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Far, far below average

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: July 27, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Okay. I'm going to do my best to be brief. If you are a player of PC games, you might want to avoid this game. From every angle it screams "I WAS MADE FOR A CONSOLE!" Very little attention went into importing this game for PC, and I'm afraid the bad outweighs the good.

The graphics sub-par. In some respects, they're actually embarassing... After all the hype and all the screenshots, the end result looks like it was produced about five years ago. The backgrounds are all washed out and flat, and strangely pixelated. The animation is generally terrible. In some places, the fact that they attempted to pass it off as professional animation actually makes me hurt. When you backstep, it's like watching film of someone walking played in reverse. When objects overlap, you could swear you were playing, say, Space Quest. When your character opens a gate, the screen goes black and then comes up again with the gate now open. Aiee.

This should give you some hint as to the lack of care given to this game's PC incarnation: there are no options. You can't select higher screen resolution, enable environmental sound, adjust mouse sensitivity or invert the y-axis... No, the designers apparently felt that such an array of choices would merely confuse gamers today, and in their generosity opted instead to allow you to configure a key or two and choose whether you'd like to listen in mono!

The saving system (that's right, there's a system), is bizarre and painful... for every amulet you collect, you can save once! I wouldn't recommend it, though, because whatever you did in the level on which you save, you'll have to do again. Yup, I'm not kidding.

The controls are awkward... They were clearly created for a gamepad, and only reluctantly assigned to a keyboard.

The voice acting is right on par with everything else, so I suppose they get points for consistency. Let's just say it won't help you immerse yourself in the story. The male lead shouts everything like Freddy from Scooby-Doo... and listening to the female lead is like attending a reading of the epic poem "I'm a Large Plank of Wood" put on by the National Association of Cardboard Boxes. "Carnby. Please. Come quickly. There are things. Terrible things. I'm begging. You."

The game does have some good elements... the design is extremely strong, and I can see how, with some more work, it could provide the foundation for the creepiest horror game ever. It isn't there yet, though, and what good it does have is simply overpowered by its problems. It may work on a console, but on a PC, it falls very flat. I can't recommend this game... I am a tremendous fan of the genre, both in gaming and in literature, and even I couldn't bring myself to complete it. It goes out of its way to prove that console gaming will eventually ruin the medium. No, that's not fair, because Silent Hill was brilliant...

Honestly, if you're the sort of person who really enjoys immersing yourself in a PC game, this is likely not going to satisfy you. If you're looking for a truly spooky and atmospheric horror game for the PC, please go out and pick up a copy of Nocturne. That game reflects real care by the designers, and contains possibly the most effective interpretation of Lovecraftian monsters I've ever seen.

This game would have been wonderful in 1997. Graphically and aurally, that's right where it is. By today's standards, though, it simply doesn't measure up. A lot of these problems could be addressed in patch form, so there is hope... but I have a very strong suspicion that we won't see that happen...

AitD created the genre, and now once again rules it.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 18
Date: July 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game totally rocked! The graphics are very pretty, it's incredibly scary (the heavy-metal style music both makes you tap your feet and jump outta your skin - scary, huh? :)), and the story is very well-fleshed out through the text (and if you don't want to wade through all that text, the important stuff is marked in red letters so you don't have to read it all). The game doesn't rely on monsters constantly crashing through windows and grissly gore for cheap thrills (although you will find a few dismembered body parts in there).

Unlike in RE (in which there was always enough lighting to see your way around a room), rooms are often very dark. However, you are given a flashlight to search the room, and the effect is both scary and helpful. Slowly moving through a new, dark room, only able to see what the flashlight can show you really makes you feel, well...alone in the dark. Since the enemies you're fighting are shadows, they react in a variety of ways to the flashlight (since shadows are both dispelled and cast by light, depending). For example, certain enemies will die from overexposure to the flashlight, some will simply run away, while others are spawned by it or go absolutely berserk upon being illuminated (you'd better be ready to either run or plug a couple dozen bullets into him, because these monsters are _TOUGH_).

