Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

[Altimus]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

PS3 delay explained:

Alone in the Dark developer Eden Games has explained why the PS3 version of the hotly anticipated survival horror game still hasn't got a firm release date.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com at a recent press event for the game in London, senior producer Nour Polloni explained that the PS3 version "is not performing as well on PS3" in terms of frame rate, but reassured PS3-owners that it's "not that far off".

Polloni's comments come as the Xbox 360, PC and Wii versions of Alone in the Dark are set to hit the shelves in under a month.

Alone in the Dark, the fifth game in the cult series which proceeded the Resident Evil and Silent Hill games, sees players assume the role of a private detective who finds himself trapped in modern day Central Park having been transported forward in time from the 1930s. Players will be able to skip forward to the game's various episodes if they find it too tough and get TV series style recaps that fill them in on what they've missed.

Hype has steadily built up for the Atari published game. Various tech demos have demonstrated its impressive physics, object manipulation and most notably realistic interaction with fire.

The recent London press event saw a live demonstration of the Xbox 360 version of the game, but there was no mention of the PS3 version.

Polloni told VideoGamer.com after the event: "There's no firm date yet but what we can say is that it's coming out this year. In terms of why it's coming out later, we have the full game running on PS3 and all the features, no problem. The thing is it's not performing as well on PS3 as we hope it is in terms of frame rate and all that. We didn't want it to come out and have less of an experience for the PS3 gamer. We wanted to tweak that up and make sure they get the best experience on PS3 as much as possible."

Polloni revealed that despite the delay, both the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Alone in the Dark will contain the same content.

She told PS3 owners: "It will be really worth it. It's something that we didn't want to deceive the players. That's why we preferred waiting. And I know it's tough but we want them to wait to be able to get that same experience."

You can read the rest of our interview with Alone in the Dark's senior producer Nour Polloni right here.

http://www.videogamer.com/news/29-05-2008-8404.html

It is good that they are delaying it to fix the issues instead of releasing a inferior product.

[Flawless]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

Eurogamer Review - 7

Yet in spite of all this, Alone in the Dark is ultimately likeable, even lovable. If you go back and read those opening paragraphs again, there's a game there that every gamer would want. Inventive, flexible, considered. It's stunning to look at it in places, too, and it's capable of classic gaming moments: quieter than the Would You Kindlies and This Was A Triumphs, but just as special. And in Edward Carnby's practical survivor, Eden has a tool players will enjoy sharpening. The problem is that every time you get excited about Alone in the Dark, it shuts you down. At times it's akin to Atari's Boiling Point: Road To Hell of three years ago; throw any score on the ten-point scale and it will stick to something, but there's so much friction on the lower end that it's often impossible to pull away and remember when you brushed past genius. You want to love it, but it just keeps letting you down, and in the end that's the impression that sticks to the wall and stays there.

[VanCitySportsGuy]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

Solid title so far. The graphics are on the same level as Bioshock. Almost every episode is unlocked right from the beginning so if you get stuck, you can just skip it.

[Flawless]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

Alone in the Dark Review - 3.5

Alone in the Dark has some good ideas, but it fails at most because it tries them all. Nice visuals, great fire effects and valiant efforts at innovation don’t make up for boring combat, frustrating controls, poorly designed levels and a hackneyed story. There’s a certain amount of old-school adventure charm in Alone in the Dark, but it shines only as the dimmest of lights, hemmed in by the darkness of its many failures.

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[Altimus]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

Not sure what to think. I remember others saying how it will be the Drakes Fortune of multiplatform gaming; wrong big time.

Disappointment all around. At least now they can improve on the PS3 version.

[allBthere]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

Alone in the Dark Review - 3.5



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totally shallow review. These sites slam games sometimes and they have not right to do so - 'deadliest catch' got a 6.5 from IGN! , but alone in the dark a 3.5!?!? and the graphics a 6.!?!? ---they decide they hate the game, then give it lousy scores in areas where they shouldn't be able to.

