Alone in the Dark Review

Stuff of nightmares.

Version tested: Wii

We hear you! We know you want Wii reviews of multiformat games. The problem is that publishers are often unwilling or unable to provide them. That was the case with Alone in the Dark - with Atari's usually helpful staff for once unable to assist us in our search - so in the end we gave up asking and bought it ourselves. We're going to look pretty silly if it turns out you're not interested. Not as silly as Alone in the Dark looks, sounds and feels on the Wii, mind you, despite developer Hydravision's valiant attempts to wrestle Eden Studios' ambitious Xbox 360 design into the constraints of the Wii's relatively underpowered hardware.

Credit to whoever worked on the first-person controls, though, because the combination of nunchuk analogue movement and Wii remote aiming is one of the few highlights. Point to the edge of the screen and the responsive Wiimote controls steer player-character Edward Carnby in that direction with a sensible degree of acceleration. You can only look so far up or down, which is a problem in a game where you spend a lot of time picking things up or examining your surroundings, but it's forgivable, and the way your viewpoint re-centres is intuitive and unintrusive.

Those of you with a working knowledge of the Xbox 360 version will know that first-person is only part of the view, though, because Alone in the Dark is a survival-horror game that switches you between third- and first-person depending on the scenario you face as you fight zombies and solve puzzles to uncover the truth about your past. And actually, the other controls aren't so bad in some respects either.

You open your inventory (the inside of your jacket, lined with pockets) by rotating the nunchuk and Wiimote away from each other as though you're opening a book, and then point to what you want on your body with the Wiimote. Healing involves pointing at a wound with the Wiimote, applying a spray with the nunchuk and then bandaging with the Wiimote. If you think you've already got the right item equipped, you can make a gesture with either hand as though you're reaching inside your coat to quickly equip or un-equip, and most of your environmental interaction is handled by sidling up to objects and hitting A when prompted. Smashing down doors or whacking enemies involves picking up an object and then waving the Wiimote, although this isn't one-to-one replication of your movement. To reload your gun, you twist the Wiimote to the right to check the clip and then hit a button to swap it out.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 1

Looks alright when it's in a pretend 1280x992 resolution, doesn't it? Not so much when it's grainy 480p.

It might sound like a lot to remember, but gestures come to mind more readily than the complex network of button-presses the 360 expected. Sadly though it's let down by clumsy third-person movement and camerawork, the need to position yourself just so to pick up objects, and the constant back and forth between third- and first-person. Quite how anyone's Gran is supposed to grasp all this is beyond me, although the constant effing and blinding will probably put them off just as quickly. Speaking of which, the mainstream-friendly, DVD-style chapter-navigation system is now gone, replaced by standard checkpoints and save-game files.

For all that though, Alone in the Dark for Wii is actually let down by things that have nothing to do with the game's ambitious design. It's just badly put-together in standard ways. With a more limited repertoire of MacGuyver-esque actions at your disposal than you have on other systems, puzzles are often different, and often solved by a frustrating process of trying everything on everything. You won't realise you can shoot the lock off a door, or that you have to move the analogue stick in the direction of the object flashing an A-button prompt during a Quick Time Event. The gameplay parameters aren't set clearly enough.

Not that this really matters because after a couple of hours you're simply bewildered that the game was released at all. It's as ragged as a tramp's hat. Cut-scenes are video-captured versions of the in-engine sequences from the 360, which breaks the continuity with the lower-resolution character models - but hardly as much as having a completely different-looking heroine and, for some reason, a different (annoyingly garrulous) script and cast of voice actors. Scenes from the other game are dubbed. The story sequences are spliced abruptly into gameplay, where the cracks and seams are just as evident: objects flicker in and out of view, enemies are found running on the spot, there are missing button prompts, fire graphics that don't move with the object that's meant to be on fire, and clipping issues galore.

Then there are the things that are just awful. Driving the car involves holding the Wiimote and nunchuk up like a knife and fork and twisting them in your hands like a steering wheel (although the game's only measuring the tilt on the Wiimote, despite its instruction), and this is so awkward to use that it's a relief to find the previously frustrating New York driving sequence is now just a straight road with some explosions and falling debris flobbed into your peripheral vision as the engine descends into a low-teens frame-rate, presumably to avoid your having to use the steering almost at all. Strange, because the nunchuk analogue stick would have been available for this.

