Alone in the Dark Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 18 June, 2008

The Garden of Eden.

Version tested: Xbox 360

At sea in an ocean of blockbusters, Alone in the Dark has no choice but to punch above its weight: high production values, biblical clashes between good and evil, and precociously elaborate game mechanics unite, embraced by a rigid but versatile single location and tempted in every direction by a developer unafraid, perhaps even desperate, to sling every idea at the wall and hope the majority stick.

Beginning in an apartment block overlooking New York's Central Park, which the game centres around, you're thrown behind the eyes of a drowsy Edward Carnby, woken as a captive in the grip of amnesia opposite a weary, cudgelled old man called Paddington. As grimy henchmen drag you away to your death, an unexplained force wrenches the building apart, coincidentally fashioning your escape at the tips of its grumpiness. Dragging yourself through the collapsing structure - grasping the complex controls as groggily as the character you're playing finds his own feet - you meet the key players and catch the gist: an ancient ritual has unleashed something, it's grouchy, and everyone's priorities are going to be shaped by its thrashing arousal.

Soon dumped in Central Park with a gun, a flashlight and a ready supply of explosives and scavenged first-aid kits, Carnby is instructed to head to the museum to meet someone - someone he shouldn't be able to meet - and as the adventure expands and contorts, Alone in the Dark offers a counterpoint to modern survival-horror. The genre's core values - inventory management, tension as a by-product of fumbling and panicking, and elaborate puzzles - are as they were, but Carnby is a practical hero: he heals himself by manually bandaging and patching cuts and gashes, and he solves puzzles with his hands and whatever else he can cobble together.

It's simple and versatile, and divorces the game from a genre obsessed with elaborate and contrived clockwork mechanisms, achieving greater subtlety and cohesion in the process. Puzzles are individual, and often special. A blood-smeared keypad has you scratching at the boundaries of your location for a code, but the solution's staring you in the face. A car hanging over a cliff blocks your ascent along a ridge, but you had the tools to pass it when you awoke. The best solutions are the least prescribed: fashioning a time-delayed sticky bomb from tape, booze and cloth, or reading the room and closing your eyes rather than staring at everything in sight.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 1

Carnby (right) finds himself partnered up with art dealer Sara, who can't fight for crumbs but opens a door or two along the way.

Despite a number of tactics emerging, the game avoids routine, juxtaposing lateral-thinking puzzles with dramatic platforming, violence with solitude, revelation with mystery. Every tool and skill you accumulate - and there are as many discrete mechanics here as there are in Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Project Zero put together - has a function, although it may not present itself for some time, and your urge to experiment is so pronounced that you'll curse the inventory system, which gives you a certain number of pockets in Carnby's expansive denim jacket to fill, for robbing you of the chance to stow that knife, flare or mosquito spray.

In its pomp, every room is fascinating. You can pick up chairs, pipes and spades, push furniture around, slam canisters and litter-bins into doors, shoot out rivets and blow up hinges, fish electric cables away from pools of water with hooked branches, hotwire cars and short-circuit junction boxes. The right analogue stick is like a prosthetic hand, allowing you to twist, swing and slam things as you please.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 2

The game's use of fire is clever and sometimes inventive. There can be several alternatives when it comes to puzzles and combat.

Combat is brutal and unsustainable. Possessed former New Yorkers take a dozen bullets to dispatch, and the more exotic enemies - the fissures that carve bloody scars across every surface, and the black ooze that pools in the dark, swallowing you whole if you set foot in it - demand desperate violence and navigation to evade, so you improvise. Enemies can be shot by entering first-person perspective and aiming, but you can also toss explosives in their direction, watching them arc in slow-motion before firing a Magnum round to detonate in mid-air; or you can sprinkle accelerant across a doorway, and back off and fire an incendiary bullet into the puddle as a monster crosses the threshold. Improvising fire becomes the norm, whether by constructing Molotov cocktails from bottles and rags, powdering bullets with explosive, or grabbing wooden objects, dipping them in flames - situational or hand-crafted - and thrashing them about until they threaten to set Carnby alight.

The game's episodic structure tightens the levels around you. You rarely have time to tire of a location on the way, and the next revelation is never more than a few minutes beyond. Storytelling is handled in-engine, and Eden Studios is careful to keep you on the hook, gradually drawing back the curtain on Carnby's mysterious past, and Central Park's secrets, and driving the events of the game's one night between elaborate dramatic peaks: spectacular but sensibly transparent boss fights, a cache of Paddington's diaries, precursory showdowns with the game's principle villain. High-concept but unpretentious, it's a story of unremarkable people doing remarkable things, and then turning out to be remarkable anyway. Carnby - greying and surprisingly old - is a rugged everyman, and Sara - your AI-controlled counterpart almost throughout - is an agitated foil for much of the spectacle, but both are soft and sympathetic in their own ways, surprising one another.

Eden's TV-drama ambition is also a positive influence. The DVD-style chapter system allows you to skip the difficult bits without missing anything important (a godsend in at least two situations), the episodic structure offers "Previously on..." story summaries that pick you up the morning after a late night, and the camerawork and scoring affectionately pillage Spielberg and Bruckheimer: cliff or building-side rope climbs are a regular fixture, and every one is memorable and exotic, whether you're dodging debris, watching a subway carriage fall a thousand feet past you into the gloom, or inching upwards suspended by the flaming wreckage of a helicopter. Set-piece cut-scenes are rapid-fire money-shots.

For all its good qualities though, Alone in the Dark is a frustrating game to play. Having done so well to avoid the tried-and-trusted genre tropes of idols, badges and keys scattered around zombie-infested buildings that have to be transported past endless set-piece encounters to achieve things, Eden messes it up with a hopeless control system that proves just as pointlessly convoluted. It doesn't just grab defeat from the jaws of victory, it has to press a dozen buttons in a complex sequence across a number of different screens and view perspectives to do so.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 3

The inventory system is a bit fiddly, but the limits it places on you add to the tension.

For example, the left stick has to do movement and turning (both of which are clunky and leaden), with the right stick swinging your head left and right on a narrow arc. This is because the right stick is meant to be for swinging baseball bats and smashing fire extinguishers through wooden doors, so you can understand why they did it, but as a result getting around quickly is always difficult, and manoeuvring in close quarters is clumsy and awkward. There's a first-person option, which separates moving and strafing from turning, but you can't pick one - you have to use both at different times. Third-person is for interaction, while first-person is for looking and shooting. The game switches you between them where necessary, and on a couple of occasions for no obvious reason.

Elsewhere, you find yourself having to concentrate to do even the simplest things, like healing, which involves pressing right on the d-pad, then holding the right trigger as a medical spray is held over an affected area, then pushing the left stick around to move to the next wound. Running away from a monster, turning and throwing an explosive to shoot in mid-air requires a left-stick click to turn swiftly, a pause to equip gun and explosive, then using the left trigger to set up your throwing arc, angling it with the right-stick and pulling the right trigger to fire at the right moment. By this stage the enemy is either upon you or too close to throw the explosive without blowing yourself up too. You can use the left and right bumpers to cycle items available to each of Carnby's hands, and set-up d-pad direction presets for favoured configurations, but these options just complicate the interface further.

All the best things are too hard to do, and because there's so much to do you often do one thing when you mean another: switching off the torch while trying to run, pulling yourself through to the backseat of a car when you meant to turn the steering wheel when you first climbed in. When it's not clumsy, it's fiddly: if there's a medical spray and some bandages in a cupboard, and you've already got bandages, you have to go into the inventory and drop the existing bandages so you can pick up the new ones to gain access to the spray. Context-sensitive actions, like picking up objects, stack on top of each other in close quarters, so you find yourself twitching the stick this way and that in the hope of getting in the right position to pick up some sticky tape or a water bottle. Even towards the end of the game, it's a fumble, and this is on top of having a restricted inventory that forces you to keep dumping stuff in close quarters to accommodate other things, which you then struggle to pick up.

You could argue that some of this is the Resident Evil theory of restrictive controls generating tension, but it's just as plausible that Alone in the Dark is too busy trying to be different to other games to notice what it's getting wrong. Where an action used to require zero real input, like healing, or used to be inexplicable, like carrying around an inventory of weapons and equipment, here it must be elaborate, practical, considered. All that thought and no one pointed out that you can't move, attack, defend or pick things up competently.

It's not just the controls that are clumsy, either: the first couple of episodes are full of glitches, clichéd puzzles and dodgy sequences that don't come off. The car chase sequence through New York streets is the most broken: the city's being torn apart, buses flying overhead, tarmac cleft and buildings toppling, so the peculiar handling and rutted terrain conspire to set you back as much as possible, and each snag usually gives the pursuing scripted sequence a chance to gobble you up and force you to restart. By the time you've watched the same bus fall off the same ledge rising at the same angle for the umpteenth time, any suspension of disbelief has long since snapped like overstretched elastic under a flame. Once in Central Park, things become more straightforward as you move between objectives sticking to the simplest path to avoid being overrun by monsters. In fact the game becomes rather linear, and produces some of its best moments.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 4

The rope-climbing and rappelling sections are more than interludes: they're among the game's most dramatic moments, and well executed.

But in much the same way the controls miss the point in their attempts to be distinctive, so - in and amongst all its best moments - the general gameplay succumbs to problems as old as the genre itself. There are unsympathetic checkpoints, which put you back in the game prior to a tricky puzzle you'd already completed, or expect you to finish a ten-minute battle with enemies who can attack from near and far, with tentacle tongues that knock things out of your hands. As you get to the end of the game, you're also asked to go out into the park to take out a sequence of evil trees, which involves driving all around and setting them alight using severely limited resources. Some of these scenarios are quite interesting and inventive, but really they're only there to stop you finishing the game for a bit longer, and of course to make things difficult the trees are conspicuously positioned away from sources of fire.

