Alone in the Dark

By Rob Fahey Published 28 May, 2008

I think we're alone now.

Before there was Resident Evil, before there was Silent Hill, there was Alone In The Dark. It's easy to forget that now, of course - those two games have unquestionably made the genre what it is today, after all. It's still worth mentioning, though, that Alone In The Dark was there before either of them.

Before the STARS noticed anything amiss in Racoon City, before Alessa's ill-fated barbecue evening, there was private investigator Edward Carnby's desperate fight for his life through a sprawling, gothic Louisiana mansion. Before Mikami's B-movie zombie shlock or Yamaoka's spine-tingling chords, there was Infogrames' heavy dose of Lovecraftian mythos and horror.

Of course, being the first is no guarantee of future quality. Nobody could deny that ever since the original Alone In The Dark, the series has had a fairly major lull - 16 long years of lull, in fact, punctuated by a couple of disappointing sequels, a half-hearted revival attempt, and a bloody awful Uwe Boll movie. You could even argue that the pedigree of the first game means nothing to the 2008 revival of the series, since the original designers aren't actually working on it as far as we can gather.

Regardless, our interest is piqued, and not just by the game's impressive forebear. The trailers look fantastic. The tech demos look brilliant. The artwork and music we've seen are head-and-shoulders above just about anything that anyone else is doing in the survival-horror genre. You'll forgive us a frisson of excitement as we take the pad in our hands to play through the first two almost-finished chapters of Edward Carnby's latest exploits.

The game opens with a fairly short first-person perspective sequence in which you wake up bleary-eyed and watch and listen as your mysterious (and brutal) captors decide what to do with you and an elderly man similarly tied up on the opposite bed of the room. You're then grabbed by one of the men who drags you to the roof to execute you. You have partial control at this stage, but going the wrong way or even looking too closely at your captor will earn you a kick in the back or a pistol butt to the face.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 1

Improvisation is key to survival, weaponry commonly consists of household objects.

It's all somewhat reminiscent of Call of Duty 4's incredibly powerful sequence in which you see through the eyes of the deposed president as he's driven to his execution. Alone in the Dark, however, ends its sequence rather differently. With a sudden shake, strange, fleshy cracks appear in the wall of the building, and suck your captor inside, screaming, as the whole tower block starts to crumble around you. Making your escape, you spot a nearby mirror over a sink, prompting a scene where your character examines his scarred face and wonders aloud who the hell he is.

Now, the whole amnesiac character device is hardly original, but Alone in the Dark still somehow manages to deliver it with a fairly effective narrative punch. That's a testament to a number of things - an excellent script full of understated, believable dialogue, some solid voice acting (although this seemed to get patchy later on, sadly - fingers crossed that the final product shows the same level of polish all the way through) and, perhaps most of all, stunning facial models and animation. Characters look real, world-worn and battle-scarred, with the wrinkles and blemishes giving them vastly more personality than the shiny plastic dolls we normally play with, even in next-gen games.

Besides, you won't get much time to snort to yourself about the clichéd nature of amnesiac heroes. The game immediately pitches you into a scramble to escape the building as it collapses around you in fits and starts, torn apart from the inside by the fleshy, living cracks that you saw at the outset. Along the way, you'll learn how Carnby's various abilities work - this being, essentially, the most outrageously dramatic and narrative-heavy tutorial level we've ever seen.

From very early on, it's clear that the game's interactions are built primarily around its physics engine - more so, even, than those in Half-Life 2. Any object you pick up (and most objects can be picked up, shoved or pulled around) can be moved around with the right stick. Move it gently, and you'll simply hold it in that direction - perfect for lighting the end of a wooden chair in a fire in order to create an impromptu torch, or for using a length of piping to fish an electric wire from a puddle of water, for instance.

Move it more violently, though, and it becomes a weapon. Flick from side to side, and Carnby will slam the object sideways. Backwards and forwards, and he lifts it up and brings it crashing down in front of him. For now, you won't be using that much - Alone in the Dark doesn't introduce you to combat until surprisingly far into the first chapter, preferring to build up the tension by giving you ominous glimpses of the hideously scarred "possessed" humans you'll be fighting. Instead, you'll be using the same movements to navigate your environment.

