Alone in the Dark

by Atari

Product Features

• A New Inventory System ¿ Players utilize the pockets of protagonist Edward Carnby to hold items which they can view, switch and combine without leaving the game.
• Narrative intensity ¿ Taking its cues from blockbuster TV dramas, the story is told in a TV season style narrative structure based around episodes that deliver maximum intensity throughout and keep the player hooked.
• A Captivating Story ¿ Centered in iconic Central Park long-time series protagonist and paranormal specialist Edward Carnby returns to delve into the frightening events occurring in the Big Apple.
• Real World Rules ¿ In-Game movement has been designed to allow players to do almost anything that is physically possible in the real world.
• Photographic Rendering ¿ Game developer Eden¿s Propriety ¿Twilight¿ technology creates a lavishly detailed game world with highly realistic and advanced cinematographic effects.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00113NYIA
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches ; 3.5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 24, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,917 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2

Amazon.com

There?s something strange and frightening happening in the middle of New York City?s Central Park; something whispered to have been intentionally kept secret; something that players are compelled to explore in Alone in the Dark.

Known today as a safe haven for New Yorkers yearning for relief from the stresses of their chaotic metropolis, history records that Central Park was built on a useless swamp, yet as the New York City skyline hurtled towards the sky over the last 150 years, making the city the most expensive real estate in the world, the park has remained untouched. Why? Civic pride? Perhaps, but the recent strange happenings in and around the park are casting doubt on that, doubts that require investigating.

The return of an iconic series

Paranormal PI Edward Carnby. View larger.

Stunningly spooky views of NYC. View larger.

The odd wildlife of Central Park. View larger.

A whole new inventory system. View larger.

Enter Edward Carnby, Paranormal Investigator
Despite the title, Alone in the Dark is actually the fifth game in a series that dates back to 1992 and centers around the experiences of Edward "the reptile" Carnby. A paranormal investigator by trade, Carnby is looking for answers to the strange events and horrific creatures reported in and around the park, but gets more than he bargained for when all the mysteries and terrors of the park spill out over the course of one apocalyptic night. It?s the player?s task to avoid the new frightening dangers of the park as you search for the answers to what these supernatural occurrences mean and why they are happening.

Gameplay Based on Full Player Immersion
Packed full of action and vivid in its realism Alone in the Dark goes to the extreme to keep players engaged and immersed by plunging them into the heart of the action in real-time at every turn and challenging them to survive using full movement control. The goal here is to allow players to do or at least feel that they can do more or less whatever is possible in real life, within the game.

Need to avoid a blast of steam or an eruption of fire that has shot up in your path? You can simply side-step it or you can handle the obstacle with a little more panache by using the environment around you, for example by swinging around it using reachable pipes or wires. In another situation you may be challenged by attacking monsters. No problem. You can take the path of least resistance, again by side-stepping them or placing an obstacle between yourself and them, but if you are feeling like taking out a little aggression you can pick up a board, chair, box, etc. and have at it. Nearly anything that you come across that would be usable in real life is usable in game and can be wielded in several different ways.

In addition, game developer Eden Studios has done away with a few in-game conventions in favor of real life upgrades. Instead of old-fashioned health bars Alone in the Dark uses realistic body damage and physiological effects to show players how much damage has been done to Carnby by the new dangerous nightlife of Central Park. Basically this means if Carnby has been taking a licking he?s going to be a little bloody. Monsters use sensory perception of all kinds to find their victims, so players need to keep aware of Carnby?s physical state, as well as the impact he has on his surroundings. Also gone are traditional inventory systems that take players out of the game while you switch or check items in your possession, replaced by an in-game inventory system where items are carried in the folds of Carnby?s trench coat. This allows you to stay in the action the whole time. Sticking with the realism theme, the number of items that Carnby can carry is limited, but since ingenuity is built into the system, items can be combined or their uses altered, mostly with tape, so players can adjust as challenges arise.