Yet in spite of all this, Alone in the Dark is ultimately likeable, even lovable. If you go back and read those opening paragraphs again, there's a game there that every gamer would want. Inventive, flexible, considered. It's stunning to look at it in places, too, and it's capable of classic gaming moments: quieter than the Would You Kindlies and This Was A Triumphs, but just as special. And in Edward Carnby's practical survivor, Eden has a tool players will enjoy sharpening. The problem is that every time you get excited about Alone in the Dark, it shuts you down. At times it's akin to Atari's Boiling Point: Road To Hell of three years ago; throw any score on the ten-point scale and it will stick to something, but there's so much friction on the lower end that it's often impossible to pull away and remember when you brushed past genius. You want to love it, but it just keeps letting you down, and in the end that's the impression that sticks to the wall and stays there.

7 / 10

Alone in the Dark is due out on Xbox 360, PC, Wii and PS2 on 20th June, with a PS3 version still in development. Xbox 360 version reviewed.

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (210) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Scurrminator #1 4 years ago

    FIRST ETC ETC, NOT AS GOOD AS MGS ZOMG

  • Tejstar #2 4 years ago

    Not too bad given other scores. It seemed to have quite a few good ideas but maybe it was too ambitious for its own good, to be a truly AAA title.

  • beastmaster #3 4 years ago

    First?

  • beastmaster #4 4 years ago

    Damn ! 2nd. Why did I bother going to try and see the score. Oh well. Will go look now.

  • absolutezero #5 4 years ago

    Pre-order is staying in place. As a huge fan of the genre I think I'll have suffered through much worse to get to the juicy horror beneath.

  • beastmaster #6 4 years ago

    7/10? Good enough for me. Will buy on Friday. Perhaps I should read the review now.

  • Triggerhappytel #7 4 years ago

    So, some great concepts brought down by some extremely irritating flaws and bad designs? Pretty much what I'd expected, tbh, although I think this one is destined for some very mixed reviews.

  • TheDifficult3rdAlbum #8 4 years ago

    First page!

  • Paukl #9 4 years ago

    Hmmmm, I think I might wait for this to drop in price a little, or maybe wait for a demo.

    There's no excuse for clunky controls.

  • Katsumoto #10 4 years ago

    Buy on PC or Rent on Wii. THe ultimate dilemma of our generation. I suppose the Wii and PS2 versions may be nothing like the one reviewed? I need to read more!

  • stoopidgreg #11 4 years ago

    the score was expected.

  • metalmonk #12 4 years ago

    i'll wait for the ps3 version

  • SuperNashwan #13 4 years ago

    No excuse for frustrating contols given the amount of functionality on a modern jopypad. That kind of poor design would wind me up every time i played this (like Metriod Prime 2 which to my mind appeared deliberately obscure for its own sake).

    Holding out for RE 5 on the basis of this review.

  • monkie_king #14 4 years ago

    "Oh dear," said Paddington.

  • drumbaby #15 4 years ago

    Sounds like it tried far too hard.

  • Bits #16 4 years ago

    This is pretty much what I expected. Been looking forward to this for a while now, but it was far too ambitious to completely deliver, but from the review it sounds like it is still well worth getting, I can't wait to play it.

  • Darkedge #17 4 years ago

    shame Eden are good developers and I'm hoping for Test Drive 2: TOP GEAR.

    Oh well may rent or borrow it but the control issues push it off my buy list :(

  • monkie_king #18 4 years ago

    Never mind, Atari's fortunes will soon be turned around now Phil Harrison is on board.

  • Benno #19 4 years ago

    First page

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #20 4 years ago

    "What sort of time of day is that to print a review?"

    Basically the earliest we could. Sorry it's a bit late in the day!

    "So, some great concepts brought down by some extremely irritating flaws and bad designs?"

    Exactly.

    I've seen the scores bandied about today. 3/10 would be exceptionally harsh - Oli and I have both played Alone and neither of us felt that way. I expect the scores will be a bit all over the shop though - it's such a varied game in quality and focus that you could come down just about anywhere if you really wanted to.

  • mkreku #21 4 years ago

    I don't care about fumbled controls, I can get used to almost anything (remember the original Gothic..). The rest sounds spectacular to me. This is on my must-buy list anyhow!

    Oh, and I loved Boiling Point too, despite the floating leopards :D

  • TheNinkyNonk #22 4 years ago

    "Combat is brutal and unsustainable"

    In English, please?

  • des #23 4 years ago

    Interesting,maybe i will get it.

  • TheNinkyNonk #24 4 years ago

    Sounds like you can add at least another point, perhaps two, if your pad is like another limb (which mine is) and not something to be baflfed by when asked to do unusual things with it.

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #25 4 years ago

    "In English, please?"

    Er, it's very violent and in-your-face and so punishing you can't do it for too long without dying.

  • mcmothercruncher #26 4 years ago

    When is the Wii review due Mr Eurogamer?

  • NewbieZilla #27 4 years ago

    As good as MGO, then.

  • OrangeGoblin #28 4 years ago

    Sounds like a rental, but on 360 or Wii?

  • Irien #29 4 years ago

    Control system sounds like it was designed for Wii and backported onto a pad. Worth a re-review when the Wii version is available?

  • smelly #30 4 years ago

    Right.. That's it...

    ENOUGH OF GOING ON ABOUT THE FUCKING SCORE FFS.. THE *WORDS* TELL YOU WHEVER TO BUY IT OR NOT.. NOT THE NUMBER AT THE END!!!


    Sheesh.. Sometimes i wonder why reviewers bother to right reviews.. I'm gonna set up a website which just gives games scores and nothing else.

  • smelly #31 4 years ago

    i feel much better now

  • penhalion #32 4 years ago

    It's at times like this that I wish they had delayed it and fixed the controls. I may even hold out for the PS3 version as hopefully Atari will take note of reviewer comments and do something about the clunky interface. A patch should also be made for the 360 version. I have no idea what the PC version controls are like though.

    Edit: For anyone wondering, the Wii version is out at the same time as the 360 version. Game already have them in but, will not sell it until friday.
    Edited by 1 at 18/06/08 @ 18:22

  • smelly #33 4 years ago

    I'll start my game review webshite here (here are my GENUINE scores for games i've played recently - with no explanation to why i'm giving said scores) - all 360 versions:

    Halo 3: 7/10
    GTA 4: 7/10
    Dead Rising: 9/10
    Skate : 9/10
    BioShock : 8/10
    Oblivion: 7/10
    COD 4: 9.5/10
    Stuntman: 5/10


    Wow.. This is easier than i thought it'd be.. anyone want to give me sponsorship?

  • Rush2112 #34 4 years ago

    My review copy states I'm not allowed to publish a review until Friday. What gives?

  • smelly #35 4 years ago

    "For anyone wondering, the Wii version is out at the same time as the 360 version. "

    I'll wait for the review.. no doubt it'll be a shitty port of the 360 version and the 360 versions is the one to get.

  • penhalion #36 4 years ago

    @smelly

    Are you just having a wierd day :)

    Edit: As for the Wii version apparently it doesn't have an open central park and parts of the story have changed. The controls seem better than the 360 though. Seems they didn't just do a straight port.
    Edited by 2 at 18/06/08 @ 18:51

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #37 4 years ago

    "Oli and I have both played Alone..."

    I say, no need for that here, old boy!

  • bad09 #38 4 years ago

    was expecting a more positive review but i'm still getting this

  • Darren #39 4 years ago

    The controls sound awful and really off-putting. I'm glad I cancelled my pre-order really and whether I do pick it up at a later date very much depends on how the demo plays.

    Also how come the review makes no mention of the game's graphics? Has the dreadful tearing of the recent videos been fixed at all for example?

  • SuperNashwan #40 4 years ago

    The video's on this site did nothing for me as the driving section looked highlycontived and the 1st person 3rd person thing looked like a royal pain in the ass. Bit of a shame as the screenshots with the views over central park looked quite beauiiful.

  • George-Roper #41 4 years ago

    Shit, I predicted 6/10.

    Review reads like a 6/10 and, well, 7/10 may as well be 6/10.

    Ahem ;-)

  • penhalion #42 4 years ago

    I predict a riot.......

  • dryden555 #43 4 years ago

    Fiddly controls arent soooo bad if that offers more complexity and gameplay choices for me. I'll look at other reviews before I buy.

  • miiiguel #44 4 years ago

    Muscleblade info got me worried, but now I can't wait. I'm glad I couldn't cancel my pre-order as it was in "dispatching soon" status.

  • byron_hinson #45 4 years ago

    @Rush2112 - most sites get different review publishing dates.

  • GitSomE_UK #46 4 years ago

    Number 50 \o/

  • Bartacus #47 4 years ago

    The more I compare the reviews here on Eurogamer the more I'm coming to the conclusion the reviewers are a bit off on the numbers.

    I'm sure Alone in the Dark is not worth 1 point less than the awesome 8 scoring MGS4 (which should have been a 9) then again I'm not sure GTA4 deserved a 10 either more like a 9.

    I think a mediocre game like this should have had no higher than a 6 score.

    It would be much better if we had comments from 3 other reviewers giving us there opinion on the review score, what they would have given it & why.

  • miiiguel #48 4 years ago

    Have you played it ?

    Not to pick on you, but... you have to admit labeling a game as "mediocre" or "oh so awesome" one has to play it first, no ?

  • Bartacus #49 4 years ago

    I have to admit I was concerned about that remark I think average would have been a better turn of phrase.

    It does read like a 6 to me though.
    Edited by 1 at 18/06/08 @ 19:33

  • Darren #50 4 years ago

    The EG review makes it sound like Alone in the Dark is a great game but it's dragged down by niggling issues and those controls. Sounds to me like the game has been released before it was finished properly but that wouldn't be the first time that has happened and it certainly won't be the last. Still it is a shame because I was rather hoping that Alone in the Dark would be this year's BioShock (and in case you're wondering, I thought BioShock was awesome).

