Alone in the Dark

Because of my earlier comment you can tell that i didn't play through much of this game but the story is told in a pretty good and easy to understand sort of way which makes the games a pretty good narrative. When your playing through the game it feels like your almost playing through a book just for the way it feels. 

Now i can't tell you much about the story because 1) i don;t want to spoil it and 2) because i don't know much about it since i only played a good 30 minutes of the game and turned off my rig, turnned it back on the next day to find the game not work. As far as I could tell, you play as some guy that has apparently been hired to investigated some cause. This cause being cracks on the wall of building eating people and regurgitating them as evil zombies that can only be killed by fire.  There's your story. =] 

This is one of the areas in AITD that the game falls the hardest. I think this game by far has one of the most odd and worst gameplay schemes i have ever come across. Like Devil May Cry 4 on the PC  with a keyboard was weird but it worked. This just doesn't. Yes you still use your AWSD keys to move and you press TAB to switch between first and third person. When you're in first person it seems natural but you can't play the entire game that way because there are specific things you have to do in third person, for example: you pick up a fir extinguisher. In first person all you can do with it is use it to extinguish fires, but if you switch to third person you can use it to hit things and batter doors open. Also all of the athletics should be done in third person like swinging on ropes or jumping and hanging on ledges. However they can be done in first person its just really really hard. The TAB thing might seem good on paper but you might find it annoying to have to switch back and forth between the two.  

Another thing that's Really weird is the weird keys the have set to do things i mean come on... who in their right mind SETS A COMMAND on the Print screen key?!?! it's so weird i don't even remember what it does in the game!! i know it did something i just don't remember what which lead me exactly to my point that if you set these weird keys to commands no one's going to remember to use them. Although they have a little tutorial thing that pops-up during gameplay to reming you how to do stuff but that can get on the annoying side as well. 

Some good things about AITD's it's some of it's mechanics that actually work and make you feel happy that you are playing this game. I like the fact that you can use virtually anything as a weapon. and I mean anything: frying pans, fly sweaters, fire extinguishers, Katanas, chairs, stools, you name it. Though somethings seem really random like the Katana, I was fighting one of the zombie things and i was looking for a weapons since the chair i was using broke so i conveniently find a random Katana laying on the floor. Or of your in a museum and there are sword hanging on the walls, just shoot one down and pick it up to use it.  

You can also make weapons out of anything too. Like if you have a bottle of wine and a handkerchief, you can combine the two to make a bomb. or if you have a flammable fluid and bullets you can make fire bullets, and it's all from your inventory. Speaking of inventory, that's one of the other things that have potential but don't work. It's a cool concept to have the inventory on your jacket but you have to keep in mind that you're still in real time when your in your inventory. So you can't just make stuff anywhere. 

All in all I STRONGLY RECOMMEND USING A 360 GAMEPAD  (That is if you get the game to launch...)

I would of game this game a flat out 1 out 5 stars but this section saved it and earned it its whole 1.5 extra stars. This game does pack some serious punch in the Visuals department. Holy Crap, this game does look amazing, like its no Crysis but it still its a beauty to look at. If you have played a scary game and it has some dark environments... this takes the darks to a whole new level. The work Eden games have done on their engine is unbelievable. The outstanding work on the HDR lighting give the small rays of light peaking through cracks (normal cracks) in building look so bleak and so real that it just give you that whole real world feel. The work on the textures is also amazing, where i noticed it the most was on the very beginning when your laying on that bad, you can see the threads and lining and sticking in the fabric of the bed! ok i have to tell you if you that the small little details i n games are the thing that literally shakes my core. However, This geometric detail has sacrificed some of the water textures and reflections. Oh and don;'t even get me started on the fire... This is hands down the best fire i have ever seen in any game up to this date. I was going to put that Crysis has the best fires but i correct myself, Crysis has the best explosions, not fire. So if all else fails, stare at the fire. but be careful... fire spreads =]

The sounds and soundtrack here are also worth recognizing. all of the actions are detailed with a more that realistic sound and the orchestral scores in the main menu are just great and fit the game perfectly. If i haven't played Bioshock i would give this the best soundtrack in a game but Bioshock it ahead by... i'd say 2 levels. this sits at like a 8 and Bioshock is 10. 

Now on to why i knocked of the rest of the stars. The problems: ok as i said earlier i got this game for free pretty much, i got my key, I installed it normally and i went to launch the game, double clicked and black screen... Eden games window, and...."AITD has stopped working" i got this like 5 times before i went to the Atari forums which there i found out that the game is very driver picky. so i updated my sound driver and the game magically worked. I played the amount in which i have based this review on and turned off my rig for the night. The next day i booted up my rig and tried to launch the game and "AITD has stopped working" so after that i just quit. I guess if i had nothing to do and no other BETTER games THAT WORK to play and complete, i would get it to work. 

Overall this game is pretty bad. For the small amount of game time if got out if it. I enjoyed maybe 20% of it. the Story is somewhat well developed, The gameplay is horrid and not good, and i didn't even get to the driving mechanics which i have heard are pretty bad. There is not a lot going for it,. The game is Visually stunning but if you want a nice looking game get Crysis because it has good game mechanics that this game doesn't. If you have $50 to spend on a new game, don't spend them here.