Alone in the Dark 2

The Good
First of all, it includes a plot featuring BOTH gangsters and pirates for you to deal with on your mission to save Grace Sanders, a kidnapped girl. Now all you have to see is the introduction and you have a clear idea about what is going on, there isn't even any speech in the intro (except the quiet narration you can hear). All you see is a guy climbing across the windows of an old mansion and he just happens to make it into the right room where Grace lies captive. In the same intro, the same guy get STRANGLED by a PUPPET, now that is original and creepy. Soon after that, you step in the shoes of Carnby (the guy from the last game). After blowing down the front gate, you're ready to begin! The music is also excellent I believe as well as the creativity and effort that was put in this game.

The Bad
The game sadly relies on you to do a lot of guesswork. I mean, there is one part in the game where you have to combine a rope and hook (simple enough) then throw it an arm of a statue to open a door, now does that sound simple enough if you're under ten years old at that time. I mean, of course you have to scan your eyes across a photo, but kids aren't gonna have that patience.

The Bottom Line
Well despite a few flaws, Alone in the dark 2 is a great game. Just because the game has outdated graphics, doesn't mean this game is bad. In fact, a lot of people across the World Wide Web have stated this game a classic. It just proves that better graphics doesn't make a better game and that is no exception for this jewel.

The Good
The MIDI music is truly exceptional; some of it borders on "composition". The voice acting, while cheesy at times, was overall extremely good, and definitely added to the game. Sound effects were phenomenal and very effectively utilized.

Camera action was novel for the time; kudos to the people who wrote the engine.

The puzzles were appropriate. Some were a bit outlandish (every adventure has a FEW...), but overall, this would be a good game for beginner-intermediate adventure lovers.

The Bad
The fighting was awful. The AI is simply too good and controls are too bad. Ammo is too scarce. The enemies are too lethal. The fighting aspect of the game is completely out of balance, and ruined what would otherwise be a top-notch adventure.

The graphics were weak for the time, considering that this game is a contemporary of Doom and System Shock. Even moreso when you consider it came out one year before Quake. Although the graphics weren't really up to snuff for its day, I don't think that's what the game designers really had in mind for this game anyway.

Movement could be wonky. The engine didn't always "register" the edge of a wall or corner correctly. This made moving around a little frustrating.

The Bottom Line
One thing this game got right all the way is mood. The whole game is about mood, and it was brilliantly done. The whole game is creepy. The people who wrote this game did so masterfully. The plot and scripting were brilliant. The music may be something you'd listen to on your CD player.

Unfortunately, the game is unplayable for two reasons.

First, as mentioned before, the fighting aspect is just ridiculous. Had they left out the fighting, this game might have been a classic.

Second, being a DOS game, you'll have trouble with it:

There are actions which cannot be performed unless you play this game under a DOS emulator like dosbox or dosemu under Linux, or use an application to slow down your CPU like "turbo". If you can't make Carnby run, you need to slow down your processor (or install Linux, which is always a good idea).

But even worse, the game will crash at various points if you try to play it under Windows. Various calls to routines to open certain files will fail with a "file not found" error. The "fix" is to either play the game under real DOS or a DOS emulator like dosemu.

Lastly, sound most likely won't work unless you're in real DOS or a DOS emulator or with an application like VDMS.

What the game has right, it has very right. And what the game has wrong, it has very wrong.

The Good
It had improved 3D graphics, and had excellent animated cutscenes which looked great. This game also is far far bigger then the original, and you switch characters halfway through with the little girl then back to Carnby again a la Leisure Suit Larry 3. The fight with the tough baddie on the ship at the end was interesting too.

The Bad
You'd think Carnby + Machine Gun would be good, but aiming and shooting are just as awkward as the original. And if you mess it up, expect no mercy from your enemies, and that's another problem there are literally ZILLIONS of enemies in this game, if you think there are lots in the hedge maze, wait until you get into the house itself and you'll see what I mean (flying pitchfork WTF!!!!, dressing up as Santa OMFG!!!!). And if the endless fighting doesn't drive you nuts, the super obscure puzzles will, the Billiard Ball Puzzle, which opens the door, had me stumped...until I got the walkthrough.

The Bottom Line
If you liked the original, you'll probably like this. Just don't expect too much. You will probably die many a frustrating death in the hedge maze, then the house just keep practicing your shooting and HOPE you don't die.....