  • growleroo #51 4 years ago

    Well, I loathe the controls for RE4 (so much so that the missus had to slap a moan-embargo on me) but loved the game itself, so I reckon I'll give this one a look-see. And not just because the playthrough of the original AITD on YouTube gave me little shivers of nostalgic delight...

    To sidetrack back to the RE thing though - why oh WHY can Capcom not do a decent 3rd person control scheme?! Can someone tell me that RE5 will have strafing? Please?? OK, rant over. :)

  • Bartacus #52 4 years ago

    That it Was Darren.

  • mingster #53 4 years ago

    Gah they should have just redone the original PC version of alone in the dark with updated graphics that would have been a definate 9/10

  • spekkeh #54 4 years ago

    Is EG going to do a separate Wii review shortly, or not?

  • smelly #55 4 years ago

    "The more I compare the reviews here on Eurogamer the more I'm coming to the conclusion the reviewers are a bit off on the numbers. "

    "It does read like a 6 to me though."

    etc etc..


    GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Are you trying to make my head explode?
    Edited by 1 at 18/06/08 @ 19:45

  • Mudo #56 4 years ago

    The game looks very interesting but I can't be doing with fiddly controls. I'm just not good enough at these sorts of games to be having to contend with awkward controls.

  • thenastypasty #57 4 years ago

    sounds ok , i wasnt expecting to much i pick it up when iv nothing else to play

  • the_sas_man #58 4 years ago

    "Why the f*ck can't Atari just make a sequel to Fahrenheit, it's the only decent game Atari have released in the past 10 years."

    Isn't that supposed to be the super looking Heavy Rain?

  • GamesConnoisseur #59 4 years ago

    Disappointing that the flaws is such enough to be considering game breaking but as Mugwum said there are good points, but which version?

    Only wondered if Wii would be able to do a good job enough especially for the control and thus worth considering over X360/PS3/PS2 instead?

    If not then here I ll rent X360 version for this weekend as got Blockbuster vouchers!

  • AllenSpawn #60 4 years ago

    @Vanmunt
    They've had 2 years to sort out the controls..... i don't think the ps version is gonna make much difference.
    ESPECIALLY with THAT controller;)

  • space_ace #61 4 years ago

    well at least it has diaries...

  • VMerken #62 4 years ago

    Growleroo: To sidetrack back to the RE thing though - why oh WHY can Capcom not do a decent 3rd person control scheme?! Can someone tell me that RE5 will have strafing? Please?? OK, rant over. :)

    Pity you don't "get" the controls, I suggest practising a bit more. They're not that hard, really, and strafing is barely needed in a Resident Evil anyway. Rant over, too.

  • RedPanda #63 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • penhalion #64 4 years ago

    @VMerken

    Capcom have already stated that there is no strafing in RE5. Apparently they think it's ok to have slightly crappy gameplay in order to artificaially boost the atmostphere. So you can't walk slowly backwards while shooting because they want the bad guys to catch up with you. Apparently that builds the tention. Strangely for me in RE4, that just ensured that I nearly threw my controller across the room and when I died it was because of the controls and not my own skill level. Why the heck is that acceptable. I simply labelled the RE4 controls as broken and muddled through the game with the odd bit of cursing when the chainsaw guy got me because I couldn't take a few paces backwards while shooting him..

  • DaRockwilder1 #65 4 years ago

    Dam! Too late to cancel my preorder.

  • NewbieZilla #66 4 years ago

    "Why the f*ck can't Atari just make a sequel to Fahrenheit, it's the only decent game Atari have released in the past 10 years."

    Atari published that, Quantic Dream were the devs. Sadly, their next game, Heavy Rain will be a PS3 exclusive. Well, sadly for those of us without PS3s.

    Assuming that Heavy Rain is as good as is to be hoped, anyway.

  • evilboo #67 4 years ago

    what about the wii version? add a point or divide by two?

  • Dezm0nd #68 4 years ago

    the game could be really good, it's just full of bugs. All it needs it needs is some polishing to make it actually function like a game.

  • fredrikpj #69 4 years ago

    I managed to get this game early due to the local store selling it today. Having played about 4 hours, I must say I've really loved every second of it. Yep, control is sluggish, but it certainly isn't a showstopper. This game really draws you in, lots of surprises happening constantly and it really gives you a fresh experience, some stuff in it is just brilliant.
    Only one thing irritates me slightly and thats the car controls, seems small debree can send your car spinning in wierd directions, still minor stuff compared to the experience.

    Won't give it a score, I'll just say I've had an awesome experience so far, and I can't ask much more from a game :-)

  • NewbieZilla #70 4 years ago

    Good driving bits in games that weren't specifically designed for it is hard to come by. I liked Everything or Nothing when that came out, but I struggle to think of good examples with driving bits.

    I expect driving bits to be bad by default.

  • Codework #71 4 years ago

    I've not seen nor player it but I'd give it a 7 too.

  • TheJuriel #72 4 years ago

    I knew it. Survival horror = always crap for controls. Agh.

  • Nill #73 4 years ago

    I'd like to know how the controls are on the PC version though.

  • p00ntang #74 4 years ago

    RE4 controls were shit. Why not use the awesome aiming controls from GTA4? or Sphincter Cell for that matter..

  • timberwolf #75 4 years ago

    does this have replay value???
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 02:16

  • Leeks! #76 4 years ago

    I just wanted to comment on what a remarkably well-written review that was. At the end, it's almost as if Bramwell is tearing out his own veins as he assigns the score; he knows that he has to, that the frothing masses demand it, but he also knows his opinion is so much more complex, more nuanced than an arbitrary thumbs up or down. As far as I'm concerned as Joe consumer, all scores should be assigned in a vacuum, and in this case, seven gives exactly the right impression. It's a very good, if flawed game, and that statement is exceptionally well qualified by the text of the review. To put it bluntly, who gives a shit how it is relative to Metal Gear or Ninja Gaiden? It is, in no way, like either of those games. As for the games it is like, those comparisons and differences are spoken to within the text. In fact, if the score were to be done away with entirely, this article is exactly what games criticism should look like, reviewing be damned.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 02:36

  • Tonka #77 4 years ago

    Will there be a separate review for the Wii version?

  • OllyJ #78 4 years ago

    I do like the look of this game, and they seem to be doing some interesting things so maybe I'll give it a go in a month or so, some of the melee combat looks fairly awkward mind!

  • muscleblade #79 4 years ago

    The Wii version is made by another developer (not EDEN).
    So the game is probably very different too.

    @Miguel
    Im not surprised if 7/10 will be among the highest scores this game will receive. It is mediocre according to my friend who bought it on monday. Much better than CSI im sure and you played that so you might like this of course. I rather play NG2.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 08:39

  • Bennicus #80 4 years ago

    *something about numbers to annoy Smelly*

  • Buztafen #81 4 years ago

    Meh, getting this free from empire so not really fussed about the score. Plus im really fucking intelligent and awesome so the control system wont be a problem.

    10/10 for me....

  • CUR715 #82 4 years ago

    I assume Empire will be posting theirs out pretty soon?

  • seasidebaz #83 4 years ago

    I applaud EG. Their last few reviews for games that people really wanted to be 10/10 efforts have been very fair.

    To be honest, I was expecting this to be worse. Most of the previews just revolved around the fact that "you can combine items! Millions of ways to kill / distract / avoid enemies!" (apart from the one with the lights that swung round when shot...). Yeah, great fun. Why can't you just give me a gun and make the core game more fun?

    Now if people can just stop going on about the fact that yes, this got a 7/10, and accept that it has some serious flaws, then we can all get on with our lives and be happy. Except for those people who can't accept that the 360 is getting some less-than-stellar games. But then so is the PS3. And I'm waiting for Nintendo to release a shovel accessory for the Wii to make developer's lives even easier.

  • Daymare #84 4 years ago

    @jspoole

    What, were Leeks!' words too much for your feeble brain to handle?;)

  • muscleblade #85 4 years ago

    "To be honest, I was expecting this to be worse"

    It is worse. 7/10 is just one mans opinion and the metacritic average wont be that high.

  • TheBard #86 4 years ago

    Is there an easy or novice difficulty setting? Because then I can cope with the bad controls and just play the game for the story. God mode would be fine, too.

    Why do so few games have proper cheats nowadays?

  • Killerbee #87 4 years ago

    Great review.

    The big question for me is whether the PC or Wii versions solve the problems with the controls - sounds as though there's a great game here struggling to get out from behind a borked user interface. I can certainly imagine that using a mouse instead of an analogue stick would make things quicker and easier to control; same with the Wii remote.

    Anyone played either the PC or Wii versions?

  • Bulbatron #88 4 years ago

    TheBard - Because unfortunately people get burnt at the stake for admitting to using cheats. I hear that there is no easy difficulty, and that the DVD-style episode skip function is supposed to serve a similar function. Bit too difficult - skip ahead!

    I'd rather they had also included more difficulty setttings though.
    Edited by 2 at 19/06/08 @ 09:48

  • jimboton #89 4 years ago

    It seems to me that the reason for a 7 instead of a 9 or a 10 here is that the reviewer is so fond of the usual spoonfed storytelling in games of this sort (simple controls, puzzles that solve themselves, vita chambers, big arrows pointing to objectives, glowing interactive elements) that whenever a game dares to stray from this in some way or another, dares to require some time and effort in order to master the controls, solve the puzzles and develop strategies,it gets punished as if it were a design fault...

    Nice, do keep sending this message to developers please, games are not nearly dumb enough yet...

  • Daymare #90 4 years ago

    You assume too much, jimboton.

    /is cranky

  • Negotiator #91 4 years ago


    Halo 3: 7/10
    GTA 4: 7/10
    Dead Rising: 9/10
    Skate : 9/10
    BioShock : 8/10
    Oblivion: 7/10
    COD 4: 9.5/10
    Stuntman: 5/10

    Now I know why you call your self smelly, because you talk alot of shit. Dead Rising 9/10 give me a break, but Halo 3 and GTA 4 are only 7/10, hello is anyone at home, I don't think so.