TV Style Intensity That Keeps You Hooked
Built around a unique television style episodic narrative game structure, the storyline of Alone in the Dark is split into a number of distinct 30-40 minute episodes, doled out one at a time as you play. This new way to progress through the storyline ensures that players can enjoy the game regardless of the amount of time they have available without ever feeling lost. Each time a saved game is launched, the episode will begin with a video summary of the previous episode to quickly re-immerse the player in the story, removing the need to remember where you were or what you were doing at the end of your last play session. In addition, every episode will also close with a nail-biting, cliff-hanger ending to rattle players? nerves. And when you choose to leave the game, a video teaser of the next episode will play to leave players always wanting more.

Vivid Photographic Rendering
Even on a bad day, and this will be a bad one, Central Park and New York City are something to see. With Game developer Eden?s proprietary Twilight technology and rendering engine, players can expect to see everything from the City?s famous landmarks to the manifestations of the evil that have been festering in Central Park come to life as if you were there. This lavishly detailed game world takes advantage of highly realistic and advanced cinematographic effects including depth of field, camera focus, numerous light sources, moisture, reflections and High Dynamic Range effects.

Whether it?s the innovative game play, the unique episodic game structure, the advanced physics or the return of a ground-breaking protagonist recast in the modern era, Alone in the Dark holds something for players willing to take on the mysteries and dangers at the heart of Central Park.

Product Description

Alone in the Dark PS2

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Pretty BAD, July 12, 2008

By 

A. Griffiths "Adrian" (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Alone in the Dark (Video Game)

Oh dear...this is the lowest score I have given to a PS2 game for a long time. Alone In The Dark on the PS2 fails really glaringly in many ways, and provides a thoroughly unsatisfying game experience.

The game is a kind of action/survival horror story, with you playing as Edward Carnby, trapped in a collapsing and monster-filled New York. Right from the start the controls will baffle you, and they conspire against you having any decent fun at every single opportunity.

Yes it's that bad. The game is almost unplayable due to the terrible, unresponsive and sometimes downright un-useable control system. Nothing works well. In several chapters, Carnby has to climb up and down ropes and swing about to reach ledges. The implementation of this makes it impossible to judge when to let go. Then there are the car driving sections...awful cars that don;'t even drive in a straight line even when you don't push the L-stick at all, and which spin off into instant death at the slightest clipping of any obstacle. Then there's the fighting...a gun that can only be fired in 1st person. Melee weapons that can only be swung in 3rd person. And both with a real time lag. Then there's the camera, constantly wobbling and bouncing around behind Carnby's head. You can't see the scenery or anything very clearly, let alone where you are running. Thank heavens the 3rd person viewpoint actually keeps still. Then there's the inventory...all in your pockets which you have to look in and pick things out of. Then there's the first aid packs and general healing. How does this work? I don't even know. And then there is...eyes-closed mode. Oh my god. Words fail me when trying to describe how terrible this is. You try keeping the R3 button held down without actually tipping it from side to side. And right at the end of the game theres a perilous twisting catwalk with instant death drops at each side to traverse, that you can only SEE in eyes-closed mode. I can guarantee you will be screaming. Screaming for your money back, probably. I'll say this though, the game designers have been fiendish in making you work out exactly what you have to do. There are no clues. Walk into a museum with a couple of monsters in it and there is no way out. Not a single clue. Walk into a factory where the floor is covered with deadly slime. "Use the spotlights" some helpful dame says. How? The panel has no instructions on it. And worst of all is the saving...save spots are at set points, and if you die somehow you often have to go back and do some tortuous skill-based action sequence over and over again, as many of the set-pieces are trial and error based. Hideous.

Now that just leaves the graphics, and these are no champions either. Characters are blocky and awkward. Carnby has this awful gaunt square-jawed hero face that looks really ugly. I have seen better graphics on PS2 games from five years ago! The collision detection is awful, and Carnby was forever teetering on invisible cliff edges or falling off when he should have been standing safely.

But I persevered and played it right to the end, bracing myself for a very uncomfortable finale...but let me tell you though, I was gobsmacked by the feeble winding up of the game. I actually thought I had got the "bad" ending and had missed out an entire final level. But no...a final nail in the coffin. Oh well at least I was happy that I could stop playing it.

