Alone in the Dark Comments by Rob Fahey

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

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!!!!

sounds great, looking forward to this :)

Can't wait for this!

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

Apart from all those playboy "readers" anyway.

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! :)

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

A new challenger enters the boxing ring???

Needles to say.

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

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

Its linear.... not a bad thing.
linear... not a bad thing
linear... not a bad thing.

What are you trying to tell me EG?

"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/

linear FTW although sounds a mix after the chapters described anyway.

i has high hopes for this :) the video demo's are really awesome.

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

" '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.

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

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.

This has GOTY stamped all over it, in a font named 'I-WIN'.

Color me pre-ordered, and then some.

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!

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

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

PS3 version to follow later in the year, hahahahahahahaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

Goodnight everybody.

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.

"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

fanboy much?

A fanboy me, never.

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

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?

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

"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.

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...

Preordered for Wii :)

"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.

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!!!!

"even in next-gen games"

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

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.

@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...

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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

"Talking about HD consoles would be clearer."

So not the PS3 then.

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...

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