  • seasidebaz #92 4 years ago

    Wooo, just checked MetaCritic, it would appear the game really IS that bad. Definately a no-buy for me then.

    And @jimboton:

    If you like complex control schemes, go buy an Atari Jaguar. Then tell me that controls should require effort to master. This day and age of context-sensitive button presses is a godsend, especially for people like me who don't have time to read an epic the size of War and Peace of an instruction manual.

  • Pac #93 4 years ago

    @jimboton

    Funny, I thought that that Tom's review applauded the game's attempts to include inventive elements but was he was forced to admit that the broken control system made the enjoyment of said elements very difficult.

    Must have read a different review :)

  • byron_hinson #94 4 years ago

    hmmm now told we won't get review copies for a couple of weeks. Say no more

  • NewbieZilla #95 4 years ago

    "Wooo, just checked MetaCritic, it would appear the game really IS that bad. Definately a no-buy for me then."

    At 1 you were uncertain, but 2 its game over?

  • Goffee #96 4 years ago

    Should have reviewed the PC version, I bet the controls will be fine on that - stupid consoles with their limited buttons.

  • andromeda #97 4 years ago

    bollox really wanted to pick this up

  • XdarXideX #98 4 years ago

    I've just finished the first episode and I can tell you that the only real problem so far is the control... or lack thereof.

    The game switches from a traditional survival horror camera to a third person shooter camera and back frequently depending on whether or not you're holding an object. When it does this you switch from an adventure game style left stick (push to move in that direction) to a Resi 4 style left stick (move and turn) in TPS camera... except when you're holding a gun and it's a FPS style mode... *SIGH*

    If it was a TPS all the way through with the left stick used to move and the right stick used to aim/turn then it would be more fun and smooth. It's not like they couldn't have added a "ready" button to allow you to swing objects around with the right stick.

    It has still been fun though. Certainly worth renting!

  • sneetch #99 4 years ago

    Bugger, I'll wait for the demo.

  • muscleblade #100 4 years ago

    "We so wanted to like this game but it kept slapping us in the face with bad controls, repetitive puzzles and the annoying inventory. [Issue#34] "

    = No purchase or waste of precious gaming time for me.

  • Bulbatron #101 4 years ago

    My Special Edition has just arrived. The postman forgot to give me the parcel and had to come back. :-)

  • Dezm0nd #102 4 years ago

    @Goffee

    The controls are awful on the PC too.

  • muscleblade #103 4 years ago

    Tom gave The Club ( a pretty good game but not great) an 8/10. So he thinks this is not as good as The Club. If hes opinion counts more than the metacritic average then go buy The Club then.

  • muscleblade #104 4 years ago

    "My Special Edition has just arrived"

    Whats to smile about.
    The special edition is nothing special at all. That crappy plastic figure and the non working zippo is low quality. Bioschock and Assasins Creed had very good special edition packages.

  • darshannon #105 4 years ago

    Whatever you do, do not... I repeat, DO NOT buy this for the PC under any circumstances. The PC version is absolutely uncontrollable. You can't do anything. You can't even move with any precision. And it's a real shame, since the game itself seems to be rather good. But the controls are broken, and that renders the game almost unplayable.

  • Darren #106 4 years ago

    @darshannon - Surely the fact that the PC version carries the "Games for Windows" logo means the game plays identically to the 360 version when using the 360 controller?

  • Darren #107 4 years ago

    P.S. What are the minimum and recommended specs for PC Alone in the Dark? Will it run OK on my 2 GB Athlon64 X2 4200+ Windows XP-based PC with 512 MB GeForce 7900 GT graphics @ 1680x1050, the native resolution of my 22" widescreen monitor? I can get it for just £22.49 from GAME and at least I can force on v-sync and use triple buffering to eliminate the tearing. How does the engine run... well or it is a resource hog?

    /eagerly awaits response

  • darshannon #108 4 years ago

    @Darren:
    Maybe it does, but I don't have a 360 controller on my PC, and the game won't recognize my Thrustmaster T-Mini, no matter what I do.

  • XdarXideX #109 4 years ago

    A larger amount of buttons doesn't mean the control method is different. It's the fact the movement control changes all the time and combat is ugly and clunky for it... I know people complain about Silent Hill's controls in the same way but this is so much worse. I'm two thirds through episode 2 and the ever-changing controls frustrated me enough to turn it off. I'll probably go back to it later but a game shouldn't be frustrating this early at least.

  • muscleblade #110 4 years ago

    Im just glad i dont need to suffer through this game like some of you will. Life is just too short to waste time on games like this.

  • mikeck #111 4 years ago

    "Im just glad i dont need to suffer through this game like some of you will. Life is just too short to waste time on games like this. "

    But life isn't too short for comments like yours? Then again is my life not short enough to write what I just did, hmmmm? :)

  • seasidebaz #112 4 years ago

    lolz @ people trying to defend the game. The more I hear, the more turd it sounds. Shame as it had some good ideas.

    I agree with muscleblade. Life is too short. But when at work, comment away...

    /ponders life length being put into perspective on 27th June... or Brawlday, as I shall affectionately call it

  • spekkeh #113 4 years ago

    "I agree with muscleblade. Life is too short. But when at work, comment away... "

    Lol. Oh yeah, work, that's what I was supposed to do.

  • jimboton #114 4 years ago

    @ Pac

    No, it's definitely the same review ;). only where it says 'broken' I can't help but wonder if the problem isn't that the reviewer just prefers simpler games where you don't have to perform combined actions just to heal yourself. To me it doesn't sound like the control is clunky or unresponsive, it sounds like it is complex and methodical and that makes some parts of the game harder than they would be otherwise...

  • muscleblade #115 4 years ago

    I tested the game yesterday at the game shop and trust me on this: The controls are horrible. Its like you are walking on glue and driving in cement that isnt completely dry yet.

    The fact that there isnt a demo prior to release like promised is not a coincidence.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 13:09

  • 7creature #116 4 years ago

    To penahalion: Capcom have already stated that there is no strafing in RE5. Apparently they think it's ok to have slightly crappy gameplay in order to artificaially boost the atmostphere.
    Circling around like a rabid monkey would seem a bit funny IMO in RE :-) So I am glad they don't plan to include this silly "strafing" (I don't think I am "strafing" in real life anyway - at least not in the way most games handle show it :-)

    when I died it was because of the controls and not my own skill level
    Well, if you died, it was because your skill level was not sufficient for the game/situation. What is "skill level" in RE? Proficiency how you can play the game, isn't it?

    (though I have to admit I also felt some anxiety when I died on the umpteenth time during the last part (pushing knife away) of infamous knifing QTB scene - I was not entirely sure whether the game regsters the right button or not... :-)

    /OT

    One thing that bothered me about AitD 4 was aiming and shooting - if I recall correctly, you can miss and you can miss very often even if the target is close and straight ahead of the gun barrel...

  • rob230 #117 4 years ago

    I wish EG would ditch x/10 scores and just let the review speak for itself.

  • Pac #118 4 years ago

    @jimboton

    Fair enough. But given the amount of negative feedback regarding the control system I suspect that there is something fundamentally wrong with it.

    For some people clumsy controls might not be game breaker if they are a massive fan of the franchise But I don't think Tom's cack handedness is to blame :)

    I am all for having control methods that increase the immersion of the player but if they are not implemented well then they fail to add to the player's enjoyment and become tiresome.

    It is a shame, as I had high hopes for this game. I'll wait for the demo and see for myself...

    ...still waiting

  • muscleblade #119 4 years ago

    "I'll wait for the demo and see for myself...

    ...still waiting "

    Dont get your hopes up my friend. If they release a demo for this they must be really stupid.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 13:46

  • Salt_The_Fries #120 4 years ago

    Hey, folks. I'm currently playing it, I started playing yesterday at 11:00pm and I finished playing at 6:00am today, and I feel entitled to discourage you from letting reviews influence you and put off from the game. It's not a flawless game, and the controls are bit unconvenient at first, same with inventory, but once you get used to them, you have many possibilities and it's very rewarding. I'd say that defining 4 sets of objects is a very helpful feature, because you can activate them by pressing just one button on d-pad, and then A, X, Y, or B, so you can draw your favourite combination at the moment you feel it will be best suitable in no time! The reviewer got right with the drawbacks of the game, but he exaggerated a lot, and these minor drawbacks are easy to overcome. This game features unique combination of gameplay, and you have to switch between TPP and FPP quite a lot, which makes it very exciting and diverse. And the car escape sequence was also exciting, as it was slightly different each time, the cars reacted differently each time and they are randomly placed most of the time. I also like healing system alot, it reminds me of Call of Cthulhu, but very improved, there are about 15 different places on your body that have visible wounds, and these wounds as they really are in the game, appear also in the cut-scenes! You have to use bandages to stop bleeding, etc. When you have lost a great deal of energy, the screen looses its colors and it starts to become greyish. Don't be blindly influenced by just scores, it's easy to overcome the difficulties of this game and once you do that, it's a very rewarding game. This game deserves 8/10 at least. The controls are annoying only in the beginning, and I needed some time to get used to them, the game was changing perspective a lot, but after a half of first episode, I mastered the controls, and I don't see anything wrong with the driving mechanics.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 13:51

  • Pac #121 4 years ago

    @Salt_The_Fries

    Please don't metion Call of Cthulhu. That game was very broken.

    Started off good and then became the most frustrating formuliac FPS I have ever had the misery to play.

    Constantly respawning enemies and limited amo indeed! (kind of like a very poor man's System Shock).

  • muscleblade #122 4 years ago

    @Salt_The_Fries

    Whats your gamertag? I would like too see if you actually completed it without skipping any sequences.

