Alone in the Dark 2

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Description

In Alone in the Dark 2, you take the role of detective Edward Carnby, one of the two main characters in the original Alone in the Dark. Carnby is now called upon to investigate a bootlegger named One Eyed Jack after an old detective college name Stryker attributes Jack to the kidnapping of young Grace Saunders. Stryker attempts to infiltrate Jack's dilapidated mansion of Hell's Kitchen and rescue the girl, only to disappear himself. That's where Carnby comes in.

Carnby soon learns that Jack and his gangsters are really 15th century pirates who gained immortality after Jack joined forces with Elizabeth Jarret, a Voodoo witch. However the dark magic which keeps them immortal also requires Jack and his crew to regularly make human sacrifices (which explains Grace's kidnapping).

Now Carnby must battle his way through Hell's Kitchen and Jack's army of tommy-gun wielding gangsters, searching for a way to break the spell and make them stay dead.

Alone in the Dark 2 is an action-adventure game, similar to the original Alone in the Dark. Like its predecessor, the game uses hybrid 2D-3D graphics. Completing the game requires you to solve a lot of puzzles while fighting zombie pirates along the way. Some enemies can be killed with the numerous weapons at your disposal, while others need to be defeated via trickery.

Apart from Edward Carnby, the game also includes a short section (two sections in the CD-ROM version) where you play as the little Grace Saunders. Grace obviously cannot fight, and thus the sections featuring her are all about fast reflexes and wits to evade and outsmart the enemies.

Screenshots

Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

• "鬼屋魔影2" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
• "Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge" -- US PlayStation/Saturn title
• "Alone in the Dark: Jack is Back" -- European PlayStation/Saturn title
• "AITD2" -- Common abbreviation
• "アローン・イン・ザ・ダーク 2" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Alone in the Dark series
• Setting: Interwar
• Theme: Sea Pirates

User Reviews

Great game, but doesn't compare with the original	DOS	Terry Callahan (67)
A brilliant sequel to a well-known classic	DOS	Arejarn (3183)
Bigger, harder, less scary.	DOS	Sycada (175)
Not a patch on the original, but fun nevertheless....	PlayStation	Melvin Raeynes (26)
Great game marred by fatal flaws.	DOS	null-geodesic (234)
A disappointing sequel, yet still worth a look for series fans.	DOS	woods01 (154)
Makes the mistake of focusing on the fighting.	DOS	Simon Kavanagh (6)

Critic Reviews

HonestGamers	DOS	Jan 14, 2004	10 out of 10	100
Edge	DOS	Mar, 1994	9 out of 10	90
PC Format (UK)	DOS	Dec, 1994	84 out of 100	84
The DOS Spirit	DOS	Dec 09, 2009	5 out of 6	83
ASM (Aktueller Software Markt)	DOS	Mar, 1994	10 out of 12	83
Game Players	3DO	Jan, 1996	81 out of 100	81
PC Player (Germany)	DOS	Dec, 1994	77 out of 100	77
Score	DOS	Mar, 1994	74 out of 100	74
Mega Fun	PlayStation	May, 1996	66 out of 100	66
Power Play	DOS	Mar, 1995	2 out of 4	50

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Trivia

Controversy

In the UK, some moral guardians were shocked by Alone In The Dark 2's content (don't ask me why...). Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Burdis from South Yorkshire CID called for the game to be banned from sale to children, saying, "It's sick. It can terrify them, damage their thought processes and make them insecure for life." Prompted by this, the Sheffield Star newspaper ran the headline, "Ban Kids From This Computer Sickness". Hmmm...

(info sourced from: PC Format magazine)

Music

When Carnby dies, the haunting music that plays in the background is "Vesti la Giubba" from the opera "I Pagliacci".

Processor speed

In order to not give spoilers, I will try to talk very generally.

There are various actions you're supposed to do within the game that are now impossible. The problem is that they rely on special timing within the AITD2 code. Modern computers are so fast that the timing routines no longer work, and these actions are not doable by computers that use a processor faster than a Pentium II. Therefore, you can not finish the game on a modern computer without resorting to slowing down your processor.

There are various utilities you can obtain via Google to slow down your processor.

Datapoint: On an AMD 1.3GHz Athlon, I had to slow my CPU down to about 40% before the actions became doable. One of the very first puzzles in the game is one of the undoable ones, so you should know right away whether you'll be able to finish the game or not without slowing down your CPU.

Awards

• PC Player (Germany)
  • Issue 01/1995 - Most Annoying Copy Protection in 1994

Information also contributed by Artful Gamer, null-geodesic

Related Web Sites

• Wikipedia: Alone in the Dark 2 (Information about Alone in the Dark 2 at Wikipedia)