions of TMB), FINAL FANTASY X, GRAND THEFT AUTO III, JAK AND DAXTER, and most recently, THE MARK OF KRI, have kept me playing. Meanwhile the GameCube has held my interest with SUPER SMASH BROS. MELEE, ROGUE LEADER, SEGA SOCCER SLAM, RESIDENT EVIL, and now ETERNAL DARKNESS. The Xbox? Don't even own one yet. HALO, JET SET RADIO FUTURE and RALLISPORT CHALLENGE are the games I've enjoyed the most though.

Thank you for riding James' Memory Express... please exit to the right of the vehicle and do not stand until it has come to a complete stop.

TIDBITS

The Xbox 2 is said to be in the works for a probable 2006 release... Microsoft has signed an agreement with THQ to bring games to the Game Boy Advance... BAM Entertainment has acquired the rights to CARMEN SANDIEGO and will be releasing new games based on the franchise... Microsoft will lose approximately $750 million this year, and $1.1 billion next year due to costs involving the production of the Xbox hardware... The U.S. Army will release the first-person shooter aspect of AMERICA'S ARMY on July 4^th... Capcom will sell the ports of future RESIDENT EVIL titles for GameCube at the discount price of $19.99; however, no additions will be made... Nintendo has released a new memory card with 251 blocks of memory for the price of $19.99 while the current 59 block memory card has been reduced in price to $9.99.

ON SHELVES

AMERICA'S ARMY for PC wins this week.

Resident Evil for GameCube, how is this not intense?

© 2001 Capcom

Gamers' Thumb is our weekly Videogame column.