Alone in the Dark

The Good

• Lighting Things on Fire.

• 1st Person Creep-Outs
• Events Move Quickly
• Cut scenes are succinct (For the most part)
• Music budget well spent
• Most voice acting on par with industry standard.

**The Bad**

• Control Scheme (Wii) Awkward
• Vehicles Undrivable
• Poor sound effects, esp. Cars, Forklift, Guns.
• Very bad enemy AI. Read description.
• Graphics very poor considering release date / console.
• Plot is presented in a jerky, illogical manner, the player shouldn't have to 'reason' around mistakes and omissions in order to understand the plot.
• Discrepancy between enemy design and weapon interface, they made some very scary looking baddies, but the gun you use seems to be firing blanks - No blood decals, no floor/wall damage, those things would have been appreciated.
• Some voice acting is horrible. Read description.
• Many 'human' NPC's are hideous, misshapen hunchbacks that don't compare well to the main characters.

**The Bottom Line**
As with many games, examining the elements shown in the preview will give you an example of what is there and what is missing. From this games preview, it would seem to be about lighting things on fire and beating monsters with said burning object. In truth, your biggest struggle will be against dangly wires, inanimate barriers, and your inability to pilot vehicles. The scary looking demonic enemies will stare at you like retarded puppies if you stand close enough to the wall. Go ahead, throw a Molotov cocktail on him, he'll stand there as if nothing happened, burning alive, until he drops dead. This was the breaking moment for me, we all have them with games we want to be worth our money. The poor graphics could have been saved by the gameplay, the poor gameplay could have been saved by an engaging story, but the illogical jumps the story takes are just turn offs. "How the heck does a D.N.A. test register to a file from the 30's?" Well, maybe it cross references to finger prints, although I doubt the Czechoslovakian restricted files could be accessed from a random ambulance... which is stocked with an unlimited supply of 9mm ammo with clips that match the gun you found on random guy A. The voice acting is typically typical, semi-professional main character, somewhat nervous secondary chars... And then you get two gang-bangers, both are black, very stereotypical in an unfriendly kind of way - sticking a side-ways gun in your face and robbing you. And both of them were voiced by random people working on the game, both doing horrible impressions of 'black gang-banger #2. If you're going to have an offensive stereotype in your game, get someone who can portray that stereotype without further offending someone. All things considered, I'm let down by this game. It's not the worst Adventure/Horror I've played, but the lack of polish and the sloppy controls just make me want to play RE:4 again. The graphics were better, the controls were better, and the story made more sense. Oh, and you knew what you were supposed to do. You never found yourself (in RE:4) driving a terribly stupid-sounding forklift at low speed, wondering whether you were even supposed to bring the crate that's making driving in 1st person nigh-impossible.