Product Description

Alone in the Dark (PC CD-ROM), Product #23674

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17218 in Video Games
• Brand: Atari
• Model: 04-21639
• Released on: 2001-06-27
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: .31 pounds

Features

• The New Nightmare - Terror reigns in the shadow of night, you cannot escape the dark.
• Two diverse adventures await you. Conquer your fears as Edward Carnby and Aline Cedrac. Tame the darkness with sophisticated flashlight technology.
• Battle twelve demonic breeds of monsters, all of whom want to make you their dinner.
• Arm youself from an arsenal of eight supernatural weapons.
• Stunning, yet terrifying graphics create an atmosphere of perpetual suspense.

Amazon.com Product Description
Edward Carnby, the supernatural detective, is back! And this time it's for revenge. Carnby's best friend, Charles Fiske, has been found dead near Shadow Island, a mysterious island off the coast of Maine. Carnby's investigation quickly leads him to Fred Johnson, who informs him of Fiske's search for the three ancient tablets that, when placed in a specific location, will unlock an incredible and dangerous power. Johnson pleads with Carnby to pick up where Fiske left off and reopen the investigation. Carnby accepts the mission to find and destroy the murderer of Fiske and avenge his death.

The original survival-horror franchise continues with a pure blend of intense action and suspenseful adventure. Alone in the Dark immerses the player into a dark and strange atmosphere where conventional rules do not apply. The player must overcome his natural fear of the dark unknown and control Edward Carnby through a deep and highly detailed story line. Armed with a flashlight and a pistol, Carnby must find the necessary items to survive, as well as the clues that will help him escape his ultimate nightmare.

Alone in the Dark features an immersive and emotional story line with more than 20 characters; incredibly detailed and realistic environments; and a dark atmosphere that plays with obscurity and light. H.P. Lovecraft influenced the game.

Customer Reviews

Far, far below average
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...

Truly scary!
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.

Don't waste yor time
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.