Alone in the Dark

Alone in the Dark was the first game I ever pre-ordered. I was extremely excited to play another "Resident Evil" style game with next gen physics, graphics and gameplay... I should have waited.

Alone in the Dark starts with a bang, introducing some very impressive cutscene work and EXCELLENT graphics and music. The voice acting is only decent, but the script makes up for it... Anyhow, once the game starts, things take an abrupt turn for the worse. My first thoughts were, "What the heck? This thing wasn't even made for Xbox!" The controls are simply awful, the fighting is very awkward, and the objectives get repetitive. The last time I experienced a game this annoying was "Advanced Warfighter" on the PS2.

Don't buy this game!


RECOMMENDED TITLES FOR XBOX 360
Gears of War
Deadrising
Turok
Prey
The Orange Box

BEST GAME OF ALL TIME
Resident Evil 4

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Great seller. Fast shipping. Game was in the exact condition as described. Honest seller. Buy with confidence.

Many of the other reviewers have very similar feelings.

At first the game seems interesting, unique, fancy, innovative, and pretty. Not long into it you'll begin to encounter the very real problems the game has. Controlling your character with any precision is impossible. You can select first person, which is painfully sluggish, but the game forces you back into 3rd person most of the time. 3rd person _looks_ really nice, and I can respect the artist's vision of the world. Trying to actually function in 3rd person is a whole different thing: completely frustrating. The camera is rarely where you want it to be looking. At many points in the game you may have to resort to hand to hand combat, which will be forced in the 3rd person, and will make you want to throw your fancy wireless remote right out of the window, followed by the XBOX and TV, still plugged into the wall. At least hand to hand, while completely worthless in this game, isn't like Silent Hill: no stance fighting. But: basically as useless.

The inventory system, while it seems innovative, is actually quite stale once you get a bit into the game. It's also extremely clunky and hard to use under duress. The healing system, too, at first seems innovative, but is actually quite obnoxious. Let's face it, they were neat ideas on a white board in a room full of excited marketing guys -- but in reality they don't work well. The game boasts this open style combination system. Flammable liquid in container, tape, box of bullets, throw at bad guy, shoot, repeat. Put alcohol on bullets, aim for little cracks in baddies, shoot repeatedly because the targeting system is crappy, repeat. There really isn't much too it after you've done it a few times. One little gripe here: the eye blinking spectral vision thing. Yes, push down and hold the right thumbstick which is also what you'd need to use to aim, precisely, on a moving target, to kill it. Who play tested this, and where can I find them? I'd like to have a little dialog with them about this subject.

Vehicle driving... man, what can I say? Nothing like tapping a 3" curb and watching the vehicle fly up into the air and shed all of it's fenders in one motion. You can do some neat things with vehicles... cut open the gas tanks, fill bottles, use them as rolling bombs, all kinds of things. Too bad the interface sucks so bad that it's hard to pull any of that stuff off. Once again: it sounds neat, but doesn't work out that way.

To be fair, I haven't completed the game as of yet. Honestly, while I like to see things through, I may not. Some of the puzzles are, frankly, very annoying. Some of the stuff is very... cryptic and without any real clue of what is happening. Sometimes you'll find yourself somewhere, nothing is happening, and you don't really know what to do next. Other times the solution is so obvious and streamlined that it is a wonder they put it in at all. The story is not engaging. The story doesn't even make sense in a few places.

I could go on and on, but basically I am very disappointed in this game. The fire effects are out of this world, the environments are decent, water is awesome, and there is some definite lighting/atmosphere neatness... but that's about it. Otherwise, the game is very awkward, repetitive, confusing, and above all else: frustrating. It's just not the game it could be, and it's not the game that was advertised. This is no surprise, none the less, it is what it is.

I really wanted this game to be spooky, creepy, innovative, cool, engaging, and immersive. It's not. It's just a waste of time and money.

I picked this game up a few monts ago when I had some spare money, and I most say I was pleasently suprised with it. I had heard a lot of bad things about it and was a little worried after I bought that it might be poor. Its basically a survival horror game with a fairly heavy gunplay feature thrown it with it. The game will frustrate you a lot, there are a lot of parts where you seem to be set up to fail multiple times before you figure out a specific pattern to use. With that said this is no COD4, Halo 3, or Bioshock, but it still brings much to the table that we have not seen in a while. This game is now $40, which is resonable if you have that much money on you.

Graphics 9.0 ( Top notch graphics )
Audio 6.5 ( You only hear enemies most of the time )
Achievements 8.5 ( easy 750-1000 )
Controls 7.0 ( Wasnt that bad to me )
Camera 6.5 ( Can be irritating at times )
Overall 8.5-9.0

I know Im not alone when I say this game offers a whole new experience that deserves, at least, a rent. Since the game starts you get a chance to experiment with the abilities you will have through the rest of the game, the difference is that later on you will star finding new or different items to combine. This takes me to the inventory, which everyone seems to hate. I find the inventory to be excellent, many people hate the fact that the game doesnt pause when you open it but does the world pause when you go through the pockets of your jacket? Its suppose to be a survival horror kind of game. Besides its not even complicated, it doesnt take me more time in the game to change the batteries of my flashlight than what it takes in real life. The camera is not an issue either, its just different, and the fist-person view is like any other.
The graphics are probably the most amazing thing on the game, which may also have something to do with the soundtrack, together they make a beautiful combination. No problems with the save system. You also have a way to forward the story, so if you just dont like the part where you are playing or its too challenging you can just skip it. The story is intriguing and it reminds me of the movie "Cloverfield" although as the story progresses the similarities just banish.
Overall what I think its going on is that people are obsessed with Halo and Gears of War, they want every game to be a shooter. And honestly im tired of war games and other shooters, maybe because thats all the XBOX 360 offers, so if you are like me just give this game a chance, maybe even a rent. It may take Master Chief out of your mind for some time.
8/10