New Nightmare On An Old Handheld (Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (GB))

Member Name: scream4bruce

Product:	Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (GB)
Date:	01/10/07 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great visuals, effective use of music

Disadvantages: Inaccurate combat, limited sound effect, lightweight exploring

Of course with the backlight of my GBA SP I was no longer alone in the dark...

Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare uses pre-rendered backgrounds - except for in battles - to create a pseudo 3D environment which is impressive for a Game Boy Color title for they are detailed and show great use of colour. The manner in which Edward Carnby - whom you control - is scaled to appear of the right proportion in relation to the camera is handled well. Detailed as the backgrounds are, there are times when what is represented is not clear hence it's not always obvious where it is you are meant to look, and how it is the stills relate to each other. Still, that's not to dismiss the quality of these graphics.

The game shows it's audio prowess near the beginning by recreating eerie forest surroundings, but the sound effects find themselves to be on the limited side. As for the music, it does add to the atmosphere but there's not much of it either as there is an over-reliance on silence - which is effective.

As with action-adventure games of these types, there can be much pressing against the scenery and hoping to come across something relevant. In the earlier stages of the game there is some exploration to be done but not so much later on as the number of possibilities to find the way forward narrow down with too many screens which simply serve as routes. There are instant deaths in this game, but only in a small section, and is no big deal.

Battles take place in another screen. Working against you are the pace of the enemies - none seem to be slower than you. Your range of fire is wide making combat inaccurate but that's not to say care should not be taken with ammo conservation. The battles are actually set encounters - not random as they might appear - and you could be forced to backtrack because when you run out of ammo it is game over.

Or in my case, start over again. Luckily this wasn't a long game, and on the second time of asking ammo wasn't such a problem. Though there are no options as such there are a generous three files for saving. But despite showing what the Game Boy Color was capable of, not enough happens in the game - both exploration and battle elements are lightweight - so there's no incentive to play Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare, never mind replay the game.

Summary: Review of Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare for Game Boy Color.