Sorry folks, but this game is a stinker. Games are supposed to be about fuin, and with everything that's wrong here. Alone in the Dark is no fun at all.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could have been spectacular, but marred by technical issues, July 5, 2008

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Alone in the Dark (Video Game)

The Alone in the Dark series goes back a long way (even pre-dating the Resident Evil franchise) in terms of pioneering the survival horror genre, with this new installment kind of being a re-boot for the series. Once again filling the shoes of paranormal investigator Edward Carnby, Alone in the Dark finds Carnby caught in the middle of an apocalyptic event while investigating strange happenings in Central Park. The first thing you'll notice is that Alone in the Dark boasts some wonderfully creepy and spooky environments that drip with eerie atmosphere. In fact, the areas are so well designed (even for the PS2 version) that you'll often find yourself admiring your surroundings while dodging demons and beasts. The game looks good in general as well, despite a few graphical glitches that occur, while the game's solid score adds to the overall survival horror atmosphere. What's really sad about Alone in the Dark is that the game's potential to be something special is marred by technical issues. Namely, just moving around can be a chore. The control issues that present themselves during combat and puzzle solving only add layers of frustration to the game, which is a crying shame, and the game's schizophrenic camera doesn't help make matters any better either. Despite it's flaws, Alone in the Dark does present some innovation in terms of it's item inventory use and some dramatic moments that will jolt you out of your chair. The game's story is intriguing, and there are some great lighting effects too. All in all, Alone in the Dark is a worthwhile trip that could have been something truly great, but in the end is brought down thanks to it's technical issues. Still, for survival horror fans, Alone in the Dark is definitely worth a look.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An honest attempt, but an ultimitly futile one, December 5, 2009

By 

Ian (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Alone in the Dark (Video Game)

It's never easy getting hand me downs. But it's even worse if you're a video game developer, and you're in charge of adapting a video game meant for a next gen console to a previous generation console. No matter what you do, you'll never be able to re-create the experience exactly for gamers on the lower end platform, but you still give it your best shot, hoping that you can at least make it fun.

Yet, despite your best efforts, sometimes it just doesn't work.

Alone in the Dark is the PS2 incarnation of the next gen re-boot of the famous survival horror series. Taking the role of amnesiac Edward, you, the player, have to grab a gun, gather your wits, and attempt to survive a hellish night in New York City, where almost everyone is out to kill you. Granted, that happens every night in the big apple, but on this particular night, you've got zombies and demons to deal with. And not only that, you have to figure out exactly what's going on...why are monsters running around Central Park? What are the secrets hidden in your past? And most curiously...why is a group of mysterious individuals after a curious little stone? Sadly, the answers to those questions are buried deep in a game that, while having promise, ultimately gets buried in a mire of problems.

As a survival horror game, Alone in the Dark has all the standard action adventure staples...you run around in third person (being able to switch to first person if you want), gathering items and weapons, fighting monsters, driving cars, and solving puzzles. You've done this many times before in other games, but unfortunately, Alone in the Dark suffers from a control scheme that, at best, is frustrating. You move around with the left control stick while the right controls the camera, but the buttons for everything else is tricky to remember, often involving multiple button presses. For example, if you want to shoot your pistol, you have to press and hold L1, move the right stick to aim, and press R1 to shoot. You'll often to have to move in this mode (so as to avoid the monsters trying to tear your head off), and sometimes you'll have to enter eyes-closed mode (more on that later), which you activate by pressing down on the right control stick.

Sound confusing? Unfortunately, it is. It's not uncommon to be running around pressing all these buttons and trying to keep track of what's happening on the screen. While you adapt to the controls eventually, you never really feel comfortable with them. Driving vehicles, another large part of the game, is generally a pain, with your vehicles going too fast, making it easy to crash, and thus fail the game.

Visuals and sound don't really add anything to the game. As expected, the game looks nowhere near as beautiful as it's next gen parents, but in it's defense, it doesn't look all that bad for a PS2 game. Detailing is fairly high throughout the game, with some areas looking quite spectacular (such as an underground parking garage, as well as a big area near the end of the game), but while the graphics are acceptable, they aren't as good as other PS2 titles, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, for example. The sound affects are acceptable, and the voice actors are the same, save for Sarah, who can really get on your nerves as the game goes on, sometimes to the point where you want to shoot her.

