is anybody out theere? (Alone In The Dark - The New Nightmare (DC))

Member Name: richardhoar

Product:	Alone In The Dark - The New Nightmare (DC)
Date:	26/01/02 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Top graphics, Top gameplay, immersive

Disadvantages: crashes

I decided to buy this game in the summer of 2001 after seeing great screenshots over the previous year and because my friend recommended it. I thought it would be great since i love the Resident Evil franchise and the survival horror genre.

I must say, the game lived up to the hype. It was excellent, the graphics were superb and very detailed even more so than resident evil code veronica (due to the static backgrounds, RECV used 3D backgrounds), the sounds were very atmospheric too altho the strange zombie effects made my speakers echo (the poor quality television I guess).

The developers certainly did an excellent job creating the creepy atmosphere of a lonely island inhabited by strange beings from another world. The fact that you cant see much because of the consistent darkness raises the fright level even more.

Thankfully the two main characters carry flash lights with them so you can see where they are going, the light effects are especially impressive. Feel free to glide the torch in any direction (thanks to the analogue control) to illuminate the scenery and uncover useful clues or foil hidden traps!

While on the subject of clues, there are lots of puzzles to solve in this installment of alone in the dark. some more difficult than others but i can tell you now that the difficult ones will leave you completely confused as to what to do (they did with me any way).

The controls are easy to get used to, there are the usual directional movements, the holster/unholster buttons etc. Pretty much the same as resident evil really with the added bonus of being able to walk while aiming and the flash light aims with your gun so you can see clearly what you're aiming at.

So there we go, a top game then... well nearly. I dont know if anyone else has had this problem but for some reason my copy appears to have an awful lot of bugs in it. It seems to crash too frequently (AT KEY PARTS I must stress) and once the wh
ole screen appeared to melt away with just the playable character left viewable. Quite bizarre as i have never had this problem with any other dreamcast game.

Apart from this minor mishap though, I would place Alone in the Dark at the top of the survival horror genre (just behind Resident Evil) and advise any wouldbe horror sleuth to buy it.

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