I have only three complaints about the game: a. zombies. Zombies just don't fit in this game, they're the only enemies that don't react to light, and they're just plain annoying (except in Allen's lab where they can scare you silly). b. the first disc (although it only makes up about 30% of the game) is pretty annoying in that you haven't a clue what to do next, and there are lots of locked doors and lots of keys you have to deal with simultaneously. However, the longer second disc makes you glad you waded through the first disc; scary as heck, filled with even freakier monsters, scenes and music. You're forced to really think, too (attaching the blue lens to the flashlight to search for dried blood stains and eventually find a combo was ingenius). c. the final boss. He was really a ... and didn't exactly fill you with fear.

Despite these flaws I've pointed out, upon beating the game you won't remember them too well; you'll remember the best and most logical puzzles in survival horror, the scariest monsters ever shown in a video game, and perhaps the excellent theme song played during the credits. Conclusion: If you're a survival horror fan who's tired of Resident Evil's cheap thrills and weary gameplay (not to mention zombies), this is the way to go. And if you do like Resident Evil, grow up and play the true ruler of survival horror: Alone in the Dark. ;-)

Don't waste yor time

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 11, 2001
Author: Amazon User

A great looking game. Moody. Atmospheric. Creepy. Unfortunately the PC version is so riddled with bugs and lockups that it's almost unplayable ...Save your money or at least wait until the manufacturer comes out with a patch.

Truly scary!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed this game immensely - the graphics are great, the storyline is very good, and it really is scary in places. A couple of times, I rounded a corner to be faced with some nasty thing, and actually yelled out loud because I was so startled. The soundtrack is INCREDIBLY creepy, the lighting is very dim, and the monsters make sufficiently scary noises, which all lend themselves to an astonishingly scary atmosphere - you'll stay on your toes, believe me.

The monsters are pretty grotesque, and this isn't a game I'd want younger children to play if I were a parent. There's a huge amount of reading in the game, and much of it is superfluous - any important clues are generally easily distinguished from them. There were a couple of bugs I found, mostly with objects not wanting to be moved in the right way for the next progression to happen, but overall, a relatively bug-free and stable game.

There are several weapons available, and a goodly number of monsters to fight. The puzzles can be challenging, and it's possible to get entirely lost - but those aren't bad things, in my view.

Get ready to be creeped out, and go grab this one.

Picky faults aside, this is great fun.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 08, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Now, i don't spend nearly as much time playing games as many of the folks represented in this forum; i'm no "authority" or "expert," but i know what i like, and i really liked this.

Ok, so the screen goes dark when you open a gate to reveal the open gate. That doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the game. That's picky stuff. The atmosphere with its dark look and dark music is very effective, especially when playing the game in a darkened room. The nasty creatures each have their own challenges and appear just enough so that the anticipation of creatures is as nerve-wracking if not more than their actual appearances. i think the artists did a great job creating a detailed environment of dread. You can look at the dishevelled rooms and bloody hallways and piece together what must have happened there. The scenery is very detailed with a lot of character.

Playing as two different characters with their unique respective scenarios is a giant plus, despite the fact the female's scenario tends to be a little arbitrary and linear (i.e. being magically forced to a certain door in the mansion at one point was a bit silly). The puzzles are reasonably challenging and logical. The family history is well-developed and fun to delve into, especially how the two characters in their respective scenarios find out different things about certain characters that changes one's view of what they were all about. (i.e. J.M.'s fortress workshop notes) Unlike your standard shoot-em-up, strategy plays a bigger role than blowing everything to smithereens. Despite what some reviewers said, i completed both scenarios with hundreds of shotgun shells and other ammo left. It's actually pretty easy to run past many nasties without firing a shot. The saving system isn't really a big deal as long as you plan well. Some of the flirtatious talk between the two characters while they're supposed to be trudging through the next thing to hell seemed a bit incongruous to me but i suppose that must have something to do with setup for sequels. i've read many complaints about the controls on the PC version, but i found no problems with the interface, myself. i changed a couple of the default buttons and that was enough to make the interface pretty easy. (and this is coming from a fellow who has a terrible time getting about in first-person shoot-em-ups)
Bottom line: it's scary, bloody, moody, immersive, challenging and therefore fun and recommended.

