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by Dale Farris, President, Golden Triangle PC Club
June 2001
Game Overview
The original survival/horror franchise continues with this latest, fourth
edition, again staring supernatural detective Edward Carnby. This time,
Carnby is not alone on his quest. Joining the fray is Aline Cedrac, an
intelligent, determined young archaeologist/adventurer that has taken it
upon herself to find missing tablets related to an ancient American Indian
tribe, the Abkanis. Aline Cedrac is another
playable character joining Edward on his quest, and she is also trying to uncover
the true identity of her father, another character you run across as you
play through the story.
The game comes on three CD ROM discs. The first disc is used to install the
required files, and you play the game from discs two and three.
The events in Alone In The Dark: The New
Nightmare occur in October 2001 on a gloomy piece of land called Shadow Island. Charles
Fiske, one of Edward's associates, was found dead on Shadow Island
while searching for three ancient tablets with mythical powers. Edward
Carnby must solve the mystery of Fiske's death and discover the true meaning and
power behind the tablets. Aline is on her own journey, involving
translation of the tablets and pursuit of her father.
Carnby and Cedrac charter a plane to Shadow Island. Flying into a driving
rainstorm, immediately after they sight the island the plane is physically
attacked by a mysterious, unseen horror, causing the plane to crash.
Before the crash however, the two main characters bail out, each landing
in separate locations of the island. The whereabouts of the pilot are
later revealed as you play through the game.
After Carnby and Cedrac hit the island, the player is provided the opportunity to
choose which of
the two characters to play through the game. The Carnby character starts
on a remote location of the island far from the main mansion, while Aline
lands atop the mansion.
From their first steps on Shadow Island in the cold winter night, Carnby
and Aline are immediately confronted by terrifying, evil creatures that
are determined to halt their progress. Throughout the course of their
investigations, with every step they take and every corner they turn, they
are met with suspense, intrigue and a sense of impending doom. Relying
only on their instincts and limited resources, Carnby and Aline must
destroy this sinister evil and uncover the truth. Who or what is hidden on
this somber island? What invaluable secrets are buried beneath its depths?
When will their horrible nightmare end?
Although both characters begin their quest on different parts of the island,
during gameplay their paths cross at several points. The two may also communicate with
one another at any time using a set of walkie-talkies. The two characters
share the same adventure about 40 percent of the time, but the remainder
of their story is
unique to each. The storytelling techniques used with each character are
much subtler than those found in other survival-horror titles that build
on the ideas and concepts this original series first initiated in 1993.
The beginning of
Edward's game has him stumbling onto a dying, one-armed character just outside
the large mansion. The man insists that Edward turn around and head back, but
being the headstrong person he is, Edward refuses. The shadowy figure then
asks Edward for some bullets for his gun, and Edward obliges and heads off on his quest. Moments later a gunshot is heard. If Edward
returns to the scene of his meeting with the man, he will find that he has
committed suicide. It's this sort of unnerving, suspenseful situation that
propels The New Nightmare more directly into the realm of a thriller than
a hack-and-slash gore-fest.
Edward begins his game with a pistol, though the most effective weapon
when facing some of the island's monsters is his trusty flashlight. Merely
illuminating some of the monsters on Shadow Island is enough to divert
them from him, giving him scant seconds to find objects, maneuver, or run
away from them. Thankfully, Edward's flashlight never runs out of batteries,
unless it's done for dramatic effect. There are various weapons Edward and
Aline must find throughout the game, and an auto lock feature allows you to line up enemies and
blast them without wrestling so much with the controls.
Aline begins her game with
no weapons at all. Being an archaeologist, Aline's scientific way of
thinking causes her to solve problems in a more analytical fashion.
Instead of blasting through the levels in the same manner as Edward, Aline's quest requires
the player to use more puzzle-solving
skills and inductive reasoning. In her story, especially in the beginning,
she is armed only with the flashlight. This means you have to use this "weapon"
to ward off the monsters, in order to find a light switch, maneuver,
or run away from the demons. Eventually, she does find other more powerful
weapons that will be necessary to fend off or kill other monsters not
fazed by the flash light.
The two story paths played by the two characters cover much of the same
territory, as each character moves around the mansion and all the other
surrounding environs. However, even though each character may traverse
similar territory, their objectives are quite different, the objects to
be found are different, and the puzzles that have to be solved are different.
At the very end of the stories, both
characters interact and combine their forces for the same finale that is
pretty cool. All this adds up to produce two different games for the price
of one, in this newest Alone In The Dark
release.
Game Background
With the veritable avalanche of survival-horror
titles hitting the market these days, it's hard to remember that the
originator of this specialized computer game genre has little to do with zombies or the Umbrella
Corporation. Alone in the Dark was a trailblazer when it was first released in
1993. This was the first game to feature 2D, pre-rendered backgrounds with 3D
polygonal characters. In addition, the horrific atmosphere that has been adopted in
so many of today's similar titles in this genre was first realized in the
Alone In The Dark games.
