PC game review: Alone in the Dark
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Review by: Alexander Smith
In 1992 Infogrames released a PC game that introduced us to the survival horror genre of computer games with the revolutionary game Alone In The Dark. It spawned many sequels and even a regrettable film version directed by Uwe Boll and starring Christian Slater.
Now in 2008, Atari have released their interpretation of the series. You play Edward Carnby; a man who wakes up with no recollection of who he is. You soon realise that you’re about to die until you’re ‘saved’ by a bizarre supernatural occurance. You start the game by fighting your way out of a burning building that is on the verge of collapsing and then you’re off to Central Park where the paranormal action really begins.
The game is rated as an 18+ and that’s exactly who should be playing it; not simply for the type of content but also for the level of difficulty this game offers. The graphics are excellent, the storyline is interesting enough and the puzzles involved are challenging without having overly obscure solutions.
The element I most liked about this game is the object physics, especially the doors – in traditional survival horror games most of the progression is geared at solving puzzles, finding keys and unlocking doors to progress; the obstacles in Alone In The Dark are a lot more freeform. For example, there are no traditional keys for doors; if you want to open a locked door you can knock it down, bash it in, set fire to it, attach explosives to it, even park your car next to the door and set fire to the fuel tank.
The only real issue I had with this game is the switching between third and first person; it tends to default to a third person point of view for almost everything although a first person view is more useful for most situations. Overall the game was good though and you’ll easily get 20-30 hours of play out of it.
Further information:
Infrograme‘s (Official UK site)
