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GF Rating
5
Fair
fun with a catch
posted by Crowing334 (BALLSTON SPA, NY) Jun 30, 2008
Member since Apr 2005
30 out of 42 gamers (71%) found this review helpful
ok, this game has grown to be a great survival horror franchise, much to the standards of resident evil. but this remake/revival of the game is where that standard is dropped. this game has a great story, amazing graphics, beautiful environments, and great cinematic. the downfall? the game play. you cant actually play the game. switching from 1st to 3rd person view is a hassle all on its own. the inventory system is one of a kind and works out fantastically...except when the menu isn't a menu but a break in the game and you can still be attacked and/or killed when your trying to combine that aerosol can with the lighter to take out that one last baddie. enemies are cool, but repetitive, yet seldom. killing them however is a pain, when you cant kill them without fire. yes, filling them with the 22 shots you have in stock for half the game may be fulfilling, but they wont actually stay down till you set them ablaze. also, what makes this game a true survival game? its more of a puzzle game then a horror game with 10% fighting the undead and 90% trying to find the fire extinguisher to break open that hotel room door. the controls take some time to get used to but with so much your able to do it becomes trouble just to run and jump, taking three button combo to accomplish it instead of the regular one. yes the puzzles can be fun and entertaining, but there is only so much you can take before you begin to repeat yourself. the actual movement in the game is fluid, but making it fluid is difficult. the makers of this game planned to have a new genre breaking game to amaze the masses, but what they have is a overshot, overfilled heap of a game that came out 12 months to early. give it another chance next time around because this game is great in its own right, you just need to give the team another shot to rework the gameplay. even though it didn't live up to what it was built up to be, Alone in the Dark sticks true to a great story for a horror game, and earns a 5/10
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GF Rating
3
Bad
I can't control the anger!
posted by smartywoot (CAMPBELL, CA) Jul 7, 2008
Member since Jul 2008
11 out of 15 gamers (73%) found this review helpful
This game takes you into the steps of Edward Carnby, a supernatural detective. I played the original on the dreamcast and I completely loved it. However this one I had to pass on. The elements that they decided to use for gameplay began to get very annoying. I feel they tried to make it too realistic. And while they were doing this they made it immpossible to play. The controls were horrible. I found myslef spinning my arms uncontrollably while trying to light a chair on fire. The controls werent the only bad thing. I found that there was a glitch every 10 minbutes. I kept dying randomly. I would be walking and all of sudden something from somewhere would hit me. And the car episode. That was incredibly frustrating. I found that I kept hitting random cracks, and things would kill me that were really stupid, such as a car bumper, or hitting scaffolding. What was realy annoying was the fact that at the end of the car scene you had to jump out of the window. Well when I did this I kept falling into oblivion, and dying. Eventually I firgured out I had to slow down and wiat for the game to load.... That should not happen. Anyway I am so glad I got gamefly because if I had spent 60 bucks on this I would be very very very angry.
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GF Rating
5
Fair
Innovative? Yes. Painful to Play? Definitely.
posted by aenderw (GREENSBORO, NC) Jun 27, 2008
Member since Jan 2008
11 out of 15 gamers (73%) found this review helpful
Alone in the Dark (2008) is Atari's take on a classic that effectively birthed the survival horror genre of gaming. The parent company of our beloved video games attempted to implement so many new ideas that they utterly failed to deliver on any front. A dozen uncooked steaks doesn't equal a filet mignon.
The graphics are amazing at times and atrocious at others. The fire is hands down the best I've seen in any video game to date. Everything else is mediocre. Characters, setting, and explosions aren't amazing, but they are certainly next-gen.
Alone in the Dark features a soundtrack that has been called amazing by quite a few. I didn't find anything phenomenal in the game. The sound effects sometimes were non-existent due to bad programming. The music failed several times, especially during the driving sequences.
The story is VERY short, with very little replay value (10 hours is a reasonable estimate). Aside from that, it isn't a very good one. I can't say I ever felt a part of the story. It was overall a disappointing endeavour.
Atari's new game earns points in my book for being a boon to my achievement standing. It's INSANELY easy to get the achievements for this game by simply playing the campaign. Even if you miss one, the game allows you to play a single "episode" as opposed to the entire game.
Alone in the Dark is a pile of excrement by all standards. It's worth a rent for the achievement points and subtle hints of a AAA title that isn't present. If you're looking for something incredibly fun, do yourself a favor and look anywhere else.
The graphics are amazing at times and atrocious at others. The fire is hands down the best I've seen in any video game to date. Everything else is mediocre. Characters, setting, and explosions aren't amazing, but they are certainly next-gen.
Alone in the Dark features a soundtrack that has been called amazing by quite a few. I didn't find anything phenomenal in the game. The sound effects sometimes were non-existent due to bad programming. The music failed several times, especially during the driving sequences.
The story is VERY short, with very little replay value (10 hours is a reasonable estimate). Aside from that, it isn't a very good one. I can't say I ever felt a part of the story. It was overall a disappointing endeavour.
Atari's new game earns points in my book for being a boon to my achievement standing. It's INSANELY easy to get the achievements for this game by simply playing the campaign. Even if you miss one, the game allows you to play a single "episode" as opposed to the entire game.
Alone in the Dark is a pile of excrement by all standards. It's worth a rent for the achievement points and subtle hints of a AAA title that isn't present. If you're looking for something incredibly fun, do yourself a favor and look anywhere else.
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