Gaming Verdict - Article: Alone in the Dark

In 1992, Alone in the Dark got off on the right foot, with a frantic opening that required quick reactions to save yourself from being immediately dismembered by monsters. In 2008, Alone in the Dark begins with painful blurred vision and an introduction to the ‘blink button’… After a linear beginning in which you are literally shoved in the back if you try to deviate from the path, you soon realise this game will be tough to love.

Alone in the Dark is the very definition of a mixed bag. It’s the equivalent of a bag of Revels, in which many of the sweets are some of the most delicious morsels of gameplay you’ve tasted in a while, but to get to those you unfortunately have to dig through the rest of the bag, which is consistently filled with testicle-flavoured crap. (Oi! The coffee ones aren’t that bad! Ed.)

It really is astonishing that one game can provoke such a range of emotions. One minute you’ll be in awe of a fantastic set-piece, the next you’ll be cursing the game and wishing a slow and torturous death for those who created it.

Welcome, stranger... What’re ye buyin’? What’re ye SELLIN’? Eh-hehe...

Alone uses the Havok physics engine that was put to great use in games such as Half-Life 2 and Oblivion, but the boys at Eden Games are particularly proud of the excellent fire effects they have created, and so they should be. When you’ve created the best fire ever to appear in a videogame, it’s only natural you’d want to make it a prominent feature in the game, but to then make it the only thing that can kill the majority of enemies in the game is one step too far.

Much of the game will be spent searching for sources of fire, or flammable weapons with which to kill the demonically-mutated humans that you battle against. Sadly, there’s no real variety in the enemies you face, and combat soon becomes a chore. Find a flammable object; find a source of fire; chase enemy whilst swinging burning object. It’s all just far too frustrating and time-consuming. More often than not you’ll end up just throwing explosive bottles at everything that moves.