In Carnby's hands, for instance, a fire extinguisher doesn't just get rid of flames (although it does that very effectively, and you'll be using these quite a bit). It can also be swung like a battering ram to smash wooden doors (or even to bend metal doors until they pop out of their frames), something the game shows you early on as you try to rescue a man trapped in a burning room with a jammed door. As you proceed through the floors, the building continues to disintegrate - with entire floors coming crashing down, forcing you to smash your way through, or rappel down sheer drops on lengths of electrical cable.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 3

Don't try this at home. Unless we hate you, in which case, go for your life.

As it might sound, the whole thing is tightly scripted, and it's undeniably linear. We can easily forgive it that, however, because the whole thing is so astonishingly cinematic. The team seems to have perfected the art of using cut-away camera angles and occasional slow motion with excellent judgement, highlighting cool or high-tension moments without making the player feel that control is constantly being wrested from them.

By the time you escape the building, two other key elements of the game will have manifested themselves - combat and driving. Although you do have a gun (accessed through the excellent and intuitive inventory system, which just sees Carnby opening his coat and looking in the various pockets), it's actually more useful for solving puzzles and setting off explosions than for directly shooting creatures. Instead, you'll want to find the sturdiest item in the area (we rather liked fire axes, but those bottom-weighted poles used for holding up velvet ropes did nicely too) and swing it viciously at your foe.

Needless to say, this isn't exactly military combat. Carnby is a brawler, not a ninja or a soldier, and he's up against foes vastly more powerful than him - this is survival-horror, after all, not action-adventure. Combat is heart-in-mouth stuff, and while there are some beautiful moments where you turn the tables by using items like bottles of petrol (the possessed don't like being sprinkled with fuel and set on fire, oh no), much of the combat time will be spent with your heart in your mouth and the sensation that you're up against something vastly more powerful. Just how survival-horror should be, really.

Driving is a rather more fluid experience, as you'd expect from a development studio whose last outing was Test Drive Unlimited. Although you start off in the confines of a dark and nasty underground car park, you'll escape the collapsing building (having picked up a couple of companions on the way, a young woman and the elderly man from the introduction, who seems to be the only person with a clue what's going on) and launch into a driving sequence which, we suspect, will be remembered as a high point of the game.

Again, it's resolutely linear - there's one path to follow, and you need to follow it bloody quickly - but it's not just the building you were in that's collapsing. The whole of Manhattan is affected, and as a result, you'll find yourself hurtling headlong through the streets as the city falls apart around you.

Skyscrapers crumble, huge buildings fall directly onto the road in front of you, the street drops away into the subways below, enormous cracks open up that need to be jumped - and in the background, a thrilling piece of choral music ramps up the tempo with each corner you turn. There may not be much replay value in this section of the game, but by the time you reach your ultimate destination, a crash-landing in Central Park and the end of the second chapter, your pulse will be pounding.

'Alone in the Dark' Screenshot 4

Oooooh, you'll want some TCP on that.

Alone In The Dark sets its cards out fairly clearly on the table by this point. It gives you immense freedom in terms of what you can do with the physics and the items in the world, and later on, we're assured, it also gives you a free-roaming world covering the entirety of Central Park (for those who haven't been to New York, take it from us - that's a big bloody park). However, its key events are heavily scripted, and the whole experience is a linear narrative at heart.

That's not necessarily a bad thing at all. The story Alone In The Dark spins is intriguing, kicking off with truly epic set pieces and gradually weaving multi-layered mysteries around what's happening in New York and what has happened to Carnby's character himself (bear in mind that last time we saw him, he was a private detective in 1925 - this game is set in 2008, and he certainly doesn't look over a century old).

On the strength of these opening chapters, Alone In The Dark is shaping up to be one of the most compelling single-player experiences of the year. Strong narrative, gorgeous graphics and hugely flexible gameplay, constrained by highly scripted progression, put us in mind of last year's BioShock, and the comparison is not undeserved. Any fan of action-adventure or survival-horror should be mulling a pre-order for this one as its release date approaches. Meanwhile, we'll be keeping our fingers crossed that the full game can live up to what we've seen so far.

