Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare

The Good
Those who have parosed the MobyGames sections for the original AitD games at any length will know that I am an old school Alone fan since the first game came out. I have been dying to get my hands on this title and now that I have I can safely say that I'm glad I did. The atmosphere is very dark in this one. The use of the flashlight is very nicely done with the light passing realistically over walls and objects. There are some good puzzles which are reasonably thought provoking and much better than the bog standard fare in Resident Evil. The books are very well written and are interesting to look through. They help shed light on the well crafted story that sits behind the game. You can play as 2 different characters in a similar fashion to Resident Evil 2, however in AitD4 the paths for each character are very different in both story and gameplay. So much so that aside from the overall story and setting it's much like having 2 unique adventures. It's not until you start to get fair way into the game with the 2nd character that you start to realize just how well the game fits together. The questions that you had at the end of the first time through are answered with the 2nd character and it's also nice to see that unlike the 2nd scenario in RE2 which saw you performing many of the same tasks that you had to in the first scenario, AitD does not make you do the same puzzles again, instead you have entirely different ones which not only makes sense logically but also means the replay value is such that you haven't really finished the game until you've played through with both characters.

The Bad
My interest in this game is not without reservation however. It's a shame that Darkworks decided to push more towards Resident Evil than Alone in the Dark and as a result, a lot of alone fans may feel they've been slightly short changed. Some of the puzzles are more akin to a harder version of the RE variety rather than Alone 1, 2 and 3, seemingly dumbed down for a more mainstream audience. It's also a real shame that the game has an unfinished feel towards the end where much of the polish covering the earlier half of the game is absent as the game is reduced to more of a run and gun situation. This also extends to a few continuity issues where we are expected to fill in the gaps with a few things that we shouldn't have to.

The Bottom Line
One of the better Survival horror titles to date, marred slightly by the half-hearted final section of the game. The 2 different characters are completely different to play thorough the game as so there's hours of entertainment to be had. It's a lot of fun but the few of you out there who are fans of the original Alone games who don't like Resident Evil may want to give it a try before they buy. However, I for one will be standing in line for my copy when the next title in the Alone in the Dark saga is released.