Alone in the Dark

By Kristan Reed Published 21 August, 2008

Why the PS3 version will be better.

For once, PS3 owners should be grateful for having to wait ages for a game to show up on their platform. Because, in Alone in the Dark's case, this is no loveless and unoptimised port; this is the game it should have been in the first place.

At Leipzig, Eden is in confessional mode. Few studios would have the balls to kick off a presentation by systematically listing the massive amount of flaws in their recently released game, but that's what happened. "We have absorbed and taken every piece of criticism about the game that was constructive and would help," a rep says. Tom says you're welcome.

First up, Eden has taken on board the camera issues. Gone is the restrictive single-stick system which the player often fought against, and gone is the dynamic, somewhat zoomed-in perspective. Instead, players see Carnby from a more conventional zoomed-out third-person view, more central to the action, and, crucially, are given the option of full manual camera control with the right stick.

"Now we are giving control to the player...this is maybe the most important element we are changing," Eden's spokesperson admits. We're handed the pad, and straight away you can tell it's a change is for the better. It feels fluid and natural, with a semi-automatic system moving the view back behind the player once you start running.

It begs the question why they didn't go for that system in the first place. "On the 360 version what we wanted was to have more immersion with the camera being really close to the player." Fair enough, but plenty of people found it clunky and irritating. Indeed, recent focus testing with the new system revealed that people didn't feel any less immersed anyway, but hey. Later, when pressed on its original choices, Eden admits it was simply too close to the project. It might well feel much more like an action game, as they say, but not enforcing the original claustrophobic viewpoint on players makes for a far more playable experience.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot flight

This man would never be able to board a flight.

Other movement elements have been overhauled too. Carnby now runs by default, so there's no longer any need to hold the run button down the whole time. He changes direction quicker too and feels more responsive and fluid - though when you need to be careful and walk, you can still do that. You just nudge the analogue stick a little. Simple.

Elsewhere, the inventory system has also been given a few tweaks here and there. While you still press down on the d-pad to check the contents of your coat, it's not such a ball-ache. The completely imprecise analogue system that made it tough to cycle through items has gone. Now you only have the choice of flicking through your items with the d-pad. A small, but worthwhile change. You also don't have to pick up and insert batteries the whole time, or combine objects in a specific order to make them work, or confirm that you want to drop items. Such pedantic niggly little things, and worth changing.

Certain combat-related facets have also been tweaked. The core analogue stick 'swing' melee system has been retained, but now requires the left trigger to be held down to activate it - and, because of the improved camera system, you have a better chance of knowing who's about to smash you up.

A less necessary change is that the combat is now apparently much easier. Enemies now take fewer blows to take down, for example, meaning that perhaps three hits will take them down instead of, say, ten. This means that those scenarios when you're set upon by half a dozen furious creatures stand less of a chance of annoying the hell out of you, but we'd have perhaps preferred that to have been related to the difficulty level choice than just railroaded through; the pressure of playing Alone in the Dark - like Resident Evil games - was sometimes a positive.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot emo

He's gotta be so e-mo, he's gotta be, so e-mo...

One absolutely essential change, though, is to the hateful driving mechanics. As someone who played through the infamous New York driving section 45 times before succeeding (and severely injured my sofa in the process), the most important change has been to introduce mid-level checkpoints. In addition, the twitchy drift-heavy handling has been kicked out, and replaced by a sensible model that gives you half a chance. The crazy physics aren't quite as mentalist as they were either, and the traffic has less chance of snagging you into the yawning rift of doom. Thank you Eden.

In addition to all these little nips and tucks, the developers also felt it was a good idea to explain what that whole end-of-game root-burning stuff was about earlier on in the narrative. So, at the end of Chapter 3, for example, instead of having to move a blockade of wrecked cars to drive across a big rift in Central Park, you have to set fire to one of these apparently evil roots. Later, in Chapter 6, another change has been made, where Carnby climbs aboard a metro train and finds himself under attack in a somewhat different way than he was in the 360 and PC original.

But 360 owners of Alone in the Dark, at least, need not feel completely hard done by. Eden has confirmed that it is working on a patch which will implement most of the changes that have been made to the upcoming PS3 version. It wasn't completely clear on exactly what would and wouldn't be tweaked or fixed, but it's fairly safe to assume that the control, camera, inventory and driving changes will all be taken care of.