Alone in the Dark is due out on Xbox 360, PC, PS2 and Wii on 20th June, with a PS3 release to follow later in the year. Catch up with the latest trailers here.

Picture of Rob.

About Rob Fahey

Read more articles from Rob by visiting the Rob Fahey archive page.

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Comments (76) Latest comment 4 years ago

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

  • Rizzle #1 4 years ago

    ..There doesn't seem to be anybody around.

  • alimokrane #2 4 years ago

    Well Well, This is slowly shaping up to be a HIT ... and this preivew reinforces that! Cant wait the game is on preorder for me so dont let me down!!!!

  • espadachin #3 4 years ago

    sounds great, looking forward to this :)

  • bad09 #4 4 years ago

    Can't wait for this!

  • MGG #5 4 years ago

    "....There doesn't seem to be anyone around"

    Apart from all those playboy "readers" anyway.

  • Darren #6 4 years ago

    Looks really promising from the numerous videos I've seen thus far. Really liked the bit I saw with you escaping what looked like an earthquake in a New York taxi and making your way to Central Park, it showed off the solid engine to good effect and looked particularly exciting for a setpiece. The way the physics are implemented sounds cool too although I hope there are no locked doors or two foot fences you can't get past just because the developers don't want you to go that way. There's no point in having believable physics in a game if the game then has unbelievable elements forced on you as that would be just jarring IMO. Anyway I'm really looking forward to it, enough to have pre-ordered the £55 collector's edition from GAME! :)

  • JonFE #7 4 years ago

    "...and a bloody awful Uwe Boll movie..."

    A new challenger enters the boxing ring???

  • richardiox #8 4 years ago

    Needles to say.

  • Fayt #9 4 years ago

    This is easily one of my most wanted games of the year, I just hope it won't turn out to be a disappointment.

  • johnnybrn #10 4 years ago

    I've been burned too many times on this game to get excited about it so I will wait and see

  • Krelle #11 4 years ago

    "Linear" - since some dipshit thought about sandbox/openworld/whatever this word has been the equivalent of "shitty game".

    So unfair! I love linear games. They are the best. I get stuck less often, has to read faqs less often and can enjoy myself instead of using my brain. Full of win.

    Who's for Linear games? o/

  • RedPanda #12 4 years ago

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

  • ZuluHero #13 4 years ago

    not long now! sounds great! haven't played a good game of this type for quite some time...

  • thomasbeff #14 4 years ago

    " 'Linear'- since some dipshit thought about sandbox/openworld/whatever this word has been the equivalent of "shitty game".

    So unfair! I love linear games. They are the best. I get stuck less often, has to read faqs less often and can enjoy myself instead of using my brain. Full of win.

    Who's for Linear games? o/ "

    Couldn't agree more, Krelle.

  • CUR715 #15 4 years ago

    You can get this game free if you start a new subscription to Empire Magazine.

  • mikeck #16 4 years ago

    Whilst having an open world/sandbox type game is all well and good, I often find myself messing about for hours/aimlessly doing random things because I've kind of lost my way a bit, whereas a good linear adventure keeps me on my toes more.

    I enjoy both types of games, bt linear does not in any way, shape, or form equal a bad game. If it's a crap linear game then of course it would be a bad game.

  • ronuds #17 4 years ago

    Is the entire game linear or just the first few scenes, though? I know later on you have the run of Central Park, so I don't see how that could been taken as linear?

    Doesn't matter to me either way, as this looks like an almost modern-day-horror version of some of the old PC classics (which of course I can't remember the names of). I like it!

  • mcmothercruncher #18 4 years ago

    I'll be playing this on the Wii- I hope it's not too stuttery-fugly.

  • boyakoosha #19 4 years ago

    well well, thought this was going to be a flop even though the tech vids looked superb...am quite looking forward to this now.

