Alone in the Dark

Posted 4 years ago By - Brian Edey

Alone in the Dark (AitD) is an adventure survival horror game based on a new concept of telling the entire story in a television style episodic content that actually works very well in a video game setting. But this game suffers from a horrendous control scheme and this title becomes nothing more then an attempt to revitalize a classic adventure game and break new ground then what was potentially one of the most ambitious innovative titles in years.

Through each episode you guide your character through various locations, attempting to survive any numbers of horrors out to kill you while an evil menace is destroying part of New York and Central Park. Every episode ends with a cliff hanger and begins with a recap of what happened before in what will stand as a true cinematic gaming experience.


Gameplay
Frustrating. The best single word to describe Alone in the Dark’s gameplay and while the game is very ambitious and at times fun, the frustration becomes so strong and apparent you will end just wanting to quit the game and move on to something else.

Control wise I can not remember an Xbox 360 game that had a worse control set up then this one does and that is saying a lot. Even simple moving can and often does result in you becoming hung up on the environment, combat is so clunky and awful you hope you never have to fight and the innovative inventory system is such a bore you would take a basic GUI one over the full 3D one offered in the game.

Simple actions such as switching on and off a flashlight are keyed to the same button as your general action button so most of the time I was turning off or on my flashlight when I did not want to. Turning on a car’s headlights was a completely different button and in the end the controls feel almost random then planned. This is truly sad for a game such as Alone in the Dark, which had so much potential.

Driving the car was supposed to be amazing in the game that was developed by the company who made Test Drive Unlimited we would expect a great driving game, not what we got. When you drive you can easily over steer, but that is not the main problem, your car is so light everything knock you around and you end up getting killed so easily so often I ended up swearing at the game and TV.

Alone in the Dark’s gameplay is so bad it is actually shocking when compared to how good the graphics and audio is, this game needed a few more months to tweak the gameplay and if a patch was released it would become a worthwhile purchase.

The one good aspect to the game is how you can combine items together to make new items such as a rag and bottle of flammable liquid to make a Molotov cocktail. This system allows for a nice way to be creative and try new ways to defeat areas and monsters.


Graphics
Graphically Alone in the Dark is excellent in almost every way, which is a feat for such a cinematic game. The level design, effects and character models are all well done, especially with the lead characters that all have great facial characteristics you will easily recognize as the game progresses. But every male character in the game was hit from the ugly stick and most have the scars to prove it. Deep facial jagged scars are on the main characters and the older characters are so wrinkled they look like dried prunes. I am not sure if this was by choice or a mistake but wow, very ugly.

Level design in an action game like AitD is possibly the most difficult aspect to the graphics in the game because they must make the level interesting, have cinematic moments work for that level and puzzles must be fun and not overly difficult. Most of the levels are extremely well done with character of their own and when the game begins to destroy the levels the actual thought put into the level design becomes apparent.

Special effects and physics are extremely well done with nice particle effects such as fire growing in a realistic manner, fire extinguishers that put out fires as you would expect, billowing dust which is well done and many more. But the most interesting aspect to the game are the physics with specific physics for destruction and rope you will use and see often that add much to the actual gameplay such as swinging on a rope, more then a static scripted system would.


Audio
Amazingly well done audio, music and voice over work are all over the game from simple sound effects for items, to stirring and creepy music. I was very impressed by the voice over work at times it is well done, performed well and spoken with enough emotion at the right times to seem real.

The only negative I can give to the game audio wise is due to the repetitive nature of the audio as you are forced to listen to the same audio over and over again because the game auto-saves before long cut-scenes or before difficult gameplay sessions so you hear the same speeches or music several times over.

Value
As you play through the game it is annoying at time and at times aggravating, but once you see how the game works and work with the issues the game comes with (camera, controls, gameplay) it is enjoyable. High recommend rental.

Bottom Line
As a long time fan of the original Alone in the Dark game, I was waiting for this one and had high hopes, but this version of AitD does not live up to its potential but is still worth playing for adventure and survival horror fans. Hopefully a patch will be released to fix the control issues and a sequel will be released for this ambitious title.

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