Hi all,

Seen lots of Alone in the Dark questions going arround, and nearly no answers on the actual board so I'll answer what questions I can here - please make them about the game itself not how to get past a certain bit or does this happen etc. things like what are the controlls (a question which I have heard a lot and will answer below along with a few other frequent questions) - ask a question and I'll answer it if I can, if I'm not there I'll answer it a bit later.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What are the controlls like?

To put it mildy, utter hell - there are many controll inconsistencies aswell as clunky movement in 3rd person views and hard to use item handling due to the strange right stick controll. Luckily you can navigate it first person, but when it cvomes to using items and fighting, bashing doors in, and many other things in which you don't use range you must use the 3rd person view - there is a quick turn but it is utterly useless. To make it even worse, sometimes you have to jump with x, but if you are jumping of a rope you use b, if you are climbing up something normally you can push on the left stick, if you are hanging of a ledge you press x.. the list goes on, the controlls constantly change.

What are the controlls?

Well I'll actually take the time to list them - this is just what's in the manual, there are more.

General game controlls

Left stick - move

(left stick from here on will be LS, right stick RS, press right stick PRS, press left stick PRL) LS + A - run

x - jump

d-pad d - open inventory

d-pad u - access favourites

Third person controlls

d-pad L - brings up healing mode

RB - cycle through right hand items

LB - cycle through left hand items

PRS - inverted camera

Back - open PDA

PLS - quick turn

Y - switch to First Person

Subjective view

RS - Look around

LS - Strafe

PRS - Close eyes (you have to blink to clear blurr sometimes >.

Well I feel your being a bit to harsch on oblivion there, now I feel it and fable are in the same league, and have to agree that oblivion is overrated, but so is fable, at points it is a mess, and due to the poor voice acting it lacks immersion, however it is not a bad game. Now I totally disagree with you when it comes to enimies attacking, I often get a highwayman, and as I prefer to walk through the wilderness I normally get attacked by nasties anywhere I go, now I feel that oblivion really does show the falling quality of RPGs, falling into this action RPG area, and is much worse than morrowind, however so is Fable, it was not that much of an RPG, with pitiful side quests (I do like the game, but everything was samey), which also shows how everything is falling into an action RPG area. In fact I think it's hard to find a true RPG, in an RPG you should not just have to fight and kill monsters, you should be able to do anything, which is, to be honest, why I play Runescape - you can cook and fletch and mine and all sorts - and if anyone knows of a console or PC game in which you can do all these things that's good an immersive please tell me as you need all aspects for a propper RPG. Still I think that you are too harsch on oblivion and favour fable too much, there is a lot to oblivion, but you have to make an effort to get immersed, for instance it is wonderful to climb around rooftops, firing arrows at your enemies, but it's also difficult to get to the level where you can, and considering it's easier to kill them with a sword or fire a spell or two you have to make the effor, Fable I felt did not offer enough things to do, it was amazingly linear, I played the game a lot, and was highly powered in all skills, enabling me to fight with sword, bow or magic (a mixture of bow and magic being my preferred method of attack), however there was no agility to the game, no way I could avoid confrontation, or jump across mist shrouded rooftops letting arrows loose, there wasn't even any respectable theiving, which was very good in Oblivion in my opinion. Neither games are wonderful, but they are both good, and to be fair they are both in the same boat, they are both actions RPGs really showing the decline of true RPGs.