  • Salt_The_Fries #123 4 years ago

    Of course Call of Cthulhu was flawed as hell, and was getting more and more worse after you obtained your first firearm, but it had some really interesting ideas thrown in there, and about my gamertag? I don't have my xbox plugged to the net yet, but I didn't skip any of sequences so far.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 14:20

  • systems #124 4 years ago

    The only good thing about Call of Cthulhu was that bit where you were staying in the hotel and had to lock all the doors. That was another example of an ambitious game (wound effects, madness effects, no GUI) which was ruined in later development when some idiot decided there had to be scripted fight scenes in it. I was looking forward to that game as well. :(

    I'll get Condemned 2 for my horror fix I think and come back to this later.

  • Salt_The_Fries #125 4 years ago

    I just bought it. About Condemned 2: it's a very good follow-up to the original. I enjoyed it a great deal, and it's worth picking up. Okay, I'm getting back to the game.

  • penhalion #126 4 years ago

    Call of Cthulhu had lots of great moments. The ship where you had to hang on to the railings when the waves hit, the hotel room escape with the wardrobes and the locked doors. The sneaking through the warehouse to escape, the ability to use scenery to stop enemies. The truck escape as you go across the ice, the raid of thew warehouse with the G-men etc. etc.

    One of the finest examples of a lost classic if ever there was one.

  • Tonka #127 4 years ago

    Chances that Salt_The_Fries is getting paid to post:
    9.5/10

  • tubeoftoothpaste #128 4 years ago

    ha ha

  • penhalion #129 4 years ago

    @Tonka

    Salt_n_fries does seem to have appeared only to post about AITD doesn't s/he
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 14:44

  • Trigga_Tybalt #130 4 years ago

    that seemed like a high score after the words and only 1 behind mgs4. but wait hear me out. i think the decision to delay PS3 version was also helped by the fact the mgs4 is just out. market is too crowded.

  • tiddles #131 4 years ago

    Call Of Cthulhu was one of my favourite games of the last generation. So there.

  • tubeoftoothpaste #132 4 years ago

    could do with some salt n fries actually

  • Camorrista #133 4 years ago

    7Creature, some dude in some other thread suggested a system close to Gears of War - strafing is only possible at walking speed, any shooting while moving (or running, even) compromises accuracy. That sounds damn good to me.

    Modify it to suit Resi gameplay (drop the roll, maybe build in a chance to stumble) and you've improved the RE4 controls 100 %. Which IMO were already good, mind you.

    It doesn't have to be rocket-jumping and bunnyhopping all the time.
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 15:18

  • Pac #134 4 years ago

    Sorry Cthulhu fans.

    But as others have mentioned it was a bit of a badly flawed attempt at something great.

    Loved the hiding, puzzling and chasing elements but hated the unavoidable shooting sections.

    Might give it another shot one day when I have a lot of time on my hands

    Should qualify for a pension in 30 years (on second thoughts not sure the 360 will last that long).

  • Bulbatron #135 4 years ago

    I'm not really enjoying it at the moment, I am on the section where you have to speed through the streets of New York in a taxi-cab. I have been at it ALL afternoon but I cannot get past it. Would it have really hurt to put a checkpoint in there somewhere? I know I could skip the part but I don't really feel I should have to. An easier difficulty setting for as not-so-pro gamers would have been rather more thoughtful.

  • penhalion #136 4 years ago

    @Bulbatron

    from playing my friends review copy on his machine. Try the following The smalll outcrops are what are causing you to crash not the large cars. It seems to be set-up so that you can aim the car at the gaps in the crashed vehicles and the jumps and nothing will hit you while on that direct path (even if it looks like it might) hope that works for you. It took me a few tries too until I realised it was a scripted event.

  • byron_hinson #137 4 years ago

    GameReactor has given it 3/10 if anyone has any interest.

  • Browntracky #138 4 years ago

    No news on the wii version yet. Not a good sign. I was gonna choose between this and No more heroes this weekend. One beam katana please. Shame though, I wanted this to be good. :-(

  • byron_hinson #139 4 years ago

    No more heroes is in the HMV sale too mate

  • Browntracky #140 4 years ago

    Cheers fella.

  • DUFFMAN5 #141 4 years ago

    If you guys want a good horror/action fix play Eternal Darkness on the cube/wii.
    A lot better than this.
    Did any one play the AiTD on the PS (was it 1 or 2, I seem to think 2) that was ok-ish.


    I will still buyat some point as I love horror titles
    Edited by 1 at 19/06/08 @ 17:44

  • spookyzombie #142 4 years ago

    I found this really nasty to control. Not liking it at all. I've (strangely) been having far more fun with the new Chronicles of Narnia. Never imagined that would happen.

  • cyber_nicco #143 4 years ago

    Thanks for the keypad puzzle spoiler.

  • seasidebaz #144 4 years ago

    I think the latest Xbox Live Newsletter sums it all up nicely.

    The subject line reads:

    "Are you afraid of the dark? Oh dear...."

    Oh dear indeed.

    @jspoole:

    I underestimated the lengths to which you would go to defend every single game on the 360. Even Yaris sounds more controllable than this game. (Yes, I downloaded Yaris..... free gamerpoints :) if only the game wasn't so crap you couldn't unlock them hehe)

  • Bulbatron #145 4 years ago

    That's it. I can't do this any more. I have been trying to get past the section where you drive the taxi-cab through the streets and I have been at it since this morning. I cannot do it, and I just feel this is beyond a joke. I'm too slow and stupid and that's the end of it. At one point I actually managed to get through the shopping mall and out through the big window into the carpark, but then I couldn't work out which way to go in time and my car got stuck! So I had to start the whole sequence again, which was pretty much the last straw. I'm afraid I've had enough.

    penhalion, thanks for the advice, but unfortunately, I'm just too crap.

    I'm not using the skip feature. If I can't see the whole game then what the fuck is the point.

    I was waiting for ages for this to come out. What a letdown. I think this is going to have to go back to GAME.

    I'm not a big fan of the other controls either - and I thought my experience with the Silent Hill and Resident Evils would help. I think the inventory is pretty awful as well.

    This is only based upon what I've played of course - and admittedly that isn't much, thanks to this poxy driving section

    As it is, I think I'd rather be playing Alone in the Dark - The New Nightmare
    Edited by 3 at 19/06/08 @ 19:26

  • seasidebaz #146 4 years ago

    @farticus:

    I know it is, won't be buying that version either :)

    Unless they use the delay to seriously improve proceedings. Which I doubt.

  • seasidebaz #147 4 years ago

    Also @farticus:

    "Don't try to dismiss other people because you are too in love with the series to admit to it's many, many flaws."

    A direct quote from jspoole himself, who then dismisses everyone who says alone in the dark is pants.

    And then, on this very page, dismisses EG as crap because they "gave NG2 a 7"

    Judge for yourself though... ;)

  • Salt_The_Fries #148 4 years ago

    I'm at the end of Episode 4 and I started playing yesterday at night. I didn't have that much problem with the driving section, I didn't skip anything so far. I attempted driving sequence for about dozen of times, but it wasn't really that hard to put me off.

  • VMerken #149 4 years ago

    Penhalion: Capcom have already stated that there is no strafing in RE5.

    Sorry for the late reply, had a working day today.

    Apparently they think it's ok to have slightly crappy gameplay in order to artificaially boost the atmostphere. So you can't walk slowly backwards while shooting because they want the bad guys to catch up with you. Apparently that builds the tension.

    "Slightly crappy" is your personal opinion, something which has no meaning to me in this context. Rather, it is better to focus on the controls the way they are being implemented (because that is sufficiently absolute to merit a discussion).

    You want to strafe backwards to solve the problem at hand? I'd rather run up to the bad guys, trick them into their attack animations and punish them for it. As far as I'm concerned, it's all about taking the game world as it is, with the controls and constraints given to you by the developers, and break it to your own advantage.

    Soccer would be a lot easier for most attackers if the off-side rule didn't exist. But hey, it's there, and players are (more or less) respecting it because it is part of the game. Similarly, I consider the move set of the player character(s) to be part of the game and thus respect it. Also, it pays off to study the game manual prior to playing - you might discover a move there which might make life a lot easier every now and then.

    I do not care whether or not some bells or whistles are missing and cry about their non-presence. I make due within the limitations and really, so far I haven't noticed any glaring shortcomings (i.e. a missing manoeuvre or precision-lacking controls which make the game frustrating beyond belief) within the RE gaming systems. Or most of the Capcom games I like, for that matter (Onimusha, Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Dino Crisis, ...). The devs give you all the tools you need to beat the game - it's up to you to find the tactics and solutions.

    Strangely for me in RE4, that just ensured that I nearly threw my controller across the room and when I died it was because of the controls and not my own skill level.

    Skill level aside, all you need to do is take a deep breath, try to find a different angle to approach the problem and practise until you're successful. Can't find the solution? Try harder. Getting fed up? Then give up and play a game better suited to your playing style.

    As an example, way back, I remember getting punished time and again by Verdugo while knifing him in RE4. Instead of whining about not being able to walk backwards while stabbing or strafing while stabbing, I kept going at it, and eventually found his weak spots: liquid nitro and a door. Different angles + practise = problem solved.

    Why the heck is that acceptable. I simply labelled the RE4 controls as broken and muddled through the game with the odd bit of cursing when the chainsaw guy got me because I couldn't take a few paces backwards while shooting him..

    Like I said, how about tricking him into an attack first and then retaliate (use the knife to get him to stumble, then use Kick to drop him on the ground for massive damage)? Or starting to shoot him at a greater distance? Or by luring him to a narrow corridor/area where controlled fire can be maintained? Heck, even a metal door spells his doom (think mayor's house in chapter 1-3 here).

    Tactics'o'plenty from where I'm standing, and in no way do the controls limit me in applying them.

    p00ntang: RE4 controls were shit.
    No, your manual dexterity/patience probably is. Try harder or play something else.