  • Negotiator #20 4 years ago

    PS3 version to follow later in the year, hahahahahahahaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

    Goodnight everybody.

  • Eighthours #21 4 years ago

    I'm hearing unhappy noises about the current build of the full game, as opposed to the snapshots that EG are basing these impressions on. The last few days of development polish are going to be mega important, and absolutely manic. Eden may simply run out of time.

  • mikeck #22 4 years ago

    "You can get this game free if you start a new subscription to Empire Magazine."

    Awesome - 6 months of the magazine, and a free copy of the game for only £16.99!!

    Got mine ordered now.

  • Negotiator #23 4 years ago

    A fanboy me, never.

  • Negotiator #24 4 years ago

    Glad this looks good, after the shit fest NG2 has turned out to be.

  • Paulanator #25 4 years ago

    What is the deal with the Empire Magazine offer?

    It says you get 6 issues of the mag and a copy of the game on 360 or Wii, but the text at the bottom of the ad makes it sound like you have to subscribe for 12 months.

    Anyone any clearer on what it all entails?

  • miiiguel #26 4 years ago

    Negotiator, I don't know if I buy NG2 or not, is it that bad? Have you completed it?

  • mikeck #27 4 years ago

    "What is the deal with the Empire Magazine offer?

    It says you get 6 issues of the mag and a copy of the game on 360 or Wii, but the text at the bottom of the ad makes it sound like you have to subscribe for 12 months.

    Anyone any clearer on what it all entails?"

    I was a bit stumped by this too, but I'm only being charged £16.99 once, although I did have to set-up a direct debit though. I checked the details once they came through, and went to the customer service link against my order and not once did it suggest I was going to be charged again after the one-off payment. To ensure I don't get charged again as soon as I've paid the single payment I will instruct my bank to stop any more payments on that direct debit.

  • Kami #28 4 years ago

    The survival horror genre dates back a little further than that, but AitD certainly was one of the earliest forms of what we now see as the survival horror genre. But go back a little more from AitD and you had Clock Tower (still, I think, one of the best survival horror titles ever made - helpless, defenseless, alone with enough creepy stuff to keep you on edge) but if you want to go back a little further, I still maintain the origins of the genre stem from Capcom themselves. Sweet Home was more Horror RPG than survival horror, but formed the whole mansion scenario and the door-opening sequences and the puzzles that we associate with Resident Evil today. Was a clever title, and like a lot of the earlier forms of the survival horror genre - never saw light of day in the west.

    I am kind of hopeful with this new AITD - let's face it, the series has had a lot of stick in the past few years, we had The New Nightmare (which wasn't bad in the slightest but was still behind the new big-guns of the time) and of course, Mr Boll's awful attempt at turning the franchise into a film. For a series that had it's own part to play in how the genre has developed, of late it's been languishing quite severely in a niché that no-one can be bothered to check out - if not also being slightly ridiculed. It deserves more than this, it really does deserve a fantastic update to breathe life into something that has so much history behind it. Will we get it? Hmm. I'm not sure, but so far things are looking hopeful and I would certainly like to see this be fantastic and do well. With Silent Hill V looking a bit off and Resident Evil moving into the arcadey action side of things, the genre certainly could do with some sweet loving...

  • kyotokid #29 4 years ago

    Preordered for Wii :)

  • Paulanator #30 4 years ago

    "I was a bit stumped by this too, but I'm only being charged £16.99 once, although I did have to set-up a direct debit though. I checked the details once they came through, and went to the customer service link against my order and not once did it suggest I was going to be charged again after the one-off payment. To ensure I don't get charged again as soon as I've paid the single payment I will instruct my bank to stop any more payments on that direct debit."


    Ok, that sounds fine then. It's a very good offer if that's the case, especially as Empire is actually a pretty decent magazine.



  • Killerbee #31 4 years ago

    I wish Atari would spill the beans a bit more about the various versions of this game - I'm pretty sure (if it's as good as this preview suggests) I'll be going for the PC version, but I know next to nothing about how it plays with a mouse and keyboard or whether I'll need to finally give in and buy a 360 pad.

