Does Alone in the Dark live up to it's earlier version? Not at all.
Again you play as Edward Carnby, paranormal investigator. You have been kidnapped and are to be killed. As you are being taken, something kills the guard allowing you to escape. Oh, and he has amnesia, the biggest cliche in gaming history. After meeting all these newly dead people and possessed people, he catches up with an art dealer Sarah Flores and head to a parking garage. You then meet Theophile Paddington and he seems to know what's going on so you decide to roll with him. He has this magic rock and claims some guy named Crowley caused the chaos. Now Edward has to follow what Theo calls "The Path of Light". The story as you can see is really quite unremarkable and sounds like something that you might hear in church. It is a very hard game but thankfully there is a cinematic mode where if one part is too frustrating you can skip it and play the next part.
The gameplay is horrible and is in no way like any other game. It controls like most Resident Evil games except this game makes it a bit harder. You have to remember a different set of controls for Hands-Free, First Person, Inventory (which is a pain), Focusing, Using a Rope, Gun Use, Vehicles, Throwable objects, Handling objects, and Gas bottles/Extinguishers. Lots to remember. Fights are terrible as well as they have them too realistic. Once you run out of ammunition (and trust me, you will a lot) you are basically in trouble do to the lack of coordination and muscle Edward has. You have to pull back the right stick and swing it forward which A. has no range and B. takes about a thousand more hits to kill. Edward also turns so slow and runs like a fat guy on a 2mph treadmill. SLOW. The driving I thought was a bit challenging due to the lack of response from the vehicle. The brakes barely slow it down and the pedal makes it go very slow. One cool part about the gameplay is you can create weapons. Get a bottle, gas, wick and lighter and you've got a molotov.
The graphics, on the other hand, are a beauty and are vastly superior to most everything released at that point. There are few glitches and few AI in the game. It is evident that this game was made like a movie. The fire is the best looking fire in any game I have ever seen. EVER. Your weapons can catch fire, the fire spreads, things fall apart in the fire, and it just looks so real.
The music is wonderful. So great that they made a soundtrack edition on a second disk with the games songs. The music keeps the game suspenseful EXCEPT in fights since fights take like five minutes per fight in which case the music can get annoying.
The replay value is an out of the question resounding NO due to difficulty.
Alon in the Dark, even with it's incredible graphics, sweet soundtrack, creative vibe, and amazing fire, has left me feeling burned.