0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare

       

Alone in the Dark The New Nightmare, alternatively known as Alone in the Dark 4 is the fourth instalment in the Alone in the Dark franchise and the first reboot of the survival horror series. The games was developed by Darkworks, with Spiral House developing the Windows and PS2 version, while Pocket Studios developed the Game Boy Color version of the game.

The game was published by Infogrames with CyberFront publishing the Japanese version of the game. The game was released in 2001 on the Playstation, the game also received a Dreamcast release, The PS2 release of the game was in Europe only, the game would get a later release on the PSP and PS3 in 2012.

The player has the choice of either playing as the more action orientated Carnby with his trusty double barrel, or the more puzzle based Aline, with the pair meeting up at various plot intersections. The player soon comes under attack from creatures of the darkness that appear out of nowhere.

The creatures It is revealed are reptilian silicone based life forms that live in vast caverns near the centre of the Earth as a result of this underground existence they are highly averse to light, this plays into one of the main mechanics of the game with players using their flashlights to repel certain creatures and kill them, this effect is also accomplished by using light emitting ammunition like Magnesium and Phosphorus bullets.

Darkness is a key component to the gameplay as a result the torch proves a vital piece of equipment lighting the games darkened areas to review hidden details and items, the developers crafted an unusual graphics engine for the game which allowed the players 3D flashlight to properly illuminate and cast shadows on the 2D pre rendered background.

The graphics engine could then properly use brighter versions of the backdrop where the flashlight was expected to be casting light, and leave shadowed areas dark.

The game is set on the 31^st of October 2001, Edward Carnby’s best friend and partner Charles Fiske has been found dead off the coast of Shadow Island, a mysterious island off the coast of Massachusetts. (seriously who would be this guys friend they have life spans of mayflies)

Carnby’s investigation soon leads to Frederick Johnson, who informs Carnby of Fiske’s search for three ancient tablets that are said to unlock incredible and dangerous power. Johnson pleads with Carnby to continue where the dead Fiske left off and reopen the investigation.

Carnby agrees and sets out In search of his friends killer and the ancient tablets, the player is introduced to Aline Cedrac, a University professor who joins Carnby in his search for the mission tables and assists Professor Obed Morton who she believes to be her father.

The pair are flying towards Shadow Island when their aircraft comes under attack from an unknown creature, both Edward and Aline jump from the plane and parachute to safety, but the pair are soon separated, Edward landing in a thick dense forest while Aline lands on the roof of a manor house.

This is where the games story splits into two, with the player either choosing to take Edwards path which is more action orientated, or tale Aline’s path which is more puzzle orientated. The games two stories run parallel to each other with each story featuring different locations and tasks for the characters.

A good number of review for this game and critically this game was very well received with review scores ranging from 94 down to 40 but largely better than that. So as usual we will start with the best which comes from French publication Consoles Plus with a 94/100 and they had the following to say.

It's the summer bomb. The adventure is exciting and the puzzles are well thought out. In addition, the atmosphere of the series is always as engaging. Not far behind this score was a small cluster of 90/100 ratings coming from Absolute Playstation, TotalVideoGames (TVG) and GamePro (US).

Starting with Absolute Playstation who were full of praise in their short review conclusion saying, Overall Alone In The Dark 4: The New Nightmare is a highly recommended horror adventure featuring many awesome sounds and some well directed camera angles.

TVG praised the developers for getting every ounce of performance out of the Playstation 1 with their review concluding. Alone In The Dark 4: The New Nightmare is truly a fantastic game and shines like a diamond stone. With the limitations of the PlayStation, the developers have still managed to cram every last bit of detail into this one.

GamePro (US) praised the atmosphere of the game in their conclusion which reads, The pace is slower than that of Resident Evil, however, and the monsters are not as prevalent but that makes it all the scarier when a demon finally pops up. Ominous music and constant thunder keeps you edgy, but nothing is as creepy as the surroundings. The prerendered scenery would be stunningly beautiful if it wasn’t so darn creepy it’s some of the best scenery on the PlayStation.

Moving on to German publication 4Players.de who rated the game an 85/100 concluded their review with Alone in the dark - the new nightmare is no doubt once again a true highlight for the elderly PlayStation. It has a resident evil graphic brilliance as well as the threatening power of Silent Hill.

Two partly very different storylines also make sure to take the pad in your hands even after the credits. Only the relatively high set degree of difficulty and the gameplay partly drawn artificially in the length of to spoil the otherwise excellent effect.

A whole heap of 80/100 reviews follow from the likes of Eurogamer.net (UK), GameGuru Mania, PSM and Game Informer Magazine as well a few others. Moving on to the lower scores however and down at the bottom scoring this game with just a 40/100 is HonestGamers.

There review concluded They got the light-play right, (an exceptional achievement, which probably helped the game's grade) the story’s premise, and the name, but unfortunately not much else. There are some tense moments playing as Aline, as she repeatedly encounters the first boss in her journey, that won't die(there are only two 'bosses' per character).

But, in the end, the wonderfully creative and fear-inducing series that is Alone in the Dark has degraded to a Resident Evil clone that’s harder to save, not as fun to look at, and a generally worse time all around.

There was a decent jump in review scores from her going from a 40/100 up to a 60/100 with two reviews scoring the game at this score with Gameplanet and All Game Guide the two outlets. The latter could only recommend the title to true horror fans with everyone else best trying before you buy.

All Game Guide criticised the lack of polish noting several graphical bugs and clipping, they did say it is a good game however with a little more time it could have been a great game. Gamespot called the game decent in their 64/100 review while Game Chronicles summed up the game with one world calling the game Average.

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 will be willing to pay you $6 if you are looking to trade in your copy of the game, if however you are in the market for a copy then you can pick one up from them for $14.

Retrogames.co.uk sadly do not stock this title new or used so we quickly move on to eStarland.com, who do stock the title however at the time of writing they are currently out of stock. The usual price for a used copy of the game is between $13.77 and $22.95, eStarland also offer a trade In for the game with a current trade in price of $12 for the game.

Heading to Amazon.com where you will have to pay a minimum of just short of $19 for a complete good quality used copy of the game, there are cheaper options, however these are for disc only copies. Also for $19 you can pick up a like new copy.

If however you are in the market for brand new copy things get a lot more pricey with new copy prices starting at $39.99 with an additional $4.99 for shipping, with prices for a new copy of the game reaching as high as $70.

Heading over to the co.uk version of Amazon where we find the PAL version much cheaper, with a very good quality used copy available for just £5.23, which in dollars converts to $6.75 while in Euro’s that comes to €5.66. A like new copy is pretty cheap as well with one being able to pick up a like new copy for a minimum of £7.98.

New copies wise there is only one new PAL copy available and pricewise you are looking at the upper end of the price range of the North American version, with it priced at £36.09 with a £10 shipping fee on top.

We now head to Ebay.com and once again we set out shipping location to the UK, which rules out any purchases what so ever with the entire stock that is for sale the North American version and they all ship from the US which means expensive shipping fees.

So we switch to a California shipping location and lose the vast majority of those shipping fees, where we find the first three copies on sale pointless with them being disc 2 only so unless you need a replacement disc ignore these.

The next couple of copies on sale again are disc only copies but these do come with both discs and can be picked up for around $10. if however you are looking for a complete copy of the game with case, cover, manual and discs you are looking at a minimum of about $17, and if you are looking for a new copy then that will set you back a minimum of $60

Written by

P J Gibbon