Fair enough if you don't like the game, but saying the graphics in this game is 6, is beyond dumb, and giving it the same score as bomberman act zero isn't cool either. It just seems unproffessional.

[Altimus]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

Here is a video review from GT. Looks no where as bad as the IGN review makes it out to be.

Based on the explanation and videos, looks like a solid game with some bugs to iron out.

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[calcutta]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

I've been playing the game for the last four days and the driving sections are probably the most frustrating tasks i've had to do in a video game. Two driving sections in particular because time is against you, but the physics are awful and its so easy to either get stuck on a small piece of debris, or flip in the air on an even smaller piece of debris! The first of these driving parts probably took me at least 20 attempts, mainly due to cheap deaths.

On foot it isn't so bad, but it does take some time to get used to the third person controls, especially using the right stick for melee combat (ie: swinging an axe, or torching a chair by hovering it over a flame). It works well, but its not very useful when going up against multiple enemies at once because if they strike you, you drop whatever you're holding. Fortunately you can pour flammable liquid over bullets to create "fire bullets", and since human-esque enemies can only be killed with fire, i usually rely on them (but even then you have to shoot them in a 'sweet spot' to actually take 'em down for good). Being able to create/combine weapons and inventory is the best thing about the game and you are required to make combos in order to defeat some enemies and solve some puzzles...one puzzle in particular required combining four different "ingredients".

At the same time though, the inventory system - Edward's jacket - is not very intuitive IMO. First off, when opening up your jacket for some reason there are times when i can use the D-Pad to select items, and other times i can only use the left stick...its annoying because the left stick is pressure sensitive (so it returns to the middle when you let go) but the D-Pad isn't, making it much easier and quicker to select what you want. The second issue with the jacket inventory system is that it does NOT pause the game, so you're vulnerable to attacks. Obviously its meant to add a sense of realism to the game but pausing the game to change items would be much more convenient, considering the game is already quite difficult when it comes to defeating enemies. You can use the bumper buttons to change items in real time (LB switches between torches and bottles in your left hand, RB switches between the pistol, lighter and knife etc in your right hand) but its still quite a slow transition...in fact the main character is generally quite slow in his movements too. You can run, but again its not very fast and he runs out of breath pretty quickly. Again, this is to add realism to the game since you do get severely injured throughout the game, but it adds to the frustration too.

I'm up to the end of the 7th "Episode" (8 in total) and i've found the game more frustrating than fun - particularly the time-based driving sections - but its getting better as i go along...I found the first two Episodes quite tedious, but it picked up during Episode 3 and beyond. The first half or so of the game is quite linear too with numerous scripted set pieces, but at the end of in Episode 7 the task you're given allows you to explore Central Park at your leisure which is really cool...ironically its also one of the few times i've been Alone in the dark

I'd say it's worth a rent if you had any interest in the game at all, its certainly not 3.5 bad, i concur with allBthere regarding IGN's score (agree with you on the graphics too! They are great, especially fire!). I'd say Gamespot/Eurogamer/GameTrailer's scores are more accurate; between a 6.0 and 7.0. The game is also quite short - i've been playing for 10 hours (about 85% through) but keep in mind i've had to redo alot of sections because of deaths...i've probably died over 100 times LOL. I also had to redo most of Episode 3, because the game doesn't autosave if you quit (if you die its OK as it reloads the last section only, and does it very quickly too!). I've probably spent about 3 of those 10 hours just redoing the same section over or trying to figure out a puzzle. Its also worth a rent on 360 for easy Achievements

[Flawless]

Re: Alone in the Dark (360 and PS3)

Eurogamer: Alone in the Dark PS3 Hands-On

For once, PS3 owners should be grateful for having to wait ages for a game to show up on their platform. Because, in Alone in the Dark's case, this is no loveless and unoptimised port; this is the game it should have been in the first place.