Meanwhile, the absence of visual information during the rope-climbing bits means you have to take regular leaps of faith or double back on yourself against the game's logic, too. Perhaps aware that you're hamstrung by the controls, bugs and frame-rate, the developer's also lobotomised most of the enemies, who just lurch around unthreateningly at slow speed and vanish after a couple of whacks from a heavy object. There's no longer any need to set fire to them, or even really pay attention to them if you're in a hurry.

Visuals and audio are mostly terrible. The graphics are like a bad, coffee-stained fax version of the 360 game, with dodgy character models (the gap between Edward Carnby's legs, which you spend a lot of the game staring at, begins halfway into his bowel), glued-on hair and textures that would shame a puddle of vomit. Elaborate lighting effects have been removed almost entirely. Complicated sequences are clearly beyond the engine or at least the hardware - ropes appear to be made of lengths of wood tied together, and Carnby does a sort of mad diagonal spasm as he swings left and right - and the fire, such a highlight in the full-fat version, is an apologetic orange fog of Vaseline and cotton wool.

To try and disguise some of this, it looks as though Hydravision has drained some of the colour from what you're seeing (noticeable when the game suddenly burns brightly for an instant as you enter or exit the pause menu), but this mainly just makes it look even duller. Elsewhere the audio splutters and stops all over the place.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 2

To be fair, at least you're properly in the dark now, thanks to the removal of almost all the lighting.

For everything else in its amazing catalogue of flaws, errors and catastrophes, though, the biggest problem is that the game just stops whenever you can't work out what to do. During supposedly urgent scenes in the car park beneath the starting level, you get scooped up by a demonic fissure and have to escape by grabbing at something when prompted then shaking the nunchuk (not that you're told half of this, but I digress).

Once you've broken free, you're meant to get into a car at the end of the area and then climb through and get out the other side. You don't realise this though because no one's told you, so you just get into a cycle of running up to everything and hitting A, then getting scooped up by the fissure and escaping again, then running around hitting A, then getting scooped up, and so on. Without the constant threat of deadly enemies, what little suspension of disbelief there was doesn't so much snap like overstretched elastic, as we said of the 360 game, as whip you repeatedly in the face shouting, "Game! Rubbish, broken game! Idiot! Idiot who bought it!"

That's certainly how you'll feel if you pay for this, although there is an odd sense of wonderment at just how broken and unfinished it is. Alone in the Dark on Xbox 360 was a noble failure, just about clawing respectability from the jaws of disaster thanks to some interesting puzzles and mechanics, but forgetting to make the basic controls work in the process. Alone in the Dark on Wii is a broken adaptation of that borked premise, which leaps into the jaws of disaster, hauls them closed afterwards, and starts stabbing itself in the face with the nearest fang. At times you really wish it worked, because the threat of a good idea or two remains, but it doesn't.

So yes, we bought this. Fortunately we kept the receipt.

3 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy

Comments (80) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • LockeTribal #1 4 years ago

    Typically restrained review.
    My favourite part : Alone in the Dark on Wii is a broken adaptation of that borked premise, which leaps into the jaws of disaster, hauls them closed afterwards, and starts stabbing itself in the face with the nearest fang.
  • johnnybrn #2 4 years ago

    Holy mama, thats gotta hurt
  • muscleblade #3 4 years ago

    Is there any good multiplatform games on the Wii? Didnt think so.
  • barchetta #4 4 years ago

    Ouch! Must admit I was somewhat surprised that they attempted to shoehorn the 360 version into the Wii. There is scope for a truly excellent AITD game on the Wii but I reckon a ground-up, fresh perspective would have made more sense. This just sounds like all kinds of cut'n'shunt lazy-assed badness. Shame.
  • lambtron #5 4 years ago

  • aldo_14 #6 4 years ago

    It was always going to be a disaster, anyways - didn't they start backporting (warning! warning!) about 3 weeks before releasing the 360/PS3 version?
  • Thunderhead #7 4 years ago

    Bet it sells pretty good too :D
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/08 @ 14:28
  • jellyhead #8 4 years ago

    So it snatches defeat from the jaws of apathy. :)
  • Killerbee #9 4 years ago

    lol

    Thanks for reviewing this EG - it's firmly off my list of games to get now and I actually enjoyed reading this with the same strange sort of fascination you get when you pass a car crash on the opposite side of the road.

