Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
by Atari
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List Price: Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
Customer Review: Alone in the Dark : Pixilated Panic
Summary: 4 Stars
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is successfully scary due entirely to the fact it remains true to the original: Alone in the Dark. And that it features a main character whose only characteristic, as listed in the game, is "owns double-barreled gun". But the game also requires you to think. After you fire 93 million rounds of ammo and a couple dozen rockets (of COURSE there are rockets) into a monster you may realize you're doing something wrong. Pieces of objects must be assembled, codes discovered, and other such mental missions must be completed. The sound is great, eerie chords play at random intervals, causing everyone in the room to simultaneously wet their pants. With unique camera angles, playing the game is like watching a movie. This game does not use large amounts of monster to be scary. On the contrary, it uses LACK OF monsters to keep you on the edge of your seat, and occasionally firing your rifle blindly at some ordinary household appliance, such as a lamp. All said, I have absolutely no arguments with the game but one:THE DIALOGUE! The two main characters communicate via radio, and can be heard at any given moment spouting intellectual witticisms such as: "It's dark here!" "Find a safe place to hide." "Make this all stop, right now!" "Carnby, is that you?" Of course, in Aline's defense it might not really be Carnby on the radio, but someone else who stole his radio and is imitating his voice. Although most of the dialogue went over my head, I am probably just not cultured enough to understand it. Regardless, the game is great. But one rule: You MUST play it in the dark.
Customer Review: A Great Comeback!
Summary: 5 Stars
When I bought this game for PC, i was stunned. This is probably the best Alone In The Dark game since the very first one. Alone In The Dark 2 and 3 were weak since they didn't create the overall scary feeling that makes 1 and 4 great. This one takes it's roots from the first game of exploring a dark scary house with hidden secrets everywhere.And just like Alone In The Dark 2, there is a lot of shooting in this game. The creatures here are extremely difficult and can take a few attempts to win over. There are a lot of these annoying zombies in hallways. Everytime you shoot them and leave the hallways, more will come in when you come back!
I first played this game on the playstation and realized how terribly awkward the game was on it. Loading was very slow and the save feature was terrible. Sadly the PC version's save feature isn't any better. I don't get why the creators made the save-feature like this. Many games that had this type of saving got many complaints and their ratings suffered. Besides this drawback, the same Edward Carnby we new from the previous games has gotten himself a taste of the fountain of youth and gotten himself a new marilyn manson face-lift. I kinda liked the old gentleman Edward Carnby.
I'd probably give this game 4 stars but since some people on here have a bad habit of giving this game a 1 star because the graphics are sligtly outdated and not a resident evil game, i have to give a 5. I don't get why people have to be so picky about graphics and other stuff. Computer games are an art. Art doesn't have to be depicted with rich colors and sound. Sometimes the dullness can really capture a feel like this game does.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys adventure games or games such as Resident Evil.
Customer Review: Should be ZERO Stars - This Game is really bad.
Summary: 1 Stars
Do not waste your money on this game. The controls are horrible, the engine is out of date and the puzzles are simpley find key try door. Any atmosphere this game has is destroyed by its horrible game play, slow and jittery engine and outdated approach to gaming. They should be banned from ever making another crappy sequel. Its a shame because the graphics are pretty, but the implementaion is the worst since the last ultima game...and that is pretty bad.Customer Review: decent game...not great though..
Summary: 3 Stars
I could overlook all of the before-mentioned flaws but the one flaw that sinks this game is the horrible save feature. I don't know what the designers were thinking when they came up with that but it sucks all the fun out of the game..If you truly want a game that is befitting of the horror genre then I recommend "Clive Barker's Undying." I can only recommend this game to the hardcore Alone in the Dark fans of yesteryear...
Customer Review: Far, far below average
Summary: 2 Stars
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...