0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Alone in the Dark One-Eyed Jack's Revenge

       

Alone in the Dark One-Eyed Jack's Revenge is an action/adventure and the follow up to the 1992 survival horror game Alone in the Dark, the game initially just called Alone in The Dark 2 was first released back in 1993 before getting ported to the PC-98 and FM Towns in 1994.

The game would again be ported in 1995 to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, before being ported to the Playstation 1 and Sega Saturn in 1996. Renamed as Alone in the Dark One-Eyed Jack's Revenge in North America while being renamed Alone in the Dark Jack is Back for its European release.

The games was developed by Infogrames and was published by them as well for the European Playstation and Saturn releases. I*Motion handled the North American release on Playstation and Saturn while Interplay, Arrow Micro-Techs Corp and Electronic Arts Victor all having published the game at some point in its history. The latter Electronic Arts Victor published the Japanese Playstation and Saturn release of the game.

The original game was very much a survival horror game, however the sequel has had that very much de-emphasized, while there are still some supernatural aspects with voodoo, and spirits, the main villains you will be dealing with are gangsters and pirates.

The enemies while being revealed to be possessed by evil spirits and have a green zombie like appearance they are far from the shambling slow moving corpses you expect, they walk talk and run just like a normal human would. The enemies are also armed with guns and will happily fill the player character with lead.

Speaking of weaponry the player has a nice selection of guns to use starting with a basic revolver the player can also pick up shotguns, Tommy Guns and a derringer, all weapons you would expect to see in 1920s America. In addition to the early 20^th century weapons you can also use flintlock pistols and melee weapons like swords.

The game world is larger than the original Alone in The Dark however unlike the original which was fairly open with the exception of the Mansion, this game can only be explored in a linear sequence. The game has you mostly playing as Carnby but will on occasions have you controlling the little girl Grace Saunders.

With grace being a small child she is unable to fight any enemies, and will be instantly captured is she is spotted by any of the gangsters so instead of combat you have stealth sections where grace must sneak around, while not being able to physically take on the gangsters she is able to make booby traps from common household items (like any little girl can do).

The game is set at Christmas 1924 and three months after the events of Alone in The Dark, Edward Carnby and his partner Ted Stryker are investigating the kidnapping of little Grace Saunders. The trail leads them to the old mansion called Hell’s Kitchen, the home of an infamous gangster and his gang. During the course of Ted’s investigation he goes missing in the mansion.

Edward learning of his partners disappearance decides to pick up the trail of his parent, however fairly soon into his investigation, finding his parent has been murdered he also discovers the mobsters are the corporeal form of Pirates that plundered the sea centuries ago.

The pirates selling their souls long ago using voodoo magic in exchange for eternal life. Jack fights his way through the spirit infested house, until he finds the pirates ship hidden in the cliff on which the mansion is built. Edward must survive, discover the secret of the pirates apparent immortality, rescue little grace and find out why the pirates are so interested in this little girl.

Only the four critic review for the Playstation version of this game, starting as usual with the best of them which comes from NowGamer who questioned the game release date with the imminent release of Resident Evil on its way, they found the game rather dated. With neither the gore, speed or action of Capcom’s eagerly awaited title, or, for that matter, Delphine’s Fade To Black. They concluded with Saying that, those gagging for a 3D extravaganza will find Alone rewarding enough – it’s by no means a bad game, just a bit flawed, in their 77/100 review.

German publication Video Games are next up with a 67/100 they had the following to say in their review conclusion The PlayStation version is similar to the Sega version down to the last detail and shows the same strengths and weaknesses.

The textured polygon graphics are pleasantly afloat, as well as atmospheric beautifully drawn. Control with the PS pads proves to be as very treacherous and be nerve wracking: the aim and shoot at approaching enemies is by the specified angle in places to the pure luck.

Also music and sound accompaniment have no significant improvements in the PlayStation version. The puzzles, however, offer many surprises, so that hardly diminishes the motivation despite the high degree of difficulty.

Fellow German publication Mega Fun scored the game just one point lower with a 66/100, they were critical of the games looks saying the game looks dated and more powerful Playstation has not been put to use they were also critical of the aggressive colours and the slow actions of the player character. They did have some praise for the game though with the dark music fitting the  to the theme well and an interesting story

The final review comes from IGN who’s review conclusion for their 60/100 was short and to the point with it saying These problems aside, Alone In The Dark isn't a bad game. It just doesn't hold a candle to the newer, better games. If you average out these reviews you got a score of 67.5/100 for the game.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit five online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,  eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, I will also be including Ebay.com as well

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, who do stock a game called just Alone in the Dark so I’m going to go on that it is this game. If you are looking to trade in a copy you will be looking at $10 for your copy of the game from Gamedude. If you are looking to pick up a copy of the game you can expect to pay $19 for a copy.

Heading over to Retrogames.co.uk who sadly don’t stock this title, so we move on to eStarland.com who do have a copy available, this is a used copy that comes without a manual and is priced up at $9.98. eStarland also offer a trade in for this game with them paying $9 for a copy.

Amazon.com has a few copies available like Gamedude the minimum you will have to spend for a copy is $20 this however won’t get you a complete copy of the game with a minimum spend of $27.99 for a complete good condition copy of the game.

If you are looking for a better used copy of the game then you are looking at a minimum of $34 once you add in the shipping costs, at the time of writing this there were no new copies of the game available.

Heading over to the co.uk version of Amazon for the European version of the game which is light on copies of the game, with just three available as the time of writing, where a disc only very good condition copy will set you back £11.02. A like new copy is also available this however will ser you back over £40.

Now off to Ebay.com and once again we set out shipping location to the UK, where we find three copies of the European version available all are used but complete copies ranging from good to very good condition and are priced between $19.30 and $23.18.

Three copies of the North American version are also available two disc only copies that are priced between $7.50 and $11.99, prices will be higher once you add the shipping costs. The remaining title is a complete copy in acceptable condition which can not be verified as they are using a stock game cover image as the preview, and is priced at $22.99 again with a shipping fee for your part of the world to be added.

Written by

P J Gibbon