    The Wii version might also be interesting to me, but again, I know virtually nothing about that. Come on Atari - INFO!!!!

  • Feanor #32 4 years ago

    "even in next-gen games"

    Please, Shinji, consoles that have been out for almost two or three years are not next-gen.

  • Bulbatron #33 4 years ago

    I'm looking forwards to this. I've got the Special Edition ordered from GAME, and I very seldom go for special editions of games.

  • Negotiator #34 4 years ago

    miiiguel, I was talking about the EG review, of course I haven't played it.

  • CUR715 #35 4 years ago

    Regarding the Empire subscription deal:

    It's likely Empire will want you to carry on for the 12 months, but like you say, it's quite simple to cancel the direct debit with your bank.

    I buy Empire almost every month anyway.

    Excellent deal!

  • Shinji #36 4 years ago

    Kami - Clock Tower postdates AITD by about three years. The only thing that could be seriously described as survival horror prior to AITD was Sweet Home, which definitely created many of the elements we've come to associate with the genre - I'd love to know if the AITD guys had played it, though. I have a suspicion that it probably hadn't crossed their radars at that stage, since it was a niche title even in Japan.

    Feanor - There are two generations of console hardware active in the market right now, and it doesn't seem illogical to call one of them "next-gen". Moreover, it's the phrase everyone recognises when describing those consoles, and that makes it perfectly useful in this context. For the last two generations or so, consoles have only stopped being "next-gen" when their predecessors die out of the market, and I don't expect that to change - so I'd get used to it, if I were you.

  • George-Roper #37 4 years ago

    7/10

    'Seen it all before storyline and framerate issues marr this generic, Resident Evil, wannabe'

    I mean, FFS, it is Atarigrames. What the hell are you all expecting?!?! Polish and attention to detail? LMFAO!

  • Niall #38 4 years ago

    Are there any pirates? I think my favourite thing about the whole series is the music on the ship towards the end of 2.

    There needs to be pirates in this. Or at least pirate music.

  • JonFE #39 4 years ago

    @Negotiator:
    "...after the shit fest NG2 has turned out to be."
    "...I was talking about the EG review, of course I haven't played it."

    I fail to see exactly where the EG review refers to NG2 as "shit fest"; apparently your ability to read between the lines is superior to mine...

  • Feanor #40 4 years ago

    "There are two generations of console hardware active in the market right now, and it doesn't seem illogical to call one of them "next-gen"."

    Next doesn't mean latest or most recent, so it is illogical. Current-gen and old-gen makes a lot more sense. But I suppose EG will still being calling 360 games "next-gen" in 2009 even if the next Xbox has already been announced.

    "Moreover, it's the phrase everyone recognises when describing those consoles, and that makes it perfectly useful in this context."

    This is untrue. Some websites include the Wii as a "next-gen" console, while others lump it in with the PS2. Talking about HD consoles would be clearer.

  • TheDifficult3rdAlbum #41 4 years ago

    I have the original AITD Trilogy for PC in a nice smart Box Set.

    I wonder if it is worth anything...

    /lets fly the eBay attack monkeys.

  • Paukl #42 4 years ago

    I can't wait for this one, int the absence of Resi 5 it's probably the game I'm most hyped for this year.

    The fact that it's linear with scripted events doesn't bother me at all, as long as they are done well. Afetr all, you could level the exact same criticism at Call of Duty 4, and that one turned out just fine.

  • lkirton #43 4 years ago

    Alone in the Dark Wii is a very different game and you'll see a trailer for it shortly. It uses all the controls in exactly the way you'd expect based on what Alone in the Dark Xbox 360 has to offer.

  • Negotiator #44 4 years ago

    Its a great name though, Alone in the dark, frightening.

  • Negotiator #45 4 years ago

    "Talking about HD consoles would be clearer."

    So not the PS3 then.

  • Kami #46 4 years ago

    Shinji, the whole horror genre was a niche (and I got dates mixed up which was my bad with AITD and Clock Tower) until the Playstation era.