With a release date now set for November, be sure to check back nearer the time to see what we think of the new, improved Alone in the Dark.

Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (63) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • miiiguel #1 4 years ago

    "As someone who played through the infamous New York driving section 45 times before succeeding (and severely injured my sofa in the process), the most important change has been to introduce mid-level checkpoints."
    Had no problem with that. In a nutshell, they dumbed it down.
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 15:20

  • galerian86 #2 4 years ago

    Nice job Eden. The first time that PS3 owner will feel good playing a late ported game I guess.

  • Widge #3 4 years ago

    praise the delaystation

  • lambtron #4 4 years ago

    The driving section was so, so easy! I did that on the second attempt.

    Seriously, if that is your idea of a challenge I would question if you shouldn't consider a change of occupation/or pastime. I mean I know we're generally intolerant of hard games these days (especially ones that force repetition) but to struggle with that part of the game I think you would either have to be dead or in a vegetative state ;).

  • yupyup #5 4 years ago

    :/

    2/3 of the way through the game. Cheers lads.

  • Widge #6 4 years ago

    That subtitle reads like a Official "console z" Magazine headline title!

  • miiiguel #7 4 years ago

    @Tiste: they are entering the "casual train" madness, imo. Pretty soon we'll be pressing but one button and watching the end of the games. That driving sequence is just a matter of knowing the route, but nowdays most ppl if don't pass the game at first time they quit and say it sucks.

    Guess that what makes it sell, so, screw me... I'm an old quasi-hardcore gamer, what do I know?
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 15:30

  • Quint2020 #8 4 years ago

    Well if these fixes actually work to make the game as good as it should have been and they bring them over to the 360 version I may actually pick this up.

  • Ged42 #9 4 years ago

    Might put this back on my 'games to get' list, I'll see if the improvements make enough of a difference to the review scores to make the game worth getting.

  • grandmaster Verified Director, Digital Foundry #10 4 years ago

    Nice job Eden. The first time that PS3 owner will feel good playing a late ported game I guess.

    DiRT and more obviously Oblivion are two games that perform better on PS3.

  • Ryuken #11 4 years ago

    No word on a PC patch?

  • actionfitz #12 4 years ago

    gotta respect honesty, and putting their hands up and saying ok we get why you didnt like certain things but we promise to take it on board and do better.
    Might be worth a purchase later on down the line now.

  • Madafunkola #13 4 years ago

    Is this a new method of QA testing? Release on one platform, accept faults, improve, release on other platform plus patch?

  • Eighthours #14 4 years ago

    It's pretty clear that the game was forced out of the door before it was ready. If the 360 patch can fix the issues, then I may well buy it in November.

  • miiiguel #15 4 years ago

    the game's fine as it is, those aint problems it's charisma

  • systems #16 4 years ago

    I'd certainly give a patched version a look in. It depends on what the other PS3 extras are at the time, and the price difference between the 360/PS3 versions in November (Xbox version will be in the £20 region).

    By then of course Left 4 Dead will be out so Xbox owners are not likely to care.

  • SeesThroughAll #17 4 years ago

    I'm still not sure how much these changes are going to improve the game in the whole.

  • Retroid #18 4 years ago

    Might consider picking this up for 360 nearer Xmas.... nice and cheap with a few of the gameplay niggles fixed. Nice.

    @grandmaster: Oblivion got the graphical tweaks patched, not idea about DiRT though, don't have that. The demo seemed pretty identical on formats.

  • miiiguel #19 4 years ago

    it's like putting proper actors in a Takashi Miike movie

    /still whining/
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 16:00

  • mikeck #20 4 years ago

    "it's like putting proper actors in a Takeshi Miike movie"

    awesome fucking reference! Best movie director ever...period (who else can change the tone of a movie in an instant, and not make it shite).

    Also, I'd be tempted to see what the PS3 version is like, purely because the xbox version irritated the tits off me at times - but at others provided some sublime gaming moments.

  • jonsaan #21 4 years ago

    turd polished.

  • Shabtai #22 4 years ago

    One word of advice, Eden : Playtesting.

    It would have exposed all the games problems and save some face for the devs. Better or not, this doesnt help Eden's reputation.

  • Wayne #23 4 years ago

    So we basically paid for a beta? Cheers Eden.

  • rotmm #24 4 years ago

    If they patch the controls for the 360, I'll definately pick it up.

