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Gameboy Color - Alone in the Dark Review |
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Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is the gameboy colour version of the fourth Alone in the Dark game. Inspired by Lovecraft books, the series has always been an adventure/action/survival sort of game. Gameplay and interface: 6/10 As an adventure game, this is a fair game I would say. The exploration part of the game has you control Carnby walking around the room just like you would in the other versions of the game. If there's something interesting you'll investigate it by pressing the A button and if you need to use an item, you must have it equipped and then use it. You can also pick up stuff by pressing the B button. Pressing start allows you to accesses the options menu while select has you check out the inventory. As for the combat part however, the game leaves much to be desired. You basically point and shoot in the right direction from a top down view. Fortunately you only have to aim in the direction of the creature and you'll usually hit rather than having it directly in your line of fire. You do have three different weapons, the pistol, shotgun and crossbow which all handle somewhat differently. You're really big however and moving around is very slow. It works but its rather boring. Storyline: 2.5/5 The game has you playing Edward Carnby a dectective investigating his partner Charles Fiske's death on shadow island. The island is owned by Alan Norton, a reclusive multi-millionaire. This is a somewhat typical horror story and the lack of caution the main characters take is somewhat typical as well. What makes the storyline even more mediocre is the lack of any real dialogue or descriptions after the first third of the game. After finding a few pieces of information which heighten the tension you basically go around exploring the areas. You find no other clues or diary entries for example which is disappointing really, all you have is Carnby's observations of the various places. During the game you'll also get some information from Aline, the person who hired Charles Fiske but this line of communication is cut short once again destroying a potential plotline source. Graphics: 5/5 The graphics in the adventure and exploration part of the game are extremely good. Obviously they took screen shots of the game and coded them into the gameboy game. The graphics in the combat mode in contrast are average at best and the enemies even more so. There are about three different kinds of enemies only. Level design: 2.5/5 For most part the level design is good in the adventuring portion. You rarely get lost and the exits are usually clearly marked. There are also plenty of rooms for you to explore. The combat portion as mentioned is poor and is just downright boring dragging the game's quality down. There are few more problems with the adventuring part however. Some of the doors in the game can't be opened or acceessed and they really should have removed them from the game rather than leaving them there as red herrings. Some of the exits are unfortunately a little difficult to find and they really should provide more ammo and potions for you at the end of the game. Music and Sound: 3/5 This game has little music except during dialogue. But the silence and sound effects are well implemented and creepy. For: Good use of silence, good graphics, fairly logical puzzles. Against: Some problems with the levels, very boring action sequences, too simple action or adventure game, not enough text to read. |
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Game: Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare Genre: Adventure Produced by: Pocket Studios Year: 2001 Platform: Gameboy Colour Runs on: TGB dual Scoring Summary Storyline: 2.5/5 Graphics: 5/5 Level design: 2.5/5 Music and Sound: 3/5 Total: 19/30 Rating: 65% -Reviewed by Barnabas |