    Sweet Home is definitely a title I respect and admire. I often wonder if Resident Evil was an update, or if anyone in Capcom remembered the title and took such large elements from it. Before then you did have a horror genre but was mainly text adventures like The Lurking Horror. Giving graphics to the characters, ghosts and environment was for the day a terrifying experience (we may laugh at that, but back then in the early 90's when I first saw it it scared the crap out of me!).

    Sweet Home is a game I would love to see them release translated on VC. Not for any great reason than it's really quite a great early example of a very successful genre, and I think it might prove interesting to some people...

  • Negotiator #47 4 years ago

    Wait I think I got a better name, On my own in the night.

  • mikeck #48 4 years ago

    "Wait I think I got a better name, On my own in the night"

    I think a far better name would be 'Not with people during the day'

  • Shinji #49 4 years ago

    Shinji, the whole horror genre was a niche (and I got dates mixed up which was my bad with AITD and Clock Tower) until the Playstation era.

    Yeah, totally. Alone in the Dark was something of a break-out title, as was Clock Tower to a small extent, but it didn't get anything like the kind of recognition that Resident Evil, and subsequently Silent Hill, received. Those games are credited with inventing their own sections of the horror genre, and deservedly so.

    Even without the recognition or success of its followers, though, Alone in the Dark can certainly be credited with inventing big chunks of the survival horror genre that we know today - hence my comment on Sweet Home. I would genuinely love to know if any of AITD team had played Sweet Home, or even heard of it, when they created the game.

    And yeah, it's something I'd love to see on VC. It's the foundation for what's probably my favourite videogame genre, and it'd be great to get it on there simply as a piece of genuine gaming history.

  • Niall #50 4 years ago

    Experiencing Solace After Dusk

    (With extra pirates)

  • mcmothercruncher #51 4 years ago

    It's sort of dusky but I'm wearing my shades so it might as well be dark and I've got Jeff with me but he recently lost both his arms and legs in an industrial threshing accident so I sort of don't at the same time. Wait! What's that noise?

    THAT'S a bloody videogame title.

  • robg #52 4 years ago

    ...up against foes vastly more powerful than him - this is survival-horror, after all, not action-adventure. Combat is heart-in-mouth stuff...combat time will be spent with your heart in your mouth and the sensation that you're up against something vastly more powerful. Just how survival-horror should be, really.

    Someone needs a thesaurus :)
    Edited by 1 at 28/05/08 @ 23:36

  • mcmothercruncher #53 4 years ago

    How is a dinosaur going to help?

  • Feanor #54 4 years ago

    "Talking about HD consoles would be clearer."

    So not the PS3 then.


    Hehehe.

  • Kami #55 4 years ago

    Indeed, I don't think many will get the "point" of Sweet Home considering how games are today, but even then within this very obscure little Japan-only NES title lies the foundations and fabric of everything that has followed it. If no-one gets it, that's fine, but it's a piece of gaming history as you say and rightly so.

    AITD for me was an eye-opener but I don't know if the point was to create or reinvent a genre. I loved AITD, but by most standards I've always found the AITD series to be flawed - there's plenty there to admire but I always had the doubt that perhaps it was missing the point. Resident Evil and Silent Hill basically came in and polished those mechanisms to such a gleaming shine that looking back on AITD is a very difficult thing to do - it most certainly had it's part to play, and for the day AITD was gorgeous beyond belief, but there was certainly problems there. Which the genre did carry on doing until we got to about RE3, by which point little niggles were finally being stamped upon violently. But it wasn't AITD that polished them, it was others, and at that point most probably wouldn't have been aware of AITD. Who knows what may have happened if they'd really had the gall to push the boat out to the extent the Japanese did...

    But then, there are other examples of the horror genre that seem to remain overlooked. Still, I hate when people say Resident Evil ripped off AITD. Capcom did Sweet Home and besides the 3D stylings, Resi had far more in common I felt with Sweet Home than AITD. AITD is a game of it's own - both good and bad - and with the Survival Horror genre splitting ever further now into different territories, AITD could be a surprising and refreshing little comeback. There's plenty of room for it now and we're not so jaded that we're going to automatically compare it to Resident Evil (which we kinda did with The New Nightmare but fuck it, TNN deserved that gripe).