    "Is there any good multiplatform games on the Wii?"

    Yes. Guitar Hero III, Lego Star Wars / Lego Indy and Mercury Meltdown Revolution all spring to mind. Come on, it's not like this was 9/10 wonderful on the 360 either.

    I wonder if they'll sort out any of the flaws for the PS3 version?
  • xagarath #10 4 years ago

    Indeed, thanks for reviewing this one, guys.
  • Sid-Nice #11 4 years ago

    Is there any good multiplatform games on the Wii? Didnt think so.

    PES and Mercury Meltdown are 2 games that spring to mind; I could also say "Resident Evil 4" which also provides an entertaining replay of a game using the Wiimote that I completed using more conventional controls.
  • the_dudefather #12 4 years ago

    @muscleblade

    Godfather, best strangling simulation I have ever played
  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 4 years ago

    Don't feed the trolls kids!

    Too bad this turned out to be shit. I still haven't played any of the Alone in the Dark games (god knows how they managed to evade me all that time). I might get this for the 360 when it's a bit cheaper though.
  • systems #14 4 years ago

    They should have made a disc of AITD party games and it'd sell better. This review in a way reminds me of the bad old days when C64 games were back-ported for the C16, with predictably poor results.
  • ruskie #15 4 years ago

    Is there any good multiplatform games on the Wii? Didnt think so.

    I thought Bully was pretty good, I didn't play it on the other platforms but it worked really well on the wii.
  • Farzlepot #16 4 years ago

    Eh, it wasn't so bad on the 360 if you could get used to the awkward controls. This sounds like a complete disaster though...
  • drumbaby #17 4 years ago

  • menage #18 4 years ago

  • seasidebaz #19 4 years ago

    Crap games for the Wii just make SSBB stand out all the more ;)

    Although I would like another game to play on the little white box... Oh well, there's always Animal Crossing on its way
  • andywilkie35 #20 4 years ago

    further proof that the Wii is a bit gash. Only games that work are Galaxy and Zelda. Smash Bros i use the gamecube control pad!
  • Evolution #21 4 years ago

    So better than the movie then?
  • paulf #22 4 years ago

    you may of kept the receipt but once you've unwrapped it they arent gonna let you take it back no matter how shite it is - although i would like to see someone argue the point that a game is 'not fit for purpose' if it fails to entertain you
  • wonk #23 4 years ago

    Thanks for the review EG, most appreciated.
  • Steroyd #24 4 years ago

  • smelly #25 4 years ago

    "Is there any good multiplatform games on the Wii? Didnt think so. "


    Who'd want to buy a multiplatform game for the wii?

    not me!

    Not when there's loads of great exclusives that i CANT play on other systems...

    The reason i've not bought a ps3 - all the best games are available on the 360 which i already own.

    if i have a 360, why would i purchase wii multiplatform games?

    Especially when there are LOTS of ace wii exclusives to get through!
  • smelly #26 4 years ago

    @andywilkie35:

    Fuck off troll..

    It's further proof that AITD is gash (on ALL platforms - judging by the reviews i've read).

  • George-Roper #27 4 years ago

    Thank FUCK Atarigrames are leaving the mainstream games business.

    Fuck off to 'family' games, cunts, and NEVER look back. You won't be missed.
  • bad09 #28 4 years ago

    "Especially when there are LOTS of ace wii exclusives to get through!"

    Where??? ;)

    Just joking Smelly I know you like the Wii! Personally I thank Ninty for all the crap coming on Wii, My girlfriend is trading hers and a few games tomorrow as she feels the is absolutely nothing worth playing on it (that she hasn't already played) so I may blag a free game or two! \o/
  • creepylizard #29 4 years ago

    I like aitd. But not on the wii
  • septimus #30 4 years ago

    Maybe they should have made a cutesy party game version of AITD where multiple players waggles their remotes in time to dancing zombies to escape a less than fatal nibble. It might be able to handle that.