  • the_dudefather #25 4 years ago

    One of the least finished but released games I have ever played, but i really enjoyed it for some reason

    the patches will hopefully make the game more bearable at times

  • andywilkie35 #26 4 years ago

    hahaha, this is incredible, i can't wait to see the reaction of ps3 fanboys when this gets better reviews that the other versions, purely because of the massive delay and the decision to change everything that was shit with the others!

    for once, the delay seems worth it

  • DFawkes #27 4 years ago

    What about the Wii version? Or more seriously the PC version - the special edition is going cheap in my local GAME so if the PC gets fixed, I'll probably pick it up.

  • anomagnus #28 4 years ago

    @ tiste

    witty, very witty!

    but seriously, couldn't they have just play tested the first launch and avoided all the shit

  • Collymilad #29 4 years ago

    its nice to be used as a £45 a pop beta testing ground.

  • Darren #30 4 years ago

    I hate to say this but I can't believe that Eden only realised the camera in the 360 and PC versions were awful AFTER people had played it and complained about it! That they've improved it for the PS3 version is great news but really it shouldn't have been broken in the first place. Don't they playtest their own games?!?

  • doctorgonzo #31 4 years ago

    Oh well. Anything that makes me feel less burned about laying down £40 for something that turned out to be a broken, unplayable crock of cack has to be good, I guess. At least they owned up to it. Roll on the 360 patch...

  • FlamingCarrot #32 4 years ago

    Its an unpolishable turd.

  • WickedDeeJ #33 4 years ago

    Gutsy move on the part of Eden. As someone who played the old Alone in the Dark and saw the dismal reviews of the remake, the chance to get to see this game redeemed is a welcome run.

  • rowsdower #34 4 years ago

    PLEASE make these changes available on the PC version too. The game is in an absolutely horrific state right now and needs these changes. I blew 35 bucks on this thing pre-order and i played about half an hour before uninstalling and very nearly snapping the disc in half.

    I'd happily wait till November to play it if it meant I could actually get some use out of this worthless piece of plastic on my gameshelf.

  • Camorrista #35 4 years ago

    "It begs the question why they didn't go for that system in the first place."

    Ouch.

  • Cappy #36 4 years ago

    miiiguel tests positive for the presence of Steve Ballmer's semen.

  • Prodigy_BE #37 4 years ago

    For the first time, I'm actually happy my 360 flunked out on me for the fourth time.
    Selling it on eBay wasn't such a bad idea.

    If the reviews are good, I'll be picking this up durring the hollies.

  • miiiguel #38 4 years ago

    marronthered mother tests positive for the presence of miiiguel's semen.
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 17:13

  • miiiguel #39 4 years ago

    Your mother wasn't much either. At least *she* had some fun.
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 17:19

  • Tomo #40 4 years ago

    Sigh. Gave up when I got to the root burning. Fuck that.

    These sound like much needed changes, definitely. Sounds like they haven't changed the burn 50 roots so we can pad out the game, though...

  • Cappy #41 4 years ago

    miiiguel just PM'd me.

    He assures me that despite looking pretty old and well used he tries hard and accepts payment in Zimbabwean Dollars.

  • miiiguel #42 4 years ago

    I did Cappy, as you mother said although you're better than your father, she still digs me better, wanted to share that with you in private.

  • bushwod #43 4 years ago

    These all sound like really sensible chances. I am gutted I bought it on release and am on the last chapter.

    So EG, are you going to do a XBOX re-review after they patch it?

  • bad09 #44 4 years ago

    TBH I didn't think the 360 version was as bad as people make out.

    Never finished it though (it made way for Ferrari Challenge) so if this version has improved the game I may just invest again (by invest I mean pick it up cheap 2nd hand!)

  • sirtacos #45 4 years ago

    It's good to see a developer own up to its mistakes and try to fix the problem openly instead of sweeping it under the rug.
    Kudos.

  • anephric #46 4 years ago

    "It depends on what the other PS3 extras are at the time, and the price difference between the 360/PS3 versions in November (Xbox version will be in the £20 region)."

    It's been in that region since the week after it was released. Never seen a game discounted so fast have I.
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 18:10

  • soviet_ #47 4 years ago

    Lucky bastards, the team should be put in jail for releasing such a mess
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/08 @ 18:35

  • MrWonderstuff #48 4 years ago

    A drop kick into the 360 nuts. Clearly 360 wasnt their favoured platform and whilst admirable that they admit it had many faults how the heck are 360 owners who bought meant to feel when they hear such stuff? I never bought this but may do if there is a patch which addresses all the issues. Does anyone know if a patch will be forthcoming?

