The Latest Horror Adventure On The Dreamcast - Review By Celeryface - Page 1/2
Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare is the latest addition to the series that pioneered the adventure-horror genre on the PC back in the early 90s. Being a huge of fan of horror movies and games, I jumped at the opportunity to review the latest horror game for the Dreamcast, and what a perfect time to review a horror game... during Halloween!
Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare puts you in the mystery right from the start, where Edward Carnby, the main man from the series, is investigating the murder of his friend that was found dead on Shadow Island. Seeking revenge for his friend, Carnby is teamed up ancient languages specialist Aline Cedrac and sent to Shadow Island to find and decipher three
mysterious tablets. On the way to the island their plane was brought down by a mysterious force, causing Carnby and Aline to quickly parachute down to the island. This is where the nightmare begins.
At this point you will get the chance to choose playing as either character, Aline or Carnby. With Aline you start on the roof of the mansion and can enter through the window, where you find a very spooky old woman (That old woman sends chills down my back). Carnby ends up landing in an abandoned yard near the mansion, and the environment surrounding him starts throwing in the suspense right away. Both characters start off equiped with a flashlight and "walkie talkie", and find weapons throughout the adventure.
Warning: Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare will give you the willies. I recommend turning off all the lights and pump up the volume, as the sound plays a large part in scaring you. Read the review if you dare.
The Good
The first thing in the game that really stands out is the very cool intro movie. The intro movie is very well done and sets the eerie mood of the game, and pulls you right into the storyline. Darkworks did a very nice job in the movie department, there is actually only two cg-movies in the game -- the intro and the end movie -- and the rest are in-game movies. The in-game movies aren't as good as the CG-movies, more on that later.
The graphics in Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare are very nice. The environments, textures, and lighting are well done. Speaking of lighting, the flashlight that comes equipped with the characters looks great. The characters get full control of the flashlight using the analog stick and is an essential part of the game, hence "Alone In The Dark". The character models look good, but they can't match the standard set by the spectacular models in Resident Evil: Code Veronica.
The soundtrack is fairly good and features both spooky and upbeat tunes, for those intense moments. The game is rated "Mature", and you will hear a few four letter words used by Carnby in the game, which is cool as this game is aimed at an older audience. As I said before, the sound plays a big part in scaring you. The environment and monster sounds will add to the suspense, keeping you on the edge of your seat waiting for something scary to happen.
The characters have a wide arsenal available to battle off those zombies and creatures of the night, including a rocket launcher, lightning gun, shotgun, and more. The only thing that was missing was a weapon to use when you run out of ammo, like a knife or punches and kicks.
Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare is an investigative horror story spanning over two CDs. During the first CD you get to explore the haunted mansion that has some scary moments, and most of the story unfolds when inside the mansion. The first CD is the core of the game, and the most interesting. The second CD, however, is a different story (More on that
later).
Having the option to play as both characters is great, and adds the replay value of the game. The New Nightmare does it similar to the way Resident Evil 2 did. Throughout the game you meet up with the other character trading different information you have found. Each character goes off on their own adventure, so playing as the other character will have new movies and experiences than the other.
Another good thing about the game is that it will only cost you $20! This game is available for the Dreamcast and PlayStation. The Dreamcast version will only cost you $19.99, as the PlayStation versions goes for $29.99. Dreamcast owners are getting a great deal here.
Next: The Bad, and The Final Word
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