    Picked up the 360 version of this as it's being practically given away at the moment. Pretty enjoyable for the price. Controls are utterly borked as mentioned, but you almost get used to it.
    Edited by 1 at 11/07/08 @ 16:27
  • mcmothercruncher #31 4 years ago

    Bonus points for the use of the word "garrulous" EG.
  • Waldo #32 4 years ago

    "Not when there's loads of great exclusives that i CANT play on other systems..."

    Like what?
  • Krelle #33 4 years ago

    bad09
    Hate to defend smelly, but..
    Your girlfriends taste is probably extremely limited, or shes already played thru about 15(pulled that from arse, yes) great exclusive games.
    Or, shes just clueless.
  • bad09 #34 4 years ago

    @ Krelle

    LOL actually she is VERY clued up, she thinks the 360 is great and, or course, she is going out with me!!!! :)

    But seriously she is a long time ninty fan (like myself) and liked it at first but got bored of it very quickly and now I've got her a 360 the Wii just does not get used.
  • creepylizard #35 4 years ago

    ah, the need of some for for validation.....I play videogames! and I've got a girlfriend! a real live human one! honest!

    ;)
  • OutpostCommand #36 4 years ago

    Wii ? Wii ?!
    WTF is a Wii ?
  • captain_MacDaddy #37 4 years ago

    Thanks for reviewing this, was definitely needed. Unfortunately the review came too late for me, and so I've been battling through this awful mess. I'll still try to complete it though; it'll feel even more of a victory finishing an unfinished game.
  • smelly #38 4 years ago

    @waldo "Like what? "


    See this is where i list a load of games, and then you come back with a witty retort like "ew.. they're all kiddy games" or "they're all sequels". or something... And then you start telling me about the virtues of your machine and how endlessly dull grey and brown fps games are what we all should be playing to the point that the entire games industry disapears up its bottom as everyone gets bored of playing the same game over and over?

    No thanks.

    You keep spanking your willy silly telling yourself how great your machine is and how crap the wii is because it has loads of great exclusives you'll never get to play.

  • Weezer #39 4 years ago

    So long Atari, we knew ye well...
  • smelly #40 4 years ago

    @captain_MacDaddy: Gees you MUST be bored if it's as bad as all that! LOL. The reviews i read for the 360 version were bad enough - but if this version is even worse i dread to think what playing it must be like! lol
  • Waldo #41 4 years ago

    "And then you start telling me about the virtues of your machine and how endlessly dull grey and brown fps games are what we all should be playing to the point that the entire games industry disapears up its bottom as everyone gets bored of playing the same game over and over? "

    I don't own a console.
  • tobsen #42 4 years ago

    Why did Atari even give that version to EG to review? That is like asking somebody to spank you really hard... in public.
  • smelly #43 4 years ago

    >I don't own a console.

    "And then you start telling me about the virtues of your machine"

    I said "machine" not "console"

    everything i've said stands doubly so for pc fanboys...


  • smelly #44 4 years ago

    "Why did Atari even give that version to EG to review? That is like asking somebody to spank you really hard... in public."

    They didnt.

    If you read the words the reviewer states quite clearly they bought a copy...

  • AOFanboi #45 4 years ago

    OH NO! You dared give Atari a bad score! Now they are going to claim you stole the game, or threaten you with lawyers for some other reason! Run and hide!
  • Feanor #46 4 years ago

    tobsen gets the didn't-even-read-the-review award in this comments thread.
  • Waldo #47 4 years ago

    smelly talks a good game, but that's all. He's really no better than the 'fanboys" he's always so quick to decry.
  • captain_MacDaddy #48 4 years ago

    @smelly: Well I am in the middle of a very long summer holiday at the moment... and if my only console is a Wii, what else is there to play?!
  • tobsen #49 4 years ago

    Why should I read the review of a game that gets 3 out of 10 points? That would pretty much be my definition of "waste of time".

    So yes I gratefully accept that award :)
  • tobsen #50 4 years ago

    OK I admit I could have at least read the first paragraph of the review. So I will accept that award with my head hung in shame.
  • smelly #51 4 years ago

    @Waldo : Piss off then prick. Why bother going into a comments thread of a game you dont own on a console you dont own? Sad asshole.


    "Well I am in the middle of a very long summer holiday at the moment... and if my only console is a Wii, what else is there to play?!"

    I dunno.

