Alone in the Dark: review by Christopher Songer

Review by Christopher Songer <songer@ovation.lexmark.com>

Introduction:

Hi!

Before I embark upon a review of Alone In The Dark, a new 3do release from Interplay, I should probably provide a bit of perspective. I work in front of a Sun SPARC most of the day. By the time I get home, I am not at all interested in playing games on a PC. It isn't that the games are not appealing but rather that sitting in front of a keyboard is not my idea of fun at that point. As a consequence, I have a slightly different perspective for PC titles that come out on the 3do. In general I have not had played them on the PC and do not have any experience with the PC "state of the art." While r.g.v.advocacy is filled with the cries of "lame port" I happily plug in the game with no previus experience for good or bad.

So, if one has played or seen Alone in the Dark on a PC, this review may not match your experiences or opinions of the 3do titles. I have played only the 3do version and do not judge based on PC game experience.

Overview:

Alone in the Dark, published by Interplay, is a 3d realtime exploration adventure. One assumes the role and controls the actions of an investigator exploring an old house where there have been strange goings on including the suicude of the house's owner. The game is punctuated and characterized by a horror theme. This is not horror in the modern sense -- but horror in the Lovecraft sense. There are not gory and gruesome deaths but rather allusions to powerful and nameless evil forces. It is not the enemy seen but the enemy lurking which creates the mood here.

Gameplay:

Because Alone in the Dark creates such a spooky mood, it is difficult to separate the gameplay from the rest of the game. Clearly at a high level Along in the Dark is simply an "explore the mansion" kind of game. But this game is different from anything else I have played in the way the character is controlled and viewed. Unlike the first person perspective games such as Doom, in Alone in the Dark, one views one's character from the outside. It is as if one is watching a movie in which one controls the motion of one of the actors. The joypad controls the character's motion. Pressing right and left rotates the character, pressing forward moves the character forward and pressing back moves it back.

One can select an item or action type for the character by pressing the B button. The A button actives the selected item or action. If one has selected a "firing weapon" holding the A button prepares the weapon for use. At this point pressing right and left aims the weapon and pressing up or down fires it. If one selects "fight" rather than a weapon then depressing the A button puts the character in a fighting stance. Pressing right and left on the joypad throws punches. Pressing up and down throws kicks. Searching, using mundane items -- all these actions are handled in similiar ways.

Overall the control is smooth but takes a bit of getting used to based on the unusual perspective. If one likes exporation adventures, the gameplay is definitely good.

Graphics:

The graphics in Alone in the Dark are mixed. There are really two elements here. The colors are terrible. It is clear that the developers did not use a large color palette when developing the game and when first playing the game one is struck by this immediately.

However, the way in which the external perspective is handled is nothing short of amazing. Depending on where the character is in the room, there is a predefined "camera location" from which the character is viewed. This provides images which are more like a movie than a game. It is possible not to see all portions of a room at once -- even though the character would be able to see them based on the room. This truly adds to the feeling of gloom and suspense and overall is very well done.

For example, at one point in the game one is exporing a bedroom when suddenly the view shifts to outside the bedroom window behind a creature which subsequently breaks through the window and attacks. While in this view one can still see and control the character through the window -- this is cool!

The character animation is similiarly twofaced. The character is rendered in polygons and up close looks fairly blocky. On the other hand, its motion and control is extremely smooth and well thought out. When the character opens a door, it reaches forward and pulls the door. When opening a chest, it reachs down a lifts the lid.

Cinemas:

So far there are only two cinemas I have found in the game. The first is the opening sequence and the second the "you lose" sequence. Neither are stunning.

Sound:

If the use of "camera angles" goes a long way toward creating a mood in Alone in the Dark, the music, the sound effects and the voice acting go the rest of the way. The music is good -- good to listen to, and good and spooky. It adds to the feeling of suspense. The sounds effects are also good and also spooky. It is creepy to hear a banging on the trapdoor over which one has just pushed a chest.

The best of these to my mind thought is the voice acting. The prose in the game alludes to but does not quite define a lurking evil in the house Decerto. Hearing the diary of the former owner of the house really set me on edge in a way that simply reading the text probably would not have.

Overall:

Alone in the Dark is a fun adventure game. The suspenseful mood is masterfully created by a mix of graphics, sound and gameplay. The whole experience is greater than the sum of the parts. I strongly recommend this game for those who can overcome a poor color depth and those who enjoy creepy adventures.

Anyway,

-Chris

songer@lexmark.com

michel.buffa@cmu.edu