    The only real worry I have is that AITD, to me, has always been a little flawed. In my youth I may have overlooked those things but now, my hard-earned on the line, I'm sustantially less forgiving unless there's a female character wearing very little... thank you RE3...

  • Pulsar_t #56 4 years ago

    [link url=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=EiHfYFGPaHU
    ]http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=EiHfYFGPaHU
    [/link]

    I find it fascinating nobody's got Razzle's (and perhaps even EG's) reference!

  • timberwolf #57 4 years ago

    having no gameplay and linear progression with the illusion of freedom got bioshock 10/10 most places... looks like it will probably work out in this case too... it'll do well. just don't buy it if you expect to play a game. it's another ghost train em-up. under 10 hours, no replay i reckon...

  • mcmothercruncher #58 4 years ago

    Timberwolf ruins Christmas.

  • creepylizard #59 4 years ago

    anyone remember Estatica? I think thats what it was called...

  • monkie_king #60 4 years ago

    Ecstatica, had a weird non-polygonal renderer where everything was made from ellipsoids.

  • timberwolf #61 4 years ago

    sorry...

  • mikeck #62 4 years ago

    "just don't buy it if you expect to play a game"

    Yes, because it's not a game, you're actually buying a tupperware set aren't you. Pleb.

  • glaeken #63 4 years ago

    I remember Estatica. It certainly had elements of the horror survival genre about it but I am pretty sure it was a year or two after the original AITD game if we are looking for early influences on the genre.
    Edited by 1 at 29/05/08 @ 14:01

  • George-Roper #64 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    "This is going to be an amazing game. I hope it gets the sales it deserves."

    Care to elaborate on this being an 'amazing game' and why it 'deserves' to get sales?

    7/10 = Some good points but falls short of greatness. In a time such as this, with so many great games on different platforms, I don't have time for 'could have been great, if only they'd....' games.

    In short, go fuck yourself, Mr I Work For Atarigrames.
    Edited by 1 at 29/05/08 @ 14:30

  • George-Roper #65 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    " I was talking about Ninja Gaiden, you fucking retard. You didn't read all the comments did you?

    Oh well, maybe reading comprehension isn't your strong point ;)

    Maths isn't either, considering 70% (ie 7/10 so your brain can figure out the connection) is above average.

    If you live your life on what reviews say are ''great'' games, good for you, needing someone else's opinion to dictate your purchases. I don't. I was just saying that whoever thinks 7/10 is a ''shitfest'' needs a brain in their skull and not their anus.

    Plus, I don't really give a shit if you play the game or not. It's no skin off my nose if some idiot who can't read properly or follow conversations misses out because he just had to buy the new Fifa or whatever schlock is out that week catering to the idiot masses"

    And yet, for all your blathering, you still haven't explained why AITD5 'deserves' to sell well and, according to you, will also certainly be 'an amazing game'.

    Based off a preview and some tech vids?

    Who's the retard?

  • George-Roper #66 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    "As for why it's going to be amazing? If you've followed the game and still aren't impressed by it's pure ambition, then go get a new hobby."

    LMFAO!

    I couldn't give a fuck about its 'ambition' if the game turns out to be dogshit. There's optimism and then theres you, JSPOOLE. It's fucking retarded to state that a game will be 'amazing' based off the development 'ambition', as seen in tech vids, previews and dev diaries.

    No, wait, you're right! I must simply go and pre-order this game, and many others, based on the development 'ambition'. For fucks sakes, I must have missed dozens, if not hundreds of games in the past, based on this mindset.

    Cunt.

  • George-Roper #67 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    "Yes you are a cunt :)

    I can't disagree.


    A retarded cunt at that lol"

    Errm, remind me again which one of us thinks that a game is 'amazing' without having actually played it and basing all their access to the game on previews, dev diaries and tech vids, which amount to nothing short of advertisement and marketing propaganda?

    Hmmm?

  • George-Roper #68 4 years ago

    @JSPOOLE

    "We will see won't we?