    7creature: (though I have to admit I also felt some anxiety when I died on the umpteenth time during the last part (pushing knife away) of infamous knifing QTB scene - I was not entirely sure whether the game regsters the right button or not... :-)

    I know, I had the same impression the first time, too (also with the Armadura statues who drop their weapon and where you have to react to avoid harm (Ashley comes across a few, Leon gets two of them later on)). Basically, the trick is not to react too fast - first make sure you have the right key combination in mind and only then confirm. If you "panic" and tap another combination first, the game takes it you made a mistake and its hurting time. Of course, don't wait too long either.

    The Krauser/Leon knifing sequence is misleading in places, tricking you - using loud noises and quick camera movements - to press the buttons too late or too early or wrongly. Just keep focused on the lower part of the screen, partially "shut out" the movie from your mind and react as described above. It's all about not making a mistake and trying to stay Zen while at it.
    Edited by 5 at 19/06/08 @ 21:31

  • Les #150 4 years ago

    Didn't expect it to actually be decent...

  • Salt_The_Fries #151 4 years ago

    I'm just fed up with people taking everything for granted.

  • seasidebaz #152 4 years ago

    @VMerken:

    Your post is too long. Got bored after Penhalion: Capcom

    So you agree the game is pants too? I, too, enjoy messing around with the scripting.

  • EmiliasHorse #153 4 years ago

    Good review.

    I want to like this game, even love it. Hows about doing a Resi on Game Cube style make over of the first AITD games? I have fond memories playing the first one on my old 486 sx33.

  • VMerken #154 4 years ago

    Your post is too long. Got bored after Penhalion: Capcom

    So you'd prefer 823 one-word posts? Could be arranged if I cared.

    So you agree the game is pants too? I, too, enjoy messing around with the scripting.

    This next-gen Alone in the Dark thing the article talks about? Can't tell, haven't played. Not what I have been responding to, either.

  • el_pollo_diablo #155 4 years ago

    Yeah, RE4 was ace. But it's inventory system was an embarrassment.

  • YourMessageHere #156 4 years ago

    You shouldn't compare the rules of football to the rules of RE4 for two reasons:

    1) RE is a simulation (albeit a very loose one) of real life; contextually all the major actions needed to respond to the situations the game throws at you are available...except one, moving aside. Football by contrast is a game in the same way draughts is, defined totally by the rules. Imagine if a football game appeared where you could only move OR kick.

    2) Rules are defined for a reason; it is not sensible to simply accept that the reason was a good one. If you have to resort to preventing people from doing something that is not only perfectly possible in reality but instinctive while allowing many that are not, I'd judge that to be a lazy way to avoid working on the game to make it better, which to me is a very bad reason. You can look at a computer game as simply a set of rules, some tools and a series of challenges, but not everyone does; to me that totally defeats the point of things like characters and plot and recreations of real things that you can use in an unreal context.

  • Daymare #157 4 years ago

    "But if a 7/10 review is bad to you, then you are a retard. That's mathmatically factual."

    And that's coming from a guy who's whining over EG's Ninja Gaiden II 7/10 score:)

  • muscleblade #158 4 years ago

    "Muscleblade, if life is too short, why keep commenting on a game you've already decided you won't buy it? "

    Im at work so i got time and i get paid while commenting so.

    7/10 is not a bad score but it will be the highest this game scores anywhere. Its just one mans opinion, and in my opinion the controls ruin the game.


    Edited by 1 at 20/06/08 @ 08:23

  • VMerken #159 4 years ago

    Yourmessagehere: 1) RE is a simulation (albeit a very loose one) of real life; contextually all the major actions needed to respond to the situations the game throws at you are available...except one, moving aside. Football by contrast is a game in the same way draughts is, defined totally by the rules. Imagine if a football game appeared where you could only move OR kick.

    Nope. RE is a (video) game (in fact you call it that right after the "simulatiion" bit) which consists of rules (i.e. the limited move set and available resources to bring it to its conclusion) in a confined, virtual geometry, just like soccer which is a game (where the players also have a limited move set and available resources to bring the game to its conclusion) in a "real", but also confined geometry. Both are totally defined by their respective rules and geometry. There is no essential difference.

    2) Rules are defined for a reason; it is not sensible to simply accept that the reason was a good one. If you have to resort to preventing people from doing something that is not only perfectly possible in reality but instinctive while allowing many that are not, I'd judge that to be a lazy way to avoid working on the game to make it better, which to me is a very bad reason.

    Ah but the reason being "bad" is your opinion, something developers have as well and may freely disagree with as they thoroughly test and develop their game. The move set in Resident Evil has been gradually expanded, not because everyone was crying for them, but rather because the game began to contain elements which required them. Devil May Cry (which was going to be Resident Evil 4) features strafing and free-directional movement and superhuman moves because otherwise the game will completely trounce you. In Resident Evil 4 as it is now, game testing and development showed that those things weren't necessary, that a more classic RE scheme with enhancements could be maintained, thus they weren't included . Personal opinion: Resident Evil 4 turned out to be a great game. I trust Capcom's testing and development team far more than the cries of spoilt gamers for this bell and that whistle.

    Either way, I'm confident that IF the game (RE5) truly required strafing, Capcom would have implemented it (it's not like it's a very difficult move to include, and the Devil May Cry example is proof that Capcom is flexible enough to change). If it doesn't, then the developers are telling you to make due with the tools you've got. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, because it tends to increase the challenge, something I'm sorely beginning to miss in the throngs of current-gen games.

    You can look at a computer game as simply a set of rules, some tools and a series of challenges, but not everyone does; to me that totally defeats the point of things like characters and plot and recreations of real things that you can use in an unreal context.

    At what point in the discussion are characters and plot material to this discussion, which is about the controls? I care about those, too, but they are pretty much irrelevant here. If a game has a great story and likeable characters on top of the controls and challenges, fantastic, if it gets you to shake the controller in fear, wow - but it does not influence the actual, hard coded move set, rules and challenges of the game.
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/08 @ 08:11

  • muscleblade #160 4 years ago

    This is funny!

    [link url=http://kotaku.com/5018149/legal-mess-ove r-euro-alone-in-the-dark-reviews
    ]http://ko taku.com/5018149/legal-mess-ove...[/link]

    Whats the problem really i could have bought the game on monday. So the retail copy has been availaible for almost a week.
    My local game store usually get the games a week before release anyway.

  • seasidebaz #161 4 years ago

    @VMerken:

    After having now read both of your long posts (instead of drinking beer) and I agree completely.

    One of my favourite techniques is tricking the AI into performing its maneuvers early, giving an advantage. Unfortunately, such is the way modern games are made, this can be done on nearly all games. Makes them a bit easy and repetitive, but there you go.

    I think strafing is a much overused command. You don't see real people with guns strafing and running backwards while shooting. Why should a game, that simulates shooting, be any different? Effective use of cover and available commands, as you say, are where things are at nowadays.

  • Pac #162 4 years ago

    I agree with VMerken's comments.

    In my opinion the controls in RE4 are an extension of the controls used throughout the franchise.

    They are not particularly realistic but as seasidebaz points out, neither is strafing sideways and backwards at the same speed as you can run forwards (as in countless FPS games).

    Comes down to personal choice. If you want a traditional FPS then go and play one. If you want a survival horror game then play RE4.

  • Daymare #163 4 years ago

    @jspoole

    NGII does not deserve more then 7/10, even if it's your favorite game. This is where game (and any other) criticism comes into play but I guess you don't know anything about such concept since it's too "pretentious" (read: uncomprehendable) for you.

  • Haloboy #164 4 years ago

    The PC versions controls are not as bad as many have made them out to be, but they also most certainly aren't anywhere near as tight as you'd expect. Using a 360 for windows gamepad I've only ever struggled now and then and funnily enough the default control system was still set to keyboard even though my pad was installed from the get go. What hit me most about the game though is just how unfinished it feels, and on the flipside of that just how awesome it could have been had it had either more time/more money injected. It starts off feeling somewhat like The Darkness, and I may be alone on this but I find the combat system extremely enjoyable. Smacking enemies from every angle with chairs, golf clubs and long ass swords.

    Overall though, as buggy, unfinished and frustrating as it has been so far, I must admit I rather like it. Oh no, we can't have that now can we?

    7 out of 10 is hardly condemning the game to utter obscurity either, so I just hope Atari get the demo out so people can experience it for themselves and decide whether or not to pick up the full release. And perhaps get working on a patch to sort out the problems asap.

  • Pac #165 4 years ago

    @Haloboy!

    Sounds like a fairly balanced opinion of the game.

    Let's hope they get a demo out soon!

  • parkerchu #166 4 years ago

    I have to say, that this is one of the best reviews I have ever read on a game. Much better than the those found on gamespot.com! Top marks Mr Bramwell! Ps Thanks to you I won't be wasting my hard earned cash!

  • muscleblade #167 4 years ago

    The review was good, but it reads like a 5-6/10.

  • nedgip #168 4 years ago

    I played it last night and it truly is a crap game. Deserves a 3 or 4 at most. Has some nice ideas but poorly executed.

  • Haloboy #169 4 years ago

    @ nedgip

    3 or 4 you say? Right. Because it's that much of a broken mess. It clearly is not and it's pissing me off a fair bit to see others slamming it as such. Yes the controls are initially quite cumbersome/unintuitive but you do get used to them in time, which makes me wonder how anyone can dub it "unplayable".

    The fact is it's neither fantastic nor is it truly abysmal. There's some enjoyable mechanics and moments in the game, enough to make me want to complete it and not instantly trash it at least. It also has about the same amount of glitches and bugs as any other game I've played recently, no more no less. Which again keeps it out of the completely broken camp many are jumping up and down about. Is it hell as like.

    Now I;ve only completed 2-3 chapters so I'm not going to all out defend it as while I'm enjoying it I know deep down it's still not the gaming experience I had hoped for. But then neither was Stalker and yet to this day I still very much treasure that game.

    Maybe Atari/Eden gave it their best shot, maybe they rushed it out. Either way there's nothing (and I mean nothing) in the game thus far that cannot be sorted out via a well rounded future patch.

