The final game feels more like a alpha test, but still packs a punch.
Graphics – The game doesn't lack in the graphics department. A game called alone in the dark does well with its lighting and fire looks beautiful. The graphics style is very much like that of The Darkness. Characters look good and the city of New York looks amazing from high areas. Visually there is nothing which could be considered hard on the eyes. Bloom and light streaking is great but can become bothersome in small tight areas where you find yourself being hit in the face and blinded. Of course if you find yourself in a place where the world around you isn't going to hell you'll probably want to take the time in certain places to look around and just take in the sight of sunlight cascading through cracks in the wall while the flames glitter in the darker corners of the room.
Story – The story is rather confusing especially if you're a fan of the alone in the dark series. Mainly because you're thrust straight into the story as things take place, instead of working up to the moment of out break you start off right in the out breaks beginning. This means you have no idea what's going on or why, instead of starting off before the problem and being given some story to explain things you just start off blind sided. This would be fine as a learn as you go idea if the main character came off as having a I.Q above a soap dish, his single line retorts and over all dialogue feels like he's supposed to be some super action star but in reality he should be like a silent hill main, smart and resourceful with a cool head. From a players perspective you really don't feel part of the story more like an observer. Of course this isn't the fact since you do get to play but the presentation does well to make you feel left out of the story, like you're just being pulled a long for the ride. This is only worsened by the horrid voice acting, this game in many ways resembles the old resident evil games and this is most apparent in the shoddy non-sense dialogue. While most games of the survival horror genre are getting better with time, Alone in the Dark falls far behind in the story telling department. The main character (you) has some of the worst dialogue I've heard in a long time, basic one liners and zero emotional response from everything that's said to him. The character interaction is bland, dry and poor usually with survivor horror games I find myself glued to cut scenes, but the side character girl you meet has almost as poor dialogue as your character does. Most often acting tough and saying tough things in a situation, while this could be perceived as a human response the same monotone voice acting all the character have just feels like poor voice acting, not a on purpose action to portray the human response in this kind of situation.
Controls – While there are many mixed reviews and opinions on Alone in the Dark one thing is for sure, the controls are clunky. The controls / camera angles are an obvious throw back to the old silent hill and resident evil days. An old school gamer myself, this made me squeal with joy at first, until I came to realize it was done without any of the gusto of previously stated titles. The ability to switch between 1st person and 3rd person view isn't a new idea in gaming history but is a nice touch, overall though it feels that it would have been better if the developers had only done one view mode and put all their work into that. Camera angles in 3rd person view are usually out of place and restrict your view as is the problem with 3rd person view usually in these games. 1st person view works wonderfully and helps you feel more immersed and a part of the world but whenever you pick up an item or such the game automatically puts the its self into 3rd person perspective which makes controls lag slightly and disorients you some as well. Mechanics also work poorly, at the first real puzzle where you must raise a fire extinguisher up to another floor I had a problem where the fire extinguisher got caught between the wall and the lift pad. The issue being while the pad is up your character is locked in place, with the extinguisher stuck in place I had to restart the area entirely since the pad got locked in the up position. The issue here says to me the section system that they put in place was due to so many mechanical issues they made it so you can just skip the part all together. Instead of fixing all the bugs they had the low budget didn't permit them to do this so they just installed a system that lets you skip entire areas so if you find yourself too aggravated by a certain bug you can just skip it all together. The famous Advent Rising comes to mind in this instance, would it have done better if people could have just skipped parts of the game they found annoying?
The Overall – Unless you are a serious fan of Alone in the Dark or just a major fan of survival horror both new and old school avoid this one, you don't even need to try it. Poor voice acting and a broken over all status makes this game feel more like an unfinished rushed product. As time passes Atari is going down in flames, this product truly feels under funded and under developed. In spite of its short comings, shoddy dialogue and poor mechanics, there are plenty of moments where you'll be amazed at the quality. Most notable is in the first chapter where while you hang on the ledge of a building while it burns and falls apart, the pieces of debris fall and crash along the sides of the building while you hang upon it. Also hot wiring a car is fun while frustrating since you have a time limit. As well the most public piece of the game, the part shown in most of the ads for the game, where you drive through new york city streets while it erodes from underneath you is quite fun. The issue is this, clunky slow controls combined with poor camera angles means you end up dying a lot. Before the intro of the game where the title comes on screen I ended up dying three times, being trapped in a room while it collapses is fine but with no idea of where to go and poor timing mechanics… If you stay in the room for longer than a few seconds you get stuck permanently and die regardless, you must take a step or two in just to trigger the sequence and then quickly walk back into the other half of the room. As well the 'chase' scene where you drive through new york city streets is great fun but you'll often find yourself dying without reason as you went the wrong way without knowing it, purpose being two things, pathways are not clearly marked and if you're really hauling through the city you end up out running the course changes and go the wrong way either way. Fact is if this game was made by either Capcom or Majesco this would be a master piece, but with Atari's falling budget and quality due to them going under the final product if you really want to call it 'final' leaves a lot to be wanted. The sad thing is that the people who actually made this (not Atari) had a great idea and despite poor support from publisher Atari did a great job for what they had. Even with it's many mechanical errors and tank like controls it's a blast when you get a chance to play without dying. Final thought though, the chapter selection is absolutely a horrid idea. They liked it so much it's even a highlight on the back of the case, it instantly though made me feel like I was wasting my time. If I can just fast forward to the end why bother to begin? Also the idea of any game in my mind is to hit road blocks and over come them. What if in Ninja gaiden you could fast forward past bosses you didn't like? Then where is the challenge if you can just skip what you don't like? The point of any game is to meet a challenge and over come it, the scene select system as they call it really seems to mock the gamer tradition of overcoming obstacles.
Final Note - While I know it seems I was only bashing this game the fact is this, its worth a try in my book but i can see that most will not like it. If your a old school gamer from the PS1 days and loved Resident Evil 1 and 2 and Silent Hill you should give this a play. It's old school in everyway except graphics. The controls and even the way things move is very classic to the start of the genre. The biggest thing for me though other than the mechanics is that the game feels like it wans to be both resident evil and condemned at the same time, but fails to doe either very well at all. As always i think any game that interests you should be a try before you buy game, but i can honestly say unless your a fan of Alone in the Dark or survival horror in general you can skip this one.