    I have a wii AND a 360 - and i'm stuck for something decent to play after i got totally bored with gta4 (which imho is the worst of the series and the only one i didnt actually enjoy enough to complete).

    If my social life sucked enough that i ended up having nothing to do other than playing games during my summer holiday as oppsed to going out and enjoying the sun...

    I'd pick:

    Smash Bros Brawl
    My Life As King


    Smash Bros i've picked up and didnt enjoy.. If i had lots of spare time and was bored i'd give it a proper go.
    My Life As King i've not gotten around to yet - if i had spare time i'd give it a go.



    And just to be fair.. if i had to do the same choice on the 360 - i'd choose:


    Civ Revolution (loved the old civ games)

    Burnout paradise (not one i've ever got around to playing - if i could pick up cheap id give it a go, what with all the improvements it's had with patches, etc)

    Penny Arcade Adventures (dunno why, just fancy giving it a go.. but it's too sunny out for me to be arsed to download it)




    Edited by 1 at 11/07/08 @ 19:46
  • Nillsens #52 4 years ago

    Sorry guys, I can't comment because I have... *sigh* a life! Just gotta go out there and enjoy it you know, sorry!
  • smelly #53 4 years ago

    @NilSense.

    Me too! But unfortunately i'm bored at work, so may as well have an argument with f-witted fanboys on the internet to pass the time :-)
  • Penguinzoot #54 4 years ago

    Why bother going into a comments thread of a game you dont own on a console you dont own?

    Can't speak for anyone else, but in my case definitely for my own personal entertainment :D. Not that I don't own any of this gen's crop of consoles of course, because I do ;-)

    Anyway, Mrs Penguin bought me AITD as a surprise gift for the 360. Played it for 30 minutes and can't face it again. As it was a gift, I don't feel I can trade it in either. I'm just gonna have to persevere with it I think. Only last night Mrs Penguin said to me "I haven't seen you playing that game I bought you for a while" ..... Oh well.

  • timberwolf #55 4 years ago

    same as 360 version then... :D
  • Tonka #56 4 years ago

  • slivir #57 4 years ago

  • bushwod #58 4 years ago

    @Penguinzoot

    Stick with it, it get's better and you do eventually get used to the cakc-handed controls. Better yet, skip to chapter 3 as the first 2 are a bit up and down.
  • Madder-Max #59 4 years ago

  • Vin #60 4 years ago

    Hooray for the waggle.
  • shadaik #61 4 years ago

    Wow, according to the game info, I'm the only one who own this. That said, I second that review.
  • Darkbeat #62 4 years ago

    This is just typical "Hey guys! Let's just rush it out the door. Most Wii owners don't know what a game looks like anyway! HAHAHA!".
    I heard the PS2 version have similar bugs and levels removed all together from it. This was like the same kind of disappointment I felt as a kid when you were looking at this Amiga game that looked super badass but you had to get the Commodore 64 version of it which looked horrible.
  • tap #63 4 years ago

    Sorry, but is Tom even playing the same game as me?

    Come on: the controls are exceptional, the music is just beautifuul and the gameplay is without question a work of genius considering it's a third party game.

    I'm playing Okami it has to be said, so no, he's not playing the same game.

    I had a point when I started this ....
  • TetsuZaemon #64 4 years ago

    I'm sorry to say, I'm one of the victims of the hype that surrounded this god-awful excuse for a videogame, and I bought the PS2 version.

    I have yet to see a review of the PS2 version, but, having just read this Wii review, I think it applies to my version as well.
  • kungfool #65 4 years ago

    And so Wii continues the Nintendo tradition of almost zero thirdparty software of interest or quality.
  • smelly #66 4 years ago

    "And so Wii continues the Nintendo tradition of almost zero thirdparty software of interest or quality. "


    Nice troll..

    But your beloved 360/ps3 (delete as applicable) version sucked too!
  • Morrisseyxxx #67 4 years ago

    Im too scared of the dark to play this :'(
  • bad09 #68 4 years ago

    @ smelly

    "But your beloved 360/ps3 (delete as applicable) version sucked too! "

    Personally I'm quite enjoying AITD (360). Controls are sluggish and take some work sure, but I like it.
  • smelly #69 4 years ago

    "what is the appeal of Mario et all those cutesy characters for someone over 12?"