  • mikeck #170 4 years ago

    "3 or 4 you say? Right. Because it's that much of a broken mess. It clearly is not and it's pissing me off a fair bit to see others slamming it as such. Yes the controls are initially quite cumbersome/unintuitive but you do get used to them in time, which makes me wonder how anyone can dub it "unplayable"."

    If this is a genuine belief then you've got to let it go and agree to disagree, but I think a lot of comments regarding this game are reactionary and unnecessary as most people haven't played it yet.

    I'm holding out judgement until my copy arrives, then if it's crap I'll say as much, but I'm giving this game a full objective mind when I first pick it up and play (which I hope will be over the weekend).
    Edited by 1 at 20/06/08 @ 13:29

  • Haloboy #171 4 years ago

    Indeed.

    It seems some folk are even complaining about the games box (PC) being cheap and nasty, talk about not giving a game any slack.

  • muscleblade #172 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    EG gave NG2 a 7/10. I love Ninja gaiden and most other critics scored it higher. So i disagree to EGs score because its a 9/10 imo. EG gave this a 7/10 but other critics gave it a lower score. Whos right? I think it might be the norwegian gamesites that gave it 3/10. Gamer.no gave NG2 a 9/10 and this 3/10 so i think i found a reviewer i can trust.

    So if you really love NG2 you should stay away from this.

  • nedgip #173 4 years ago

    @ haloboy

    Yeah maybe 3 is a bit harsh, 4 seems fair though. Me saying it deserves a 4 just reflects how disapointed I am playing it so far. I thought it looked pretty special from the clips on EG but actually playing through it is just a massive let down. I've let things go in the past and played games through to the end because there was something i liked about them but there is no way im playing through this, its just an annoying game to play even with the blockbuster set pieces and cool ideas. If they are executed poorly and dont play well theres not much fun to have in the whole experience. Its down to personal opinion but i dont think its one for me.

  • TheBard #174 4 years ago

    At least the game is better than the movie.

  • Bulbatron #175 4 years ago

    Having spent half the morning and all afternoon yesterday trying to get past the driving section at the end of Episode Two, I had to give up in the end. I refuse to use the skip function.

    I came back to it today and got past it on my second or third attempt! Wierd.

    I'm starting to enjoy it again now. I'm not finding movement to be a problem, but when there are enemies about, I find it quite difficult navigating the inventory. With the inventory, they should have either paused the game while accessing it, or made the controls for the inventory less 'swimmy'.

    Hopefully I will get used to the controls, as I would like to finish this game. Although I refuse to use the skip function, it will be great for jumping back to my favourite bits once I have completed the game.

    I never got to play the very first Alone in the Dark, but a remake in a similar form to the Resident Evil remake on the GameCube might be good.

  • Haloboy #176 4 years ago

    And just as I was really getting into it, the game decides to CTD at the same exact moment every single time so at least the skip function came in handy and it's been fine since. Surely I'm not "Alone in wanting a patch" though. Yeah sorry.

  • Ryuken #177 4 years ago

    "I'd like to know how the controls are on the PC version though. "

    Word, going through 193 comment posts to look if someone knew what the situation is for the PC version is stupid. EG has tagged the review on the frontpage with Xbox360 and PC signs, so the least they should do is give us an update with clear information about any possible control issues on PC as well.

  • evilboo #178 4 years ago

    I feel contaminated by the wii version of this game. You spend your time stumbling around like a drunk swinging lighters and chairs around and literally gasping at the appalling art design / graphics. The 'gun play' reminds me of trespasser - flailing around with the wiimote shooting crappy zombie people. If there is fire blazing noisily in one room and you take a step to the right into a 'fire less' room the sound instantly stops. This is an abolutely terrible game for the wii - 2/10. Be warned!

    I got it for £15 quid with a subscription to Empire - maybe the magazines will be better.

  • Kovacs77 #179 4 years ago

    The driving section is easy, it's all totally scripted, you just have to point the car in the right direction. I did it on my third attempt, and the first two ended due to me messing up, not because of anything the game had done wrong. Maybe you guys who're having problems are just not very good at games?

    I'm loving this game, it's somethign new and interesting. So the controls are a bit different from the norm, get over it, it takes til the end of the first level to get the hang of it, unless you've got learning difficulties.?

    Also, there are some major errors in the Eurogamer review, at least two of the issues they say they have with the game don't exist (the 1st/3rd person view being decided by the game (it's not, you press 'Y' to switch between them, and you can do this at any point), and the bit about having to drop bandages, then pick up other bandages, before you can pick up the med spray (this is rubbish, you just move the stick towards whatever you want to pick up), so I'd take that score with a pinch of salt.

  • john_silence #180 4 years ago

    Stop dissing Call of Cthulhu! AAARRGGGHH, I feel my tentacles growing! You should not have upset me! I will find you and visit you through the weird interdimensional angles of the cosmos and visit the wrath of Nyarlatothep upon you!
    As to AITD's fiddly gameplay, it's as I predicted (self-satisfied grin). Man, it's hard to type with tentacles.
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/08 @ 15:42

  • Bulbatron #181 4 years ago

    Kovacs77, are you saying I must have learning difficulties because I'm not as good at games as you probably are?

    john_silence, I agree with you about Call of Cthulhu!

    Personally speaking as a novice gamer, I found Call of Cthulhu extremely difficult, even on the easiest setting, but so far, I think I prefer it to Alone in the Dark. Even the most frustrating sections of Call of Cthulhu were not as awful as that driving section from Alone in the Dark! That nearly drove me to madness - the Mountains of Madness!

    Oh, and john_silence, if you are having difficulty typing with tentacles, just get your shoggoth to evolve some hands and do it for you. Make sure it evolves some ears as well so you can dictate.
    Edited by 3 at 21/06/08 @ 18:29

  • Daxside #182 4 years ago

    I wonder how much Atari paid for this review? 7/10 is about 5 marks too much for this game.

  • Martin #183 4 years ago

    Bah, I was hoping that this would be really good (aka 8 or 9) and still manage to do something different.

    Might give it a rental then.

  • Kovacs77 #184 4 years ago

    "Kovacs77, are you saying I must have learning difficulties because I'm not as good at games as you probably are?"


    yes. yes I am.


    Actually no, you've taken that a wee bit too personally mate. I was making a comment about the people who are claiming this game is good but spoiled by the control system, and I added a thinly veiled, take it if you want it, insult in there at the end.

    I mean come on, when Analogue controllers first came out, pretty much every game had a different control method that you had to get used to. If gamers these days (god I sound old) can't deal with a slight variation ("ohmigod I can't believe you turn AND walk using one stick! what were Atari thinking!! without strafe, I can't play this game. 2/10";), if they can't get used to a different way of moving the character, after ten minutes of play... I'd suggest they had some difficulties with learning.

  • john_silence #185 4 years ago

    "If gamers these days (god I sound old) can't deal with a slight variation ("ohmigod I can't believe you turn AND walk using one stick! what were Atari thinking!! without strafe, I can't play this game. 2/10";), if they can't get used to a different way of moving the character, after ten minutes of play... I'd suggest they had some difficulties with learning."

    Kovacs, you are confusing "slight variations" in gameplay with counterintuitive, unresponsive controls. I don't think Tom Bramwell could exactly be called unexperienced, yet he states excellent examples of the many instances when he was trying to do something and the control system interpreted his input wrongly. A control system is an interface between the player and the game, and as such it must be as intuitive and transparent as possible, while allowing maximum flexibility. It really does not sound as if it is the case here.

    Adapting to control systems has to be an easy and quick affair. When one day you're playing a strategy game, on the next an adventure game, and on the third one Alone in the Dark, and you can't even remember how to move properly, it's the game that's at fault, not the player. It's not difficulties with learning, it's difficulties adapting to a broken system. It's a side effect of being clever.

  • captain-future #186 4 years ago

    Atari alone in the Dark? Suing websites for their review scores?
    http://ww w.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53249

  • Kovacs77 #187 4 years ago

    "It's a side effect of being clever"

    hehe, that made me properly laugh, nice work!

    The fact you're using the reviewers comments as an example rather than your own experience makes me think you've not actually played the game though? You sound quite an intelligent bloke, surely you wouldn't comment on the quality of (or lack of) something before you'd tried it for your self first hand?

    Tom Bramwell may well be experienced, but his "excellent examples" include a few which are absolutely wrong (as I mentioned in my first post) so as I said, I'd take his review with a pinch of salt. I'm 4 levels in and I've not experienced anything like the problems people are to be complaining about. But, each to their own, I personally think that if the rest of the game is quality, I can get past minor niggles. The control system, inventory etc is very similar to Resident Evil 4, which is commonly regarded as one of the greatest games ever. It controls like a tank with one of it's tracks missing, but it's a great game nonetheless.

  • john_silence #188 4 years ago

    To answer your (not very subtle) hint, I have absolutely not played one minute of the game, I was merely arguing on the basis of what's for everyone to read here and the gameplay videos in which every interaction looks terribly fiddly and not spontaneous at all. Because I wasn't arguing about Alone in the Dark, rather about control systems in general.

    But what you say has me interested - I guess with some focus I'll probably manage to control that "tank with one of it's tracks missing" :) although what I fear is to rely mainly on a select few manipulations that I know I can pull off, rather than experiment in bad conditions. It's not a game I'll buy though, at least not full price. Actually I'm pretty sure it's going to make its way to Metaboli in the next few weeks, as The Witcher did.

  • spiny #189 4 years ago

    I object to the score on the basis that Tom is clearly a pirated copy of himself.

  • chanderzz #190 4 years ago

    Awful game, bought it friday, almost finished. This game has the potential i can see that. But it suffers obviously from publisher rushing a game out!

    Another 3 months and i could recommend this but in its current state.. keep away!

  • Bulbatron #191 4 years ago

    Kovacs77, to be honest, I haven't had much of a problem with the on-foot controls. They can be a bit baffling when you're trying to fight an enemy, but I happily got through Episode 3 with no problems at all.

