It's unfortunate that Hypervision couldn't translate the charms and innovations of the PC/360 version of AitD to the Wii. The Wii version has last gen graphics, boring gameplay, poorly placed save points and the worst enemy AI I've ever seen in any game.
Here's just a brief listing of the worst aspects of the game:
The enemy AI is incredibly bad. You can run around nearly every enemy without injury, which I recommend as it will make the torture that is the Wii version go much faster. Also the creativity of the PC version with regard to what it takes to kill your opponents is totally missing. No need to mix and match weapon ingredients here. Just shoot them.
Camera angles are incredibly bad and seem to be designed to make you fall to your death as many times as possible. You -will- be replaying scenes multiple times since you -will- be dying multiple times simply trying to jump from one area to the next.
Wii controls: some control motions are quite nice (the opening of the jacket inventory system is just one example), but others are broken. E.g., you will needlessly check your ammunition about a million times since so many things are mapped to the A button. Likewise driving is also a pain (for some bizarre reason they don't let you drive via the analog joystick on the nunchuck but force you to move the nunchuck and the wiimote in parallel to steer). I got through the driving portions by just pulsing the z button to keep myself moving. As long as you keep moving, the game lets you get through this portion. There's no suspense since you don't have to drive quickly to keep ahead of the cracks opening behind you. Just keep moving.
For some bizarre reason they didn't use the relatively good voice actors from the PC/360 version and instead went with refugees from your local community dinner theater. The voice actors get a pass in light of just how bad the script is, however. It's not that the story is nonsensical (though it is), it's just that both endings are so incredibly bad there's very little the actors can do to redeem the script. Moreover, this game needlessly drops f-bombs left and right - the swearing doesn't fit the story or the characters (and I'm not a prude - a good curse word can really spice up a script. The level of cursing exhibited in AitD is just way out of proportion, however. It completely takes you out of the action every time you hear Carnby curse for no particular reason at all).
There are only two redeeming features of the Wii version:
1.) The truly amazing soundtrack by Olivier Deriviere, featuring The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices choir. It's the best original score I've heard for any game (including many of the Final Fantasies). This beautiful music and Deriviere's adroit touch at scoring the game gives the action a cinematic feel that I've never seen implemented so expertly in a game before.
2.) The innovative episode structure, which comes in very useful when you decide you don't feel like dying for the 20th time trying to make the jump from a rope to a subway car because the camera angle is so bad you can't see where you're going.
Since both of these features appear in the PC/360 version of AitD, I recommend you pick up that version. That way you can avoid all the Wii version's failings, as the PC/360 version has relatively good enemy AI, fantastic graphics, and much better actors. This game has a lot of innovations, for which Eden is to be commended. It's just a pity they didn't make the transition to the Wii incarnation.
The Xbox 360's Alone in the Dark (also PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii and PC), launched 15 years ago today.
The story may have been weak but damn the game did so many things ahead of it's time, from physics and environment interaction, to melee combat and even the awesome inventory system. I really wish more games would have at least adopted the inventory and injury system, they were really cool
The 2008 Alone in the Dark had an amazing soundtrack, super underrated.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
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An interview with the Director of the upcoming Alone In The Dark remake / reimagining.
From the maker of Alone in the Dark comes 2Dark: a horror, stealth, noir-style title that has you saving the innocent in your gloomy, crime ridden city.
Somehow I don't think being associated with "Alone in the Dark" is a good endorsement especially if you consider the last few games.
This game would have been a really big hit, back on the SNES or PS1. I'm not even being sarcastic. It's way, way, way out of its era. Even in the realm of small indie titles.
I love the original AitD as my name may suggest, but ya, I can't get behind this thing either.
