Alone in the Dark (2008)

There's no excuse for a game to be this bad.

User Rating: 4.5 | Alone in the Dark X360

By kwamebeauvais | Review Date: April 1, 2009

I love survival horror games, and I was extremely excited to hear a next-gen version of Alone in the Dark was being released. For a game that has great potential up- and down-sides, I generally wait a few months and let people play a while, then read the reviews and decide based on that. Alone in the Dark is unusual in that there seems to be a huge gap between those that love it and those that hate it.

I hate it.

In this day, with all the tools developers have at their disposal, there is no reason for a game to be this clunky, awkward, and difficult to maneuver. The old "it adds to the suspense" justification for impossibly difficult camera angles is irrelevant. Beginning a game by having you swing slowly and painful by ropes is inexcusable. Doing silly and obvious tasks that have a high frustration level is equally uncalled for.

At one point in the beginning of the game, you have to get a fire extinguisher up a couple of levels of broken concrete in order to put a fire out. First, why can't my character simply toss the fire extinguisher up? This is about as ridiculous as not being able to swim in early GTA games. Then, when you go on to complete the simple puzzle of placing it on a piece of concrete suspended by rope and pulling it up, there's the potential that the momentum of the swing will toss the extinguisher off and back down to the ground. That's ridiculous.

I admit, I only played for about an hour and a half. I was so frustrated by the time I had to repeat simple tasks like jumping from one ledge to the other or knocking a door down that I realized the developers didn't give a damn about the experience. They just wanted to release the game.

This is the worst Xbox 360 game I've played in two years. Nice job Atari.

Other Helpful Reviews for Alone in the Dark

• Rating:9

  Revolutionary, first true next generation game, comprehensive review!

  By SpartanMC117 | Review Date: Jun 23, 2008 | X360

  In brief, it starts out absolutely brilliant, and, in something rarely seen nowadays, it maintains steam all the way to the end, getting better and better until the unexpectedly Tomb Raider-esque ending moments. The cont... Read Full Review

  30 of 33 users found the following review helpful
• Rating:8

  A real masterpiece masked behind a few glitches and a sloppy control scheme.

  By Bassboy9764 | Review Date: Jun 26, 2008 | X360

  Alone In The Dark is unrivaled with its environmental interactions. It has been done before, but not game has truly mastered the art of using the environment quite like Alone In The Dark Has. You can use virtually anythi... Read Full Review

  6 of 6 users found the following review helpful