    Let me guess - you're 13 and now feel like that makes you a big boy?

    But some of us care less about the characters and more about whether or not the game is - you know - "fun".

    Just because a game is "suitable for everone" that doenst mean its "only for kids".. When you've grown up enough you'll understand this

    (cue you coming back with a witty retort swearing blind that you're 50 or something)
    Edited by 1 at 14/07/08 @ 00:36
  • smelly #70 4 years ago

    "Call of Duty 4, Bioshock and Dead Rising. Elitest? "


    Funny that... I've stated NUMEROUS times that COD4 and Dead Rising are 2 of my favourite games...

    Dumbass.
  • zzyzx #71 4 years ago

    Probably not the best thread for Nintendo bashing, since every version of this title, on every platform, has been dismal.

    What's the point? if you shouldn't play AITD on the 360, then . . . then . . . then you double shouldn't play it on the Wii. [rolls eyes]

    Move along, folks.
    Edited by 2 at 14/07/08 @ 01:41
  • japfes #72 4 years ago

    Personally I'm grateful for this review, saved me £30 at their expense and time, bit like a gamers version of throwing yourself on a grenade to save the troops!

    As for Wii bashing, it's the only console i own (other than PS2) and although I do get a lot of enjoyment out of it, i do have to go back for some real console gaming on my PS2. One of these day's i'll pluck up the courage and get a 360!
  • Tiny_Tim #73 4 years ago

    Smells to me of development hell, probably some poor inexperienced people locked in a room for 6 months and expected to keep up with the 360 version whilst getting very little information and support. Not a good look for atari...
  • sirtacos #74 4 years ago


    The Wii makes me lol
    Wii smells of asparagus
    For me to poop on
  • smelly #75 4 years ago

    >smelly, but you still play kiddy games?

    No, i ALSO play games which are suitable for everyone... IT's called VARIETY

    It's like going to the cinema.. Sction movies where the lead character is indestructible and goes around blowing stuff up all the time are GREAT once in a while.. But if you made EVERY movie you watched these types of films - you'd soon get bored, and go see WALL-E and enjoy that as well (on a completely different level).

    Owning a 360 is great.. My 3 favourite games on this gen (and that includes nintendo games) are on the 360 (being dead rising, cod4 and skate). But if that's ALL i had to play i'd be bored, so that's why i also have a nintendo.

    There's been ONE decent platformer on the wii so far (mario galaxy), and lots of variety of other genres.. The 360 is predominantely shooters and sports games. Not a big problem - as i like shooters and sports games.. But i also like platformers and zelda style games.. yadda yadda.

    Variety is the spice of life. And if you wont play some games because they're "kiddy" because you're trying to be a "grown up" now you're 13 - then i feel sorry for you - as you're missing out on some great gaming experiences.
  • toastmodernist #76 4 years ago

    There are people who play videogames for the story and characters?

    I guess they play metal gear...
  • darc #77 4 years ago

    "Alone in the Dark on Wii is a broken adaptation of that borked premise, which leaps into the jaws of disaster, hauls them closed afterwards, and starts stabbing itself in the face with the nearest fang."

    LOL. So what's it take to get a "2" outta you guys??
  • smelly #78 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE:

    Well i guess we both play games for different reasons then.

    I play games to - you know - have fun.. to play them and interact with them.

    You apparently play games for the story or something.. gawd knows why - i'd rather go to the cinema or read a book than sit through 99.999% of game "plots"

    BTW : Mario Galaxy actually has quite a good heart warming story attached.. not that you'll ever see it.. (and not that i actually cared for it)
  • bitesize #79 4 years ago


    ^ i fail to believe anyone can be genuinely that stupid. are you trying to be a cunt for the sake of it?
  • DFawkes #80 3 years ago

    That bit about having the chapter select taken out is wrong (or at least compared to my copy). Except for that, this isn't a good game, and I like all games.

    Getting stuck in the car is an idiot thing to do though, it even tell you (again, in my copy at least) to switch seats. That's not the games fault, thats heavy drinking or being dropped as a baby. But there are a whole lot more bits like that. Hurt your arm and can't lift something heavy to bash a door in? Shoot it open! WHaaaaaa?
    Edited by 1 at 20/09/08 @ 22:00