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Alone in the Dark
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Eden Studios
Genre: Survival Horror (Adventure)
Release Date: June 23, 2008
Platforms: Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC
Reviewer: Eric
 In recent years survival horror games have been popping up on every major
console. If it isn’t the latest Resident Evil then it is a bug bashing game like
Bug Island on the Nintendo Wii. When Atari announced the latest game in the
Alone in the Dark franchise, simply known as Alone in the Dark, fans were
ecstatic. Is the granddaddy of survival horror games coming back to reclaim its
throne or is its visit going to be kept short?
Alone in the Dark was a scary game back when it came out on the PC. Over the
years new Alone in the Dark games would come out, scaring the same amount of
people as it did before. The latest game in the series might seem like the game
is getting back to its roots, but you can see right through it after an hour of
gameplay.
Set in New York’s Central Park, Alone in the Dark follows an investigator who
wakes up in a building that’s on fire. Unable to remember how he got there or
what’s going on, he heads off on what seems like an adventure of mystery.
Throughout the game you will meet new characters, but none of them can compare
to what you are use to from both the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. All
of the characters in Alone in the Dark are pretty forgettable; their presences
turn into busy work as you try to beat the game.
It is a real shame, but you will forget about the games plot fairly soon. Our
hero likes to swear like he was a thug. Now I don’t mind hearing bad words in
games, however when every other word is bad I tend to hit the mute button on my
remote. Not only that, how can you add in this kind of language to a survival
horror game, which has you fighting off demons?
 One part of the gameplay that really annoys me a lot is how you fight your foes.
Alone in the Dark has you using fire, in any shape or form, to kill your prey.
Resident Evil has you using a pretty big selection of weapons to fight off its
enemies. Hell even Silent Hill has a nice set of weapons. Alone in the Dark has
fire. Blow up a car, fire. Blowtorch, fire. A handgun with flammable liquid,
fire. There is one gun in this game and bullets are not enough to kill the
demons. Fire, it makes Alone in the Dark function in so many ways.
When you hear the word “puzzle” you tend to image moving objects or riddles.
Video games love to add in puzzles any more. Alone in the Dark does have its
fair share of puzzles, but the biggest puzzle of them all is trying to advance
in the game. Our hero can break down doors, without fire I should add. Half the
time this doesn’t seem to work, but you need to get through that door to
advance. No need to panic, just use some explosives. That doesn’t seem to work.
How about a different kind of explosives? Nope, didn’t work. Could the third
time be the charm? Yes, the third time was the charm. Why does explosive three
work and not the other two or smashing the door? It is a puzzle, which has to be
the only logical reason.
If you play your cards wrong then you may have a hard to moving forward in the
game. Every survival horror game now has some sort of storage where you can hold
numerous items. It turns out our hero can only put items in his stupid ass coat.
Oh it gets better, only certain items can go in certain sections of the coat.
How does this make sense? So you are telling me I can’t put certain items in my
pocket? Alone in the Dark makes no sense at all!
Can Alone in the Dark possibly get any worse? I hate to say it, but yes, it can
get worse. Moving around Central Park feels like a chore. Tell me, why would you
have a third person game (sometimes first person) use the right thumbstick to
attack? I felt drunk when I was playing this game and it doesn’t help that the
developers added in terrible car controls as well. All I have to say is take a
deep breath and attack, just make sure you have fire in some shape or form.
You know what makes this game great though? I can go into the selection screen
and skip to the very end of the game. I’m not shitting you; you can literally
skip to the very end. That should tell you something about the game. Honestly I
don’t see a purpose in this since Alone in the Dark has a Playstation era
ending.
Final Verdict
Alone in the Dark use to be a series to get excited over, but things have
changed. Once you play the new Alone in the Dark game, you will want to beg your
local store to give you your money back. Skip this game, if you have to play it
then just way for the price to drop to twenty dollars. I bet you anything that
price drop will happen within the next two months.
Rating
5 out of 10
Alone in the Dark Trailer
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