Alone in the Dark

Alone in the Dark

PLATFORM (PS3, Xbox 360, PS2, Wii)
PUBLISHER (Atari)
PRICE $50 - $60
ESRB RATING (M for Mature)
PLAYERS (1)

How much you like Alone in the Dark will depend on how much of a glutton for punishment you are. There was about 4 hours at the beginning of this game that I was in love with the game, but as the multitude of problems with the game began to stack up, I came to the realization that the game was simply too flawed to be considered a success.

You play as Edward Carnby. Edward is awoken in New York Cities Central Park at the start of the game to find a city in the grips of an apocalypse. Only Edward can save the city from an unspoken evil that has awoken after ages in hiding.

Sure, this is nothing terribly original here, other than maybe the setting. Still, I am enough of a horror aficionado that I was prepared for this game to deliver. The saddest part is that you can tell the development team really wanted to make an awesome game. It simply feels like they tried to implement too many ideas, to the detriment of almost every idea present.

The first idea that works only half way is the games use of fire. The developers wanted fire to be one of the main characters in the game. While fire is ever present and used in a number of ways, it is also used as a crutch for the game play. Most events in the game revolve around fire in some ways, and at times you are not give enough of the items you need to perform whatever task you have been asked to. This leads to a number of times of the player knowing what needs to be done, but wasting time searching for items rather than making forward progress.

The developers also wanted the game to let you transfer fluidly from first person view to third person view. The problem here is that some tasks can only be performed by using a certain view, and this leads to awkward moments where players will be trying to click over to the correct view while also trying to fight off approaching enemies. It ends up feeling rather cheap, and is the exact opposite of fluid.

The worst aspect of this game is the driving sequences, that are a boring exercise in trial and error that will have you dying and then restarting sections over and over until you happen to pass the level.

Alone in the Dark is not a complete loss, and I would love it if I could give the developers an A for effort. Sadly, while Alone in the Dark is an interesting game to play as an example of how not to make a game, it is far too frustrating and sloppy to be recommended as a purchase or rental for the casual fan.