''Eternity's Child'' (previously known as ''Angel's Eternity'') is a side-scrolling platform game based on a

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

created by

Luc Bernard Luc Bernard is a British game designer and artist best known for creating the video games '' Death Tales'', ''Eternity's Child'', ''Mecho Wars'', '' Desert Ashes'', '' Plague Road'', '' Pocket God vs Desert Ashes'' and '' SteamPirates''. He is ...

. It was released by Luc Bernard and Silver Sphere Studios on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

July 31, 2008.

Gameplay

The gameplay involves the player controlling two characters simultaneously. In the Wii version, one will be controlled with the analogue stick of the Nunchuk and the other with the pointer function of the Wii Remote.

Development

''Eternity's Child'' was initially developed for Xbox Live Arcade, and was one of the first games to be made with the XNA toolset. On September 9, 2007, it was revealed that it was changed to a retail

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

game as well as a downloadable WiiWare game. Because of the move to the Wii, the gameplay style of the XNA version has been changed in favor of one that takes advantage of the Wii Remote.

Alten8 Alten8 Ltd. was a British video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It produced both licensed retro games and current format video games, including the emulation code for Commodore 64, C64 titles on Nintendo's Virtual Console ser ...

are porting the original code, and adapting the game to

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

's standards for the Wii version, and hope that previous errors can be resolved.

Reception

''Eternity's Child'' was panned by gaming site ''Destructoid'' for "flawed design", "horrible animation" and "broken controls". In reviewing the game, which he gave a 1/10, Anthony Burch went so far as to say that it was "the worst game I've played in several years." Bernard responded to the review, calling it "highly unprofessional", and defended the title by stating that ''Destructoid'' did not play the patched version. Bernard has drawn further criticism after he decided to remove the ''Destructoid'' robot from the game in response to the review. The game was also panned by Mike Fahey of

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

for its "story, or lack thereof", two-character mechanic, poor AI, and somewhat chaotic level design. However, he also noted that its visual style and music are appealing, and that the included level editor was also an extra bonus, and stated that the game "does have a lot to offer for $5". He concluded that the game is "still very much a work in progress". ''Eternity's Child''s soundtrack was nominated on the GANG Awards for "Best Audio Other".

References

{{reflist 2008 video games Cancelled Nintendo DS games Platformers Video games developed in the United Kingdom WiiWare games Windows games Wii games Multiplayer and single-player video games