At Leipzig, Eden is in confessional mode. Few studios would have the balls to kick off a presentation by systematically listing the massive amount of flaws in their recently released game, but that's what happened. "We have absorbed and taken every piece of criticism about the game that was constructive and would help," a rep says. Tom says you're welcome.

First up, Eden has taken on board the camera issues. Gone is the restrictive single-stick system which the player often fought against, and gone is the dynamic, somewhat zoomed-in perspective. Instead, players see Carnby from a more conventional zoomed-out third-person view, more central to the action, and, crucially, are given the option of full manual camera control with the right stick.

"Now we are giving control to the player...this is maybe the most important element we are changing," Eden's spokesperson admits. We're handed the pad, and straight away you can tell it's a change is for the better. It feels fluid and natural, with a semi-automatic system moving the view back behind the player once you start running.

It begs the question why they didn't go for that system in the first place. "On the 360 version what we wanted was to have more immersion with the camera being really close to the player." Fair enough, but plenty of people found it clunky and irritating. Indeed, recent focus testing with the new system revealed that people didn't feel any less immersed anyway, but hey. Later, when pressed on its original choices, Eden admits it was simply too close to the project. It might well feel much more like an action game, as they say, but not enforcing the original claustrophobic viewpoint on players makes for a far more playable experience.

Other movement elements have been overhauled too. Carnby now runs by default, so there's no longer any need to hold the run button down the whole time. He changes direction quicker too and feels more responsive and fluid - though when you need to be careful and walk, you can still do that. You just nudge the analogue stick a little. Simple.

Elsewhere, the inventory system has also been given a few tweaks here and there. While you still press down on the d-pad to check the contents of your coat, it's not such a ball-ache. The completely imprecise analogue system that made it tough to cycle through items has gone. Now you only have the choice of flicking through your items with the d-pad. A small, but worthwhile change. You also don't have to pick up and insert batteries the whole time, or combine objects in a specific order to make them work, or confirm that you want to drop items. Such pedantic niggly little things, and worth changing.

Certain combat-related facets have also been tweaked. The core analogue stick 'swing' melee system has been retained, but now requires the left trigger to be held down to activate it - and, because of the improved camera system, you have a better chance of knowing who's about to smash you up.

A less necessary change is that the combat is now apparently much easier. Enemies now take fewer blows to take down, for example, meaning that perhaps three hits will take them down instead of, say, ten. This means that those scenarios when you're set upon by half a dozen furious creatures stand less of a chance of annoying the hell out of you, but we'd have perhaps preferred that to have been related to the difficulty level choice than just railroaded through; the pressure of playing Alone in the Dark - like Resident Evil games - was sometimes a positive.

One absolutely essential change, though, is to the hateful driving mechanics. As someone who played through the infamous New York driving section 45 times before succeeding (and severely injured my sofa in the process), the most important change has been to introduce mid-level checkpoints. In addition, the twitchy drift-heavy handling has been kicked out, and replaced by a sensible model that gives you half a chance. The crazy physics aren't quite as mentalist as they were either, and the traffic has less chance of snagging you into the yawning rift of doom. Thank you Eden.

In addition to all these little nips and tucks, the developers also felt it was a good idea to explain what that whole end-of-game root-burning stuff was about earlier on in the narrative. So, at the end of Chapter 3, for example, instead of having to move a blockade of wrecked cars to drive across a big rift in Central Park, you have to set fire to one of these apparently evil roots. Later, in Chapter 6, another change has been made, where Carnby climbs aboard a metro train and finds himself under attack in a somewhat different way than he was in the 360 and PC original.

But 360 owners of Alone in the Dark, at least, need not feel completely hard done by. Eden has confirmed that it is working on a patch which will implement most of the changes that have been made to the upcoming PS3 version. It wasn't completely clear on exactly what would and wouldn't be tweaked or fixed, but it's fairly safe to assume that the control, camera, inventory and driving changes will all be taken care of.

With a release date now set for November, be sure to check back nearer the time to see what we think of the new, improved Alone in the Dark.