A real masterpiece masked behind a few glitches and a sloppy control scheme.
User Rating: 8 | Alone in the Dark X360
Alone In The Dark is unrivaled with its environmental interactions. It has been done before, but not game has truly mastered the art of using the environment quite like Alone In The Dark Has. You can use virtually anything as a weapon and there will be countless times that your life was saved by something as simple as a pipe or railing. The game's use of fire truly is revolutionary. Sometimes it gets frustrating since the only way to really kill the enemies is with fire, but using the fire is still so much fun. Anything that looks like it can burn, most likely will burn. Another great innovation of this game is the ability to make your own weapons out of common items that you find all over the city. You have a pistol, but this isn't the type of game that you can just run through with guns blazing. Few things are cooler than crafting a deadly bomb out of a bottle of gas, then throwing it and shooting it to watch it blow up in your enemies face. The graphics in this game are also amazing, the lighting effects are not only beautiful, but the light itself is an integrated part of the game play. There will be some puzzles in the game that require use of light to pass. Which brings me to my next point, the puzzles in this game are top notch. Some are small, some are big but they are all unique and memorable in their own way, and they ALL force you to think.
Unfortunately, Alone In The Dark is no perfect game. It really could have been one of the best games I've ever played, but there are some flaws that should not have made it through the testing phases. The game did freeze on my once, but it didn't put me back too much because there was an autosave about a minute before. There were a couple of minor glitches that caused me to become stuck in a few areas when I was driving, but if you are careful you should be able to avoid this from happening. The most hated thing about the game however, is the controls. I'll admit, the controls are what makes this game an "almost, but not quite" scenario. All of the games frustrating moments are because of the controls. Running while swinging a melee weapon is difficult, especially since some enemies run away from you. The controls can also over complicate things and make doing some of the most basic tasks into a challenge. Despite the sloppy controls, I have played worse and once you get the hang of them, that certainly are manageable.
Alone In The Dark is not for everyone, but if you are a fan of Survival-Horror games that like to try some different things, then this is definitely worth a look.
