Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 19 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 100 Ratings

  • Summary: Taking inspiration from the presentation style and structure of a number of acclaimed and globally popular TV action dramas, Alone in the Dark is split into a number of distinct episodes in a season-style format. With approximately 30-40 minutes of gameplay comprising each episode, the structure of Alone in the Dark is adapted for an audience familiar with the hard-hitting bite-size delivery of contemporary TV dramas, offering easy accessibility whether the player has hours to devote or only wants a quick TV-style fix. Each time the player launches a saved game, the episode begins with a video summary of the previous episode to quickly re-immerse the player in the story, removing the need to remember where they were or what they were doing. Every episode closes with a nail-biting cliff-hanger ending to rattle players' nerves, and if the player is leaving the game a video teaser of the next episode plays to leave them wanting more. Alone in the Dark returns with a heart-stopping survival experience realized through the use of state-of-the-art real-time physics and unprecedented environmental interaction. Delivering an action-orientated experience within a highly detailed, open environment, Alone in the Dark once again strives innovation and excellence within the genre. [Atari] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 19
  2. Negative: 5 out of 19
  1. Alone in the Dark is a perfect example of how to stage games: a story with twists, fantastic scripts and interesting characters. It could be a great cocktail of action and horror, but it comes with a bad aftertaste. Every minute obvious design errors can be observed. This could have been avoided with two more months of development time. Players who are easily frustrated should wait until patches fix the problems.
  2. A valiant attempt at elevating Alone in the Dark back into the Pantheon of genre-defining adventure-games – much innovation, and even more atmospheric awesomeness.
  3. Alone in the Dark can be applauded for its innovation, but it cannot be saved from its dysfunction. Had Eden Games added polish, or dare I say it, play-tested the game, it could have been a welcome addition for survival horror fans. [Aug 2008, p.85]
  4. Alone In The Dark truly horrifies me. How can such a big-budget title actually get to the stores with such unfriendly controls and gameplay glitches? The game is clumsy, completely linear and absolutely no fun to play.

See all 19 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 50
  2. Negative: 22 out of 50
  1. CanadianH.
    9
    I really don't understand what all the fuss is about; I bought a Logitech Rumble 2 (great product) and had one of the best times in recent history playing through this game. I would highly recommend it if you own a good pad, or invest in one. Console ports are here to stay, and if they're like AITD, I'm more than a happy camper. Good on them! Expand
  2. DanielM
    8
    Great game. Controls take a bit of getting used to but if you go through the entire game you'll walk away feeling the experience was worth it. Most people giving these poor ratings haven't played the game from start to finish or have some kind of bias against the game. Expand
  3. BryanC.
    7
    It's not the best game, but it's pretty good.
  4. JohnJ.
    1
    The game has an interesting story, and an good method of telling that story, unfortunately the game is completely ruined by the terrible, awful controls. They are so bad, that I honestly think Atari tested the entire PC version using the xbox controller. The major problems were: 1. Constantly being pulled out of first person view to get a better view of nothing. 2. Having to turn your character using the keyboard keys when holding a two-handed object such as an axe or a burning piece of wood. 3. Not being able to effectively use any of the objects you hold, if you stand in front of a door and attempt to bash the door in with a large object, you will swing it sideways and hit the wall, you always swing something the same way no matter what it is or what you are doing with it. Also, you can not swing something if it is on your left side, you have to pull it to the right using the mouse and then click to swing, why doesn't the mouse click just do that automatically (they the game doesn't inform you of this fact either). 4. Even at max settings, the game looks pathetic. Character textures look decent enough, but the far away textures and models (such as cars on the street far below you in the first level) look like they were rendered in Quake 3. The lighting is also terrible. In low lit areas, the game looks like it has an 8-bit color depth. A gray concrete floor will have swatches of green, blue, and orange swimming across it. Also, objects against a pitch black background will appear fully lit and objects in a partially, but still low lit area will appear pitch black as if texture-less. Bottom line, Atari failed to meet the minimum threshold of quality that any reasonable person would expect when purchasing this game. I gave it 1 point for installing without problems, running smoothly, and being entertaining for about 3 minutes. Other than that, the game is an epic failure. Expand

See all 50 User Reviews