Special mention needs to go to the music...specifically how I think it destroys the mood of the game. While most reviews praise the game's soundtrack, I found it to be acceptable in some areas, but it suffers from being too loud and too present. While the music can build tension at the right moments, more often then not you're running around an empty park while children wail at the top of their lungs in Latin. As a result, any mood the game creates is destroyed by the overbearing music. I actually found it more fun to turn the music off, as the sound of wind, rain, and emptiness creates a creepier mood then the music ever does, especially in the game's third act.

But what really makes Alone in the Dark a painful experience to play is it's complete and utter lack of direction. Aside from a few scattered hints on the controls early on, the game leaves you completely to yourself with no indication of what to do, or where to go. In some cases, this isn't a problem (it's pretty obvious you need to drive a car to escape a street collapsing beneath you), but most of the time you'll be standing around, wondering exactly what you're supposed to do. In one level early on, you're in an underground parking lot. It doesn't take long to figure out that you need to find a car and drive out, but because almost all the cars look the same, you don't know which one to look for. Even worse, the game never tells you how to enter cars, and doesn't prompt you when you can enter them. As a result, I spent upwards of an hour trying to figure out what to do before giving up and looking at an online strategy guide. At another point, you need to reach a bathroom to get some medical equipment, but when you reach said bathroom, you aren't given any hints what to do next (I'll spoil it for you...you have to shoot a door open to get to the vital first aid kit). Sometimes you'll be grappled by monsters and be shown a knife in your hands, but with no instructions on how to use it.

Simply put, the lack of direction, or even hints, is what kills the gameplay experience, making it frustrating and a chore to play. This is a game where it's actually more enjoyable if you have a strategy guide to refer to, rather then trying to figure things out on your own. If the game had put in a hint system, such as the eyes closed mode (you click down the right control stick, and enter an alternate vision mode where you can occasionally see hidden paths), but the vast majority of the time, the game simply abandons you to your own devices, and it's very frustrating.

Even worse however, is the game's ending. Simply put, it's absolutely awful. You think you're getting a cutscene leading to the final boss battle...only to discover that the cutscene is the end of the game. And while there are two possible endings you can choose (though you aren't given any hints that this cutscene is interactive), both of them are bad. I guarantee that when the game fades to black and the credits begin to roll, you'll stare at the screen in shock and wonder if that really is the end of the game. Sadly, it is, and it makes everything you've gone through seem utterly pointless, especially seeing as some of your allies and enemies vanish, leaving you completely in the dark as to what happens to them.

However, despite it's shortcomings, there are some good things about Alone in the Dark. Despite a poor ending, the story is interesting to follow, and does become very interesting as secrets are revealed near the end of the game. Easily Alone in the Dark's greatest strength is the variety of the game play. From the beginning of the game to the end, you'll run, shoot, jump, rappel down numerous steep surfaces, climb up said surfaces, drive cars, hot wire said cars, administer first aid to yourself in first person mode, and even combine and use items. No two parts of the game feel alike, which makes the whole experience feel fresh and unique. The idea of being able to look inside your jacket and see (and select) all your items is unique, and I for one like the idea of the only gun you can use is a pistol...for once, you can't carry around a dozen weapons, and it makes the game feel more realistic. Furthermore, some of the stages are downright amazing. There's nothing like trying to maneuver around the outside of a skyscraper when it's collapsing all around you, or heading through the abandoned subway tunnels of the park, or in the game's creepiest level, spelunking through pitch black sewers, with only a cigarette lighter to light your way. And in the game's best feature, should you get stuck at a certain area, you can use a nifty chapter select to access any level of the game, even heading to the very end of the game if you don't feel like slugging through the rest of it. It's an extremely cool idea that works very well, and I wish other games had it.

However, despite it's unique gameplay, innovative chapter select system, and interesting story, Alone in the Dark's awkward controls, as well as a complete lack of direction or instruction, makes it a frustrating game to play, and it's horrible endings make the whole experience feel pointless. Once you know how to get past all the obstacles and puzzles, as well as adapting to the controls, the game can be fun, but unless you find it dirt cheap (I bought my copy for two bucks), I wouldn't recommend it as a purchase. Perhaps as a rental, but even then, I would recommend going for the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions if you can.

NOTE: PS3 Owners should be aware that if you play this game on a PS3, there's a bug that makes two ropes in the second half of the game billow away from walls as you climb down them, making it impossible to progress if you don't use the chapter select feature.

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