  • Apologie #49 4 years ago

    so, the PS3 version is superior... hummmmmmmmmm

  • Windsong #50 4 years ago

    You know you have a bad game when the pirate groups won't go near it.

  • septimus #51 4 years ago

    At last, may make me try it again. Almost lost a 360 controller thanks to that game.

  • Les #52 4 years ago

    Horror games need fixed cameras. they turned this into a poor action title.

  • SeesThroughAll #53 4 years ago

    A drop kick into the 360 nuts. Clearly 360 wasnt their favoured platform and whilst admirable that they admit it had many faults how the heck are 360 owners who bought meant to feel when they hear such stuff? I never bought this but may do if there is a patch which addresses all the issues. Does anyone know if a patch will be forthcoming?

    Calm down, mate.

    They don't have any contempt for any platform. The game was shipped with those faults because they had a deadline to comply.
    The PS3 version was delayed for other (usual) reasons. I'm pretty sure they would have liked to start selling that one sooner as well. But since they had more time to work on one of the versions, they decided to fix issues all accross the board.

    So yes, the vast majority of changes introduced in the game will be patched into both other versions.

    Never seen a game discounted so fast have I.

    Lair's price dropped faster, methinks ;)

  • drumbaby #54 4 years ago

    So the original version was rushed out (and crap) just like the Xbox 360?

    Figures.

  • urban #55 4 years ago

    best o luck to it.

  • miiiguel #56 4 years ago

    "Hey man, I wanna have a fight with you
    Regardless of my feelings on the subject"
    Shellac of North America

  • coomber #57 4 years ago

    I'm amazed by this. I had been really looking forward to this game until I saw the reviews, then figured it wasn't worth it, especially after the delay. I didn't think for one minute they would bother correcting all the howlers, but maybe...just maybe...it might be worth getting after all.

  • Ryze #58 4 years ago

    Now - this is an excellent way of doing things - the PS3 version is going to take a lot longer to optimise, so get the 360 version out, with the best online play and in a finished state, get it reviewed and continue to work on the PS3 version.

    Then release the PS3 version 6-8 months later, but as a deluxe version with the 1080p 10-year cinematics and all of that bollocks, but essentially - with all of the main criticisms of the 360 version fixed.

    Then if the 360 version is patched to include the improvements, or updated via DLC, then everyone's happy - both games will get a sales boost from the renewed hype and publicity for the PS3 launch, plus many publications will re-review the game.

    The PS3 version can even get another launch window when a 360-esque compressed version is released on PSN 6-12 months later, hopefully with improved online functions where applicable.

    This sounds ideal. Alone In The Dark service pack 1 - what is the gaming world coming to!?

    Delivering what we, the gamer, enjoy and demand - I hope.

    ryz

  • Ryze #59 4 years ago

    @Apololol

    typical 'tard wanker comment...

  • evilboo #60 4 years ago

    The tossers that made this game for the wii should actually apologise for the appalling state of the 'finished product' and they should be doing something about that (like a patch) instead of working on new versions that this time they promise won't be crap (honest guv).

    A bit of respect for the customer instead of this continual PR bullshit and $$$ at all costs would be a nice change.

    And BTW is it too much to ask that after printing all the rubbish about how great this game was going to be Eurogamer might inject a dose of scepticism when they say the new version would be better? Instead of lapping it all up .. how about holding the tossers to account for their broken game and ripping people off first time round?

    Atari should be ashamed of themselves. I don't believe the PS3 version will be any better and I will never buy another Atari game.

    Yes I have given up smoking recently but this article pissed me right off.

  • makeamazing #61 4 years ago

    When I saw that the game got not so good reviews I decided not to buy, but then realised that the PS3 version wasnt released at the same time. Seeing some of the possible improvements I might actually pick this up, it seemed kinda interesting at the time.

    One question, and Im not trying to be a PS3 fanboy when i say this, I am intrigued... If you have the Wii version or an Xbox without a hard disk, will they be able to patch it?

  • evilboo #62 4 years ago

    Xbox games are routinely patched - is there anybody that doesn't have a HD for their xbox? If you didn't then no they couldn't.

    Wii patches need to be fairly small i guess.

  • funkyd #63 4 years ago

    Well they couldn't make it much worse anyway!