Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare

Review by Old Rooster
November 2004

A Heritage—Somewhat Honored

Not long ago, I was privileged, by way of a PC Gamer classic games CD, to play the original Alone in the Dark, produced in 1992. Although the graphics were primitive by today's standards, one can certainly tell why this first game of its type caused such a stir. The atmosphere was eerie; the moving camera perspective surprisingly effective; the storyline was involving; and the puzzles were practical and made sense. Indeed, this game spawned not only its own line of successors but, in many respects, the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series, along with their clones.

The arrival of this fourth iteration of the AITD series was much anticipated, even though the creator of the first three, Hubert Chardot, had moved on to similar projects—The Devil Inside and From Dusk Till Dawn. Unfortunately, his omission from the design team was significant, with the resultant product rather disappointing, given the heritage and our expectations.

Carnby and Cedrac

The rather bumbling Edward Carnby ("famed supernatural detective") of nine years ago has been modernized and become quite hardened—as if he has personally experienced not only the first three Alone in the Dark episodes, but perhaps also the Resident Evil series as well! Joining him is Aline Cedrac ("determined young archeologist"). Having been summoned to the appropriately named "Shadow Island," the pair proceeds, due to an initial separation, in differently pathed quests to try to resolve the mysteries of the island and, ultimately, reclaim three ancient tablets.

Edward starts outside a haunted mansion with a set of problem-solving tasks, involving a lot of key finding, door opening, back-and-forth movement, and monster killing. Aline, the more cerebral of the two investigators, starts on an upper floor balcony and has more puzzles to solve. These separate paths are not retreads of each other, but rather two quite distinct pieces of the whole detecting effort. Indeed, in order for the rather good storyline to make complete sense, both parts eventually need to be played.

Communication does occur between Carnby and Cedrac, via walky-talky, with the first point of mutual contact coming from observation of their respective flashlights. These lamps, with permanent batteries, are a graphical highlight of the game, illuminating very effectively the generally impressive scenes. Alene's torch also works as a primary weapon, used to ward off monsters afraid of the light.

"The Shadows Always Prevail" —Game-Over Screen Message

From the game title to Shadow Island's appellation, it's clear this game evolves at night, in the dark. Characters are depicted in 3D animations on beautifully rendered 2D backgrounds.

Although lip movement isn't present, this doesn't present a serious impediment. As mentioned, particularly impressive is the flashlight effect, which is needed not only to illuminate your path, but also to find hidden clues and objects. The 640×480 resolution (the only choice) is surprisingly satisfactory, thanks in large measure to OpenGL assist.

Ambient sounds (whistling wind, barking dogs, creaking floor boards) all serve to add to a generally effective atmosphere of forebodingness and imminent evil. The musical score is suitable.

"This Island Is a Hellhole" —Little Old Lady

I love action/adventures, particularly of the survival/horror subgenre. But console porting, or simultaneous PC/console development, really imposes limitations on the flexibility of the PC. Clearly, Darkworks had the consoles in mind first, then the PC. The third-person movements of our characters are awkward and imprecise. Getting to the correct spot on the screen is often an exercise in frustration, let alone the movement required when trying to confront an unexpected and unpleasant zombie! Relatedly, camera placement and angles can be severely limiting, allowing a monster to be hurting you and yet out of your line of vision. Finally, the use of a weapon, usually by Carnby, involves the unusual action of holding down the left mouse button to aim while simultaneously holding the right mouse button to fire. I never did get the hang of that one.

And then we come to game saving, the greatest Achilles heel of this game. A la Resident Evil, there are pickups to allow save game opportunities. And you can, presumably, save anywhere—by using either one of only four save slots or the quick save/load. Tragically, though, saves return you to the beginning of the room or sequence you last began, with it being necessary to repeat all your exploring and fighting—yuck!

Finally, I experienced an annoying pixel precision problem (PPP). Unless an object to be retrieved is approached in the most tediously precise fashion, typically several times, it's not likely to become part of your inventory. Again, the annoyance of "consolitis" rears its head, to the detriment of a potentially good game.

As an aside, Darkworks, the publisher, is developing a similar title, Cold Fear, to be released in March of 2005, for PS2, Xbox, and PC. Hopefully, the PC version will reflect a greater awareness of the strengths of our favorite platform.

There are some gameplay merits of The New Nightmare—including two distinct and interwoven styles of play, an eerie atmosphere, an interesting underlying narrative, and generally more cerebral than monster-bashing activities (except for the last quarter). These strengths are diluted, unfortunately, by the multiplatform limitations imposed on the PC version by the developer.

A Game Worthy of "Undying?"

As an admitted fan of survival/horror, I found moments of enjoyment in AITD: The New Nightmare and would give it a qualified recommendation—barely passing. However, the story, scare factor and implementation aren't near the level of such games as Clive Barker's Undying or the more recent The Suffering. The third-person control doesn't approach the fluidity of Max Payne, for example. These efforts have set standards, for story on the one hand and control implementation on the other. Yet the game is better than most in the Resident Evil series (particularly from an adventuring perspective), miles beyond Evil Dead: Hail to the King, more interesting and involving than the Blair Witch series, and about at the same level in overall quality as The Devil Inside (Chardot's latest).

If you are more used to console-type controls and their inherent limits than I, you may want to give this flawed, but interesting, New Nightmare a trial; of course, with the blinds drawn and only a candle for background lighting!

What I Liked Most About AITD 4

• Tells a good story, from two different perspectives;
• Impressive overall graphics, especially lighting effects;
• More cerebral and puzzle-solving than monster bashing.

What I Liked Least About AITD 4

• Frustrating console-type control problems;
• Terrible save game system;
• Often problematic camera placement. 

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Darkworks
Publisher: Atari
Release Date: August 2001

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System Requirements

Windows 98/ME/2000 (will run under XP)
Pentium II 400 GHz
64 MB RAM (128 MB recommended)
16 MB DirectX compatible video card (32 MB recommended)
400 MB free hard disk space

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