    I'll expect a grovelling apology from you when the reviews hit.

    But hey like I said, if you don't wanna buy it, don't. I really could care less if you killed yourself, nevermind what type of games you like to play lol"

    Whoa, Nostradamus! No need to go there with the insults!

    Oh fuck...if he's predicted AITD5 being a smash hit maybe he's also seen me doing myself in! I mean, its possible, right? Right?!?!

  • creepylizard #69 4 years ago

    ladies! ladies!

  • George-Roper #70 4 years ago

    What's the point in arguing with a person who's already decided the game will be 'amazing' without even having played the fucker?

    I'll let the reviews do the talking. 7/10.

  • George-Roper #71 4 years ago

    JS, you're coming across as either a fevered fanboi or an individual who has a vested interest in the success of this particular release.

    If its the latter, then i'm sorry if you don't like my comments, but Atarigrames have a proven track record of releasing games, sometimes too early, without enough polish or attention to detail. In other words, shit. Now, based on the marketing so far, we're having physics this and super-duper inventory mix'n'match that shoved in our faces, but this all amounts to advertising. Y'see, Atarigrames have already said they're out of high-profile releases, once this goes, and will instead focus on 'family orientated' titles.

    In other words, they don't have the finances or the talent or the know-how or the correct level of professionalism to see big releases out.

    If AITD5 is 'shit hot', 'amazing', 'astounding' and lots of other similiar things, why would Atarigrames bow out now? Surely if its amazing and sells really well, that would be a positive thing, right? If they make lots of money, surely they'd want to continue to do so, yes? AITD6?

    No, i'm afraid not. This game will lack imagination, artistic style/direction and will be adversely affected by bad framerate issues.

    The article in question already states that the game plays along a linear path which to me means that it will play like RE.

    It will be played mostly in 3rd person. Like RE.

    It will feature a variety of weapons that can be used against monsters. Like RE.

    The only thing it has is the physics aspect and, to an extent, inv combos. Vehicles are just an extention of the player character, so see Dead Rising for that, if you want to get arsey.

    The worst aspect will be the lack of imagination and style. It will clearly show through and I guarantee reviews will share my thoughts. Atarigrames have shown time and time again that they can't get this aspect right. Why should now be any different when they're about to bow out of the market and never look back?

  • George-Roper #72 4 years ago

    @JS

    "That's like saying Half Life 2 is like Turok because they have ''guns, a first person viewpoint and a sci fi theme''.

    Yes, exactly, it is and they are. Whats your point here?

    They're both shooters that feature a first-person perspective in a sci-fi theme that follow a linear path through the game. At various points you'll upgrade your guns to bigger and badder things and fight bigger and badder enemies with them.

    Except in HL2 you have the physics bit thats used, along the way, so 'solve' gimmicky puzzles and traps. Nothing more nothing less.

    AITD5 will also have a handful of these 'physics' puzzles, you can be sure, but don't be fooled into thinking they'll be 'the whole game' because they won't. The majority of the game will be you, in 3rd person, walking through dimly lit, spooky, environments hammering/shooting/whacking monsters with various weapons. Like RE. Fact.

    Trying to paint this in any other way is stupid and ignorant and we absolutely will see that upon review.

  • George-Roper #73 4 years ago

    For whatever reason, I think you're confusing similiarity with quality. HL2 is leagues ahead of Turok, in terms of quality and content, of that there is no doubt.

    Do not compare AITD5 with HL2. Valve will eat you alive.

  • George-Roper #74 4 years ago

    That or you've realised what a pathetic argument it is that you've tried to put forward? Regardless, its the last i'll say on the matter. Reviews will come in and will bolster what i've already said.

    BTW, for the record, I used to work for Atarigrames, so I know of what I speak (in terms of what kind of quality they kick out of the door)
    Edited by 1 at 29/05/08 @ 20:56

  • timberwolf #75 4 years ago

    much too short 50 squid for 10 hours if you don't skip.

  • peppergomez #76 4 years ago

    does the game give the player to play through entirely in 1st or 3rd person perspective?