Alone in the Dark (2008)
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Player's Review
Watered-down version of the fifth entry in the 'Alone in the Dark' series, developed by a different company (hint: the same people who made the ObsCure titles). This version was also released on the PS2, where the only difference is the control scheme used.
The plot is set 83 years after the events in the original 1992 game. Edward Carnby suffers from amnesia, which also made him to even not remember his name. While some evil force is in search of a powerful stone with the purpose to destroy the world and Carnby has to stop those plans. Though the real outcome is not what many people might think.
Some gameplay elements from the high-end X360/PS3 version are used on here as well, though with much less driving action and chapters being significantly shorter. What is retained is the ability to replay already played chapters or skip them completely in case you get lost in a chapter. Selecting a chapter via this method triggers a (roughly) 15-second FMV cutscene which is basically shots of events and also cutscenes happening in the previous chapters, similar to what is used in most TV series with a linear plot. This feature is also in the bigger versions as well.
However, this version was severely criticized because of the many bugs that happen on real hardware, requiring a console reset in most cases. Such bugs are the voice 'stutter' in story FMV cutscenes causing some words/sentences to repeat themselves for two to three seconds, and in the worst cases, a brief audio mute (a few FMV cutscenes suffer from this a lot, and I mean A LOT). Even I've heard of cases where some gameplay actions aren't triggered, making it impossible to advance on.
Because of the issues mentioned above, this is a version that unfortunately I cannot recommend to anyone, I even agree with most people who reviewed this game at the time and said it was a disgrace to the essence that characterized the previous four titles. However, the PS3 version that has the 'Inferno' sub-name fixes all the game breaking bugs and adds new content that isn't present in the X360 version. That one is the only version that you should play.
In the longplay, I go through the entire story mode while making sure to not skip anything important, this required me to follow a guide to properly do certain actions, and also to avoid causing any game breaking bug product of an out of order progress (despite the chapters being linear on their own). Both endings are included at the end, the second is shown right after credits. I should also mention some of the cutscenes had to be re-recorded because of the audio bug as previously pointed out.
0:00:00 - Start
0:01:27 - Ep. 1: The Nightmare Begins
0:14:57 - Ep. 2: Close Encounters
0:29:26 - Ep. 3: Dark Central Park
0:43:15 - Ep. 4: Sewage Refuge
0:52:58 - Ep. 5: Unexpected Expeditions
1:02:39 - Ep. 6: The Manic Museum
1:18:00 - Ep. 7: Seeking Room 943
1:35:04 - Ep. 8: Location Is Key
1:47:50 - Ep. 9: Concealed by the Park
1:58:00 - Ep. 10: The Light Carrier
2:07:19 - Endings & Credits
The plot is set 83 years after the events in the original 1992 game. Edward Carnby suffers from amnesia, which also made him to even not remember his name. While some evil force is in search of a powerful stone with the purpose to destroy the world and Carnby has to stop those plans. Though the real outcome is not what many people might think.
Some gameplay elements from the high-end X360/PS3 version are used on here as well, though with much less driving action and chapters being significantly shorter. What is retained is the ability to replay already played chapters or skip them completely in case you get lost in a chapter. Selecting a chapter via this method triggers a (roughly) 15-second FMV cutscene which is basically shots of events and also cutscenes happening in the previous chapters, similar to what is used in most TV series with a linear plot. This feature is also in the bigger versions as well.
However, this version was severely criticized because of the many bugs that happen on real hardware, requiring a console reset in most cases. Such bugs are the voice 'stutter' in story FMV cutscenes causing some words/sentences to repeat themselves for two to three seconds, and in the worst cases, a brief audio mute (a few FMV cutscenes suffer from this a lot, and I mean A LOT). Even I've heard of cases where some gameplay actions aren't triggered, making it impossible to advance on.
Because of the issues mentioned above, this is a version that unfortunately I cannot recommend to anyone, I even agree with most people who reviewed this game at the time and said it was a disgrace to the essence that characterized the previous four titles. However, the PS3 version that has the 'Inferno' sub-name fixes all the game breaking bugs and adds new content that isn't present in the X360 version. That one is the only version that you should play.
In the longplay, I go through the entire story mode while making sure to not skip anything important, this required me to follow a guide to properly do certain actions, and also to avoid causing any game breaking bug product of an out of order progress (despite the chapters being linear on their own). Both endings are included at the end, the second is shown right after credits. I should also mention some of the cutscenes had to be re-recorded because of the audio bug as previously pointed out.
0:00:00 - Start
0:01:27 - Ep. 1: The Nightmare Begins
0:14:57 - Ep. 2: Close Encounters
0:29:26 - Ep. 3: Dark Central Park
0:43:15 - Ep. 4: Sewage Refuge
0:52:58 - Ep. 5: Unexpected Expeditions
1:02:39 - Ep. 6: The Manic Museum
1:18:00 - Ep. 7: Seeking Room 943
1:35:04 - Ep. 8: Location Is Key
1:47:50 - Ep. 9: Concealed by the Park
1:58:00 - Ep. 10: The Light Carrier
2:07:19 - Endings & Credits
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