How to destroy a franchise

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

The original Alone in the Dark game was truly innovative and set many technological landmarks for other PC games of the day. Oh how far we have strayed. This game uses the Nocturne engine and, like every previous game that has used the Nocturne engine, the end result is washed out graphics, horribly awkward camera angles, bad movement control, and the joy of having to fight offscreen creatures that you can't see unless you run to a different area. I can only imagine that the Nocturne engine is [inexpensive] to license.

It was a nightmare

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

You can play both roles in this game. It is suggested you play the male first then the female role. The controls were bad. You use the same keyboard key for several functions.I had a hard time getting items. You have to be in a specific position or you will not get the message "you have picked up ___". In both roles you are forced to go back through the same areas several times. In order to climb a latter it asks if you want to climb [yes] or [no]. After answering yes, you still have to climb the latter. Instead of just letting you climb or letting you appear at the top. In two specific scenes where I had to look through a telescope, the game would not let me out of the telescope scene. I had to alt-ctr-del to end the game in order to break out of that scene. This happened in both roles. I wrote Tech Support. The suggestions they made I had already tried and did not work. Their last suggestion was, "you only need to know this specific number____". Which they gave me so I could skip the entire telescope scene. Combat was the real nightmare. You are playing from a third person view, which makes aiming more of a guess than a steady hand. I was able to get through it with the help of Prima's Guide and a gaming web site. The graphics are good but the mouths never moved when they would talk to each other. If I had read some of the reviews before buying this game I think I wouldn't have purchased it.

I'm Just Not Sure.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 11
Date: January 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I have been wanting to play this game for the longest time. Finally got it and installed it.
First off...I have only played about 15 minutes of it and here's why.
It started out fine. Nice and spooky. Dark and creepy. Right up my alley. The graphics are great, but movement and interaction a little stiff. But that's not the problem. I can live with that.
I have fought many demons, in games. Killed many spiders and more rats than I could shake a stick at. Not to mention, very powerful demons, bosses and monsters of every variety. I have dismembered, blown up, and what have you.
This is also not a problem.
What stopped me in my tracks then?
Before you even get into the house, you run into some vicious dogs. Possibly demonic, but none the less, dogs. Usually, in the games I have played, if you kill an animal, that is attacking you, it dies. Wolves, bears, etc. But when you shoot these dogs, they don't die. They just lose control of their hind legs and drag themselves around, whimpering. I just couldn't deal with it!
Never even got into the house and I stopped the game.
A battle to the end, or a quick kill is okay, but I'm not sure I want to leave things still alive and maimed.
I just had to share this because there might be others like me, who might be disturbed by this. So fair warning!
It's really not right, that I even rate the game, since I haven't really played the game. That is why I went down the middle and gave it a 3 star.

I am still playing this game, but

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: February 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth. First, Alone in The Dark is a series of games that originated as PC games. They ARE NOT console games but have been adapted for several console systems. I am enjoying this game so far and it is definitely not find key goto next level as one ignorant review leads you to believe. The graphics may not be the greatest and I will agree the lack of ammo bothers me as I had the hardest time with the gator in the cellar, because you can't pass him without killing him as he throws you back to the middle of the room each time you get anywhere close to the door on the other side of the room. The one thing I have had a problem with though, is that the instructions say you can use a joystick or a mouse with or instead of the keyboard controls, but to my knowledge there is no way to set up or configure any type of controls but the keyboard.

Still has it!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: May 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have been playing the Alone in the dark series for many years. My first ever experience was back in '93 or so. I purchased a 3DO interactive multiplayer and Alone in the dark. I waited till night and played it and got scared half to death. The next day I was edgy everywhere I went. Well, The New Nightmare has got the magic after the not so great titles in between the first ever and this, the newest. I waited till night once again, hooked up my laptop at my desk and played it with headphones and no lights. Absolutely wonderful. In the first half hour I got startled 3-4 times and am already dying to know what is going to happen to Edward and Aline and who some of these ominous people are.

The graphics are really great, and lightyears ahead of the old Alone in the darks. I place the graphics near, but not quite the level of the Gamecube remakes of Resident evil of course. (Barely anything matches those). I play this game on my Intel Mobile Celeron 2.0GHz 256kb L2 cache, 256mb pc2100 DDR 266mhz ram, 64mb AGP Intel Extreme Graphics 2 equiped notebook computer and it plays beautifully.

Highly recommended especially to old fans of the series.

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