    But then I got to the driving section for Episode 4, and it seems even harder than the one on Episode 2 - and as I keep telling anybody with the patience to listen - it took me about five hourse of repeated attempts, just to get past that one.

    It's probably my reflexes that are rubbish. But it still helps to drag down a game with some really enjoyable on-foot sections.

  • Kovacs77 #192 4 years ago

    I have to agree, the driving section in Level 4 is an absolute NIGHTMARE, and I've stopped playing the game in protest just now (although the old 'one more try and I'll get it' thing is dragging me back, which says something about the rest of the game)!

    Can I just say, I love this website, I only found it after someone linked to it on Gamespot (hence my slightly barbed and nasty first-ever-post. Conversing with those idiots about games is hard work and you expect the worst with every games site as a result) but you guys seem to be a lot more level headed, intelligent and able to enter into a proper discussion about the merits of game without resorting to fanboyism. Any time I try (tried. not going back now!) to discuss why I don't like a game, I was met with 'get lost troll, we only talk about how GOOD a game is round these partsl', or worse. I'm not trolling, I have valid reasons for not liking Clive Barker's Jericho! It's pants!

    Also, the reviews are excellent too.
    Edited by 1 at 23/06/08 @ 18:57

  • Bulbatron #193 4 years ago

    I didn't like the demo for Clive Barker's Jericho. As for Alone in the Dark. Screw it, I've had enough. It's getting traded as soon as possible. The game has some really good points, and I really want to like it - and the on-foot controls are not really bothering me too much, but the driving sections are a joke and are ruining it for me. Would a few checkpoints have really hurt?

    Shame though, becuase the story seems quite compelling. If it was an actual TV series, I'd SO watch it!

    Kovacs77, glad you like the site. It's good to have one which is specific to Europe.

    (Waits for Silent Hill - Homecoming).

  • nedgip #194 4 years ago

    Actually after playing it a bit over the last couple of nights its starting to grow on me...

  • richieisnow #195 4 years ago

    Ive never posted on a forum on my life. But I have to sort this crap out. This game is awesome. Atari, sorry, I did download it. But it is so brilliant I will buying it as soon as it is released in Japan. Nothing could ever live up to the hype this game generated. Furthermore, its so advanced and ahead of its time that its understandable that it is has some small bugs in it. Yes it is difficult, but thats only because there is so much you can do! THIS IS THE BEST GAME IVE EVER PLAYED. And Ive been playing since Pac-man. AWESOME. Kudos to Atari. MAybe they could release an XBL patch later to correct some of the bugs!

  • richieisnow #196 4 years ago

    This is the best game I have ever played, period.

  • john_silence #197 4 years ago

    "and also with the game" lol WTF? sorry I don't understand that last sentence. Either I'm a tard or it's funny.
    It's good that some actual players fight the pretty bad critical reception. It seems to be one of those games that a lot of people dislike because they're "buggy" and assorted maladies, but some easily get past those flaws because the game's got a soul and some are attuned to it. I really loved Vampire: Bloodlines for instance, I mean I loved and worship it, and I enjoyed Boiling Point a lot too, a thousand times more than some very polished but soulless titles.

    Kovacs77, welcome to the fold! I know exactly what you mean with Gamespot forums, having followed the same trajectory as you a while ago.

  • Haloboy #198 4 years ago

    @ JSPOOLE

    I love you.

    You hit the nail right on the head tbh my mate, it's a gem alright. Flawed, but still a gem. And I love the fact that you highlighted the games real underlying strength ie: you have to actually spend time throughout the game weighing up your options on how best to progress through any given area. And the choices are always varied enough to be both inventive and fun to put to use. We had "the thinking man's shootah" and now we have the thinking man's survival horror game, yes you have to stop and think. Which is obviously something far too difficult for many here to even contemplate.

    So what if it's unfinished, so what if there's some dodgy level design decisions from time to time? The more you play the game the more you begin to understand just how the game has dragged you in, much like the black liquid ooze contained within. GTA 4? Praised to the high heavens and yet like this it was also vastly shoddy and borderline tedious/frustrating in places. And yet everyone is so quick to stomp Alone into the ground without so much as a hands on playtest.

    Atari/Eden I salute thee. Ignore the naysayers and be proud of the game I say, just release a damn patch and make it all it can be is all there is left to do.

  • Darren #199 4 years ago

    @Haloboy! - You're happy to pay £40 for a game you admit is unfinished?!? :o

  • Darren #200 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE - GTA IV a huge non-linear open-world game so any bugs in it are far more forgiveable than those in a totally linear, eight hour game. That Alone in the Dark has such obvious flaws as the awful driving sections as well as bugs is just not acceptable for a game like this which has been in development for years and costs £40 RRP. If people slate it for those reasons then it's well deserved IMO. You shouldn't make excuses for shoddily coded and tested games. It's clear to me from people's comments that Atari pushed this game out before it was fully completed. ;)

  • Haloboy #201 4 years ago

    @ Darren

    PC version my friend, so that's 25 notes to you and me. ;)

    Besides, when was the last time you bought a game that wasn't unfinished in some form? I can't think of too many.

  • Bulbatron #202 4 years ago

    It took me so long attempting the first driving section, that I got my 10 mile achievement while doing it. And now I'm on the one on Episode 4 and its driving me completely mad! Whoever programmed that sections needs to lose their job!

    You can get quite far, and then the car gets spun around by seemingly nothing at all!

    Not that you can tell how far you are, so although I sometimes do better at times than at other times, those better times for me are not necessarily good! If you see what I mean.

    AND WHY COULDN'T THEY PUT SOME BLEEDING CHECKPOINTS IN THE DRIVING SECTIONS?? It would make all the difference!

    Did they make these sections broken crap-fests on perpose to make us use their skip function?

  • evilboo #203 4 years ago

    jspoole - you haven't played the wii version - right? ... right?!

    anyone who wants my copy for free email me.

  • muscleblade #204 4 years ago

    @Haloboy! JSPOOLE

    Seems like some people are really trying to defend their purchase.

    I might borrow it from a friend if i find time to play it. The truth is though there are many better games i would like to play and i dont have time for those either. Bad company, Unreal Tournament 3 etc.

  • Kovacs77 #205 4 years ago

    @muscleblade - so you've not played it and you don't know if you'll have time to play it but you might play it if you get the time but you'll only borrow it? mate, if you spent less time posting utterly pointless drivel like that, you might have some more free time on your hands. If you've not played this, Bad Company, or UT3, how are you in any way in a position to comment about what's better?

    you didn't name me but I'm "defending my purchase" too, but because it's a good game. I bought Dark Sector and Clive Barker's Jericho as well, you won't find me claiming they're anything other than steaming piles of rancid piss on the internet though. whatever, i don't know why I'm even wasting my time with this, you won't have time to read it.

  • timberwolf #206 4 years ago

    i am only going to say this... i am shocked by this game... it really shocks me... if this abomination is what passes for next gen tech...? well... i'm just shocked and saddened...

  • muscleblade #207 4 years ago

    @Kovacs77

    Im at work during the day so i have enough time to post comments. I cant play during worktime though. I have played the first level of Aitd at my local game store and its just not good enough. Havent played bad company or UT3 but my instincts tell me their better than Aitd by miles.
    Edited by 1 at 27/06/08 @ 08:56

  • mikeck #208 4 years ago

    I got my copy this morning, it finally arrived, and so far it's a mixed bag. I like what they're attempting with this, but the heavily scripted events aren't too much to my liking. I don't mind a linear game by any means, it's just not fully grabbed me...yet.

    I don't have anything negative to say about it, I'm just hoping that soon it will do more to make me love it. Not a bad game thus far by any means, just not quite great, but I am enjoying most parts of it.

    Edit - So after playing a bit further through I'm still not fully impressed, I'm enjoying the story, the various ways you can kill enemies, tackle puzzles etc, but the main killer for me is those bloody scripted events that punish you for the tiniest mistakes. I don't want to have to be able to beat a certain bit a game because I've done it so many times I'll eventually learn and perservere, I want to beat a game through skill...and most of the scripted events - especially the driving sections - negate skill for playing through a section a dozen fucking times in order to learn what happens and adapt. That's not how I want to play a game, I want to adapt on the hoof and let my skill win over, AITD needlessly punishes the player and I can see why that had driven a lot of people to hate it.

    I actually don't have a major issue with the controls, sure they're not that intuitive and could be done quite a bit better, but that is not the main problem this game suffers, it suffers from poor pacing and over zealous developers trying too damn hard.

    I'm going to crack on through and complete the game, but I'm sure there will be much frustration, controller throws and anger, and really that's not what I want from a game. Any other game would have been ejected from the tray and gotten rid off, but I will persevere with this one because it does a lot well. I'm not saying all gamers should give this a go, because I'm sure a lot of people will hate it, but there's enough there to get me through it I hope...but I can't say it will be the most enjoyable game I've ever played through.
    Edited by 2 at 29/06/08 @ 17:17

  • mukki #209 4 years ago

    quite like the game,

    looks great

    except for some crappy banding when backgrounds are blurred... what is up with that!
    using HDMI so shouldnt be a problem with signal

  • frazzl #210 4 years ago

    I have to agree with JSPoole and Haloboy; Alone in the Dark is a gem indeed. Just completed the game and didn't have a problem with the controls or the driving sections. In fact the game's main flaws are that it's too easy, too short (you can complete the game in it's entirety and get all 1000 achievement points in under 10 hours easily), and both of its endings suck. Despite that the game is definitely worth checking out.

    @muscleblade: if you think Bad Company and Unreal Tournament will be so much better then what are you doing posting here? Bad Company has already been released, so go get it and play it. Unless you enjoy posting about games you are not going to purchase, more than you enjoy playing games you profess you like : P.
    Edited by 2 at 05/07/08 @ 17:18