Alone in the Dark (PC)

Game: Alone in the Dark
Platform: PC
Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Infogrames
Genre: Survival-Horror/Adventure
Release Date: 1992
Overall Score: 3 out 5/OCD Factor Score: 1 out of 5

Published in 1992, this pioneer of the survival-horror genre fuses thought provoking puzzles with deadly fights against creatures from an H. P. Lovecraft inspired world. Set in 1921, the story centers around the mysterious suicide of Jeremy Hartwood, owner of the mysterious Louisiana mansion Derceto. Players choose to step into the shoes of either private detective Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood, the niece of Jeremy. Neither campaign is any different, it just depends which character one would rather see for the remainder of the game. However, the graphics are so poor you really won’t be able to tell much difference.

Story: This is one of the best parts of the game. Told through a series of books and letters scattered about the mansion, players are slowly introduced to the evil which lurks in and below the house. Dealing with the Cthulthu mythology and centering on an evil pirate, Captain Pregzt, and his deal for immortality, the game gives players willing to invest the time in reading the numerous documents found a great story.

Sound: I don’t think computer games from the early nineties are especially well-known for their music. That being said, the game did have some memorable themes. We aren’t talking great orchestral works here, but catchy nonetheless.The music inside the mansion and the music before an enemy encounter stick out in my memory as particularly great. I can’t comment on sound effects or even if there was any voice work at all. Windows XP was unable to play them. I was just happy I was able to get my computer to load the game at all.

Graphics: Oh my, this is one area the game falls very short in. I’m not really a PC gamer, so for the time maybe this was better then I think, but luckily, I don’t need a game to look great to enjoy it. Supposedly taking advantage of new 3-D polygon technology, the game really just looks like a box of shapes vomited on the screen. I realize this game is 17 years old but this was the year of Mortal Kombat and Mario Kart, both of which look way better than this game. I understand the desire to use new technology but if it isn’t capable of improving anything don’t use it. Plus, there is something about the color scheme chosen which strikes me as wrong. The predominant colors are purple and green. Big purple monsters don’t really strike fear in my heart, they just remind me of Muppets.

Controls and Gameplay: The game uses a menu screen to interact with your inventory and to select what activity to assign the action button . I really wanted separate buttons to jump, fight, search, etc. This seemed clunky to me at first, but I soon got used to it. Fighting was amusing. The game provides you with weapons but for about 95 percent of the fights I engaged in my fists and feet worked must more effectively. The guns are difficult to aim and moving itself has the Resident Evil style controls of turning with the left and right arrow keys and moving with only the forward and back arrow keys. Running was also nearly impossible for me but I think this was an issue to do with playing the game in XP. The puzzles mostly consisted of finding things to do with the items you picked up, but every now and then one would trip me up for a bit.  Right off the bat you encounter two demons who can not be killed and will kill you in one hit. I quickly learned to inspect things in my inventory and to pay attention to things I had read. The game is billed as a survival-horror title, but most of the horror comes from accidentally bumping into something which kills you immediately or missing an enemy with your attacks only to quickly die.  Of course, time has played a part in diminishing any scares that the game might have contained. The worm tunnel did surprise me a bit as I was not expecting the encounter. Save often, otherwise you must start the adventure all over again.

OCD Factor: Like most survival-horror games, there isn’t much beyond the main campaign. The game did not contain varying difficulty levels or anything to collect. It did have two characters to choose from and I played through the game as both, but the game did not change based on the characters. Basically its the option to play as a man or a woman. Reading all of the books and documents found is really the only thing optional in this game. I did read them all, and it added quite a lot to the story, but not a lot to the play time. Overall I think the game took me less than 5 hours to complete.

Score: For what the game is and the time it was made I would give it a 3 out of 5. Its not going to meet today’s gaming standards but it was an enjoyable look at where the survival-horror genre came from. It was quite interesting to see what was still in use today, what aspects hung around too long (I’m looking at you movement controls), and what has changed. For collection minded OCD folks like myself I’d give that aspect a 1 out of 5. You can find some books to read, but other than that there isn’t anything to make this game special to people who look for extras in their games.

~ by androidcookie on October 5, 2009.