Long ago, I first ran across this unique series in the first title, that
by today's standard would likely be classified as "rudimentary." My, how
far we have come with the fascinating tale of this unique character,
Edward Carnby, and the extraordinary advances in computer game technology
that are fully realized in this new title. The state-of-the-art effects
in this latest version 4 of the Alone In The Dark series genuinely represent the
full potential of the concept first
realized in 1993.
In addition, I think gamers that are challenged and intrigued by the Resident
Evil and Silent Hill series of titles should thank the Alone In The Dark
developers for paving the way for these later arrivals on the scene in
this horror/survival computer game genre. Two Alone in the Dark sequels
after the genre-defining first title, this latest version, Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare,
restores the lofty reputation of this important computer game story.More thriller than horror, the Alone in the Dark franchise works on the
premise that it's sometimes scarier to not know what's hiding in the
shadows, than to have armies of the undead swarming from every crevice. The
main character from past Alone in the Dark games, Edward Carnby, has
returned with a drastic makeover that makes him more closely resemble
Brandon Lee in "The Crow" than the pencil-pushing private eye from the
previous games in the series. Also, the duels with the "bad
guys" have been kicked way up many notches, resulting in one of the
most difficult, but fascinating computer games now on the market.
Addition of a Second Playable Character
Adding further to this latest and greatest edition is the playable second
character, Aline Cedrac. This means that once you complete the game
playing as Edward, you can start over at the beginning and choose to play
as Aline. In addition, having this second character involved in the game means the suspense and tension is heightened, especially when the game
suddenly interrupts as the characters communicate with each other via
their walkie-talkies. This interspersing of the two characters also
enhances interest in playing the second version as the other character, to
see what the other person might have been doing as you played through the game in the guise of
the first selected character.
Lest you think this merely means substituting one character for
another in entirely the same game story and entirely the same play through, you will be
pleasantly surprised to learn that the second character game is literally
a brand new game. When you play the game the second time as the other character, you
will come across and pass through much of the same territory as the first
character. However, as the second character you will have to find new and
different objects, solve different puzzles, and even interact with
different demons. All this means you will sense that you are getting "two games for the price of one."
Game Features
Innovative camera angles changing all the time
Over 1200 pre-rendered backgrounds
Varying levels of light applied everywhere and in each scene
Very sophisticated lighting scheme is awesome
High-color graphics throughout add to the realism of the eerie setting
Many fast-moving "bad guys" and background features
Flashlight serves as a key gameplay element
Flashlight used as weapon, illuminate rooms, help find secret items
Insidious creatures lurk in dark corners, drop from ceilings, or wait for
you
Main characters are well developed and animated
Extensive music score
Original theme by Stewart Copeland, Grammy-award winner, The Police
Experience the terror either as Carnby or Cedrac
Awesome arsenal of supernatural weapons to be found
Engrossing, rich storyline inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft
Character storylines are deep, and open up as you play the game
Many frightening scenes succeed in stark, surprising fear
Genuinely spooky, eerie game play that is heightened by the cool sounds
Excellent sound effects greatly add to the fright and the tension
Fairly typical controls that can be set up to suit the player
Game Play
There are three main areas in the game, including an outdoor area, a huge mansion, and a network of water-filled
caverns. As you make your way through the darkened levels with the
flashlight, items are discovered with the help of a blue sparkle that
emanates from these objects. In the PC version of the game, I found these
objects to be far more easier to locate and click on than in the
Playstation platform. While the objects are in each platform, finding
these in the Playstation version is just more difficult, due to the TV
format and the lack of depth in the TV monitor.
In the PC version, with the right combination of graphics accelerator card
and good-sized monitor, the greater depth realized in this fully realized
3D environment means these blue sparkles are at least easier to spot.
However, some remain very difficult to spot, and you have to remember to use the
well-known adventure game technique of looking at and touching
everything in all scenes throughout the entire game.
There are tons of cranks to turn, levers and buttons to push, people to
talk to, and of course, the seemingly endless array of all sorts of keys
to find and use in different places. There is also a lot of backtracking required in order to play through all
the game and find everything you are supposed to in order to get to the
end. The interaction with the demons and monsters is every bit as
difficult as any hard-core computer game, and you are advised to measure
well your "charms of saving" that once collected allow you to
save your game. You will also have a notebook, an object list, and a document file
that may be accessed at any time by pressing the "I" key to open
the Inventory.
While the original Alone in the Dark was the first game to feature a
hybrid of 2D backgrounds and 3D objects, this latest rendition nearly
perfects this technique. The backgrounds are simply amazing, beautifully
drawn and colored, all lending to the high level of realism of the
environments. If only you could just slowly move around these masterpieces
of backgrounds, savoring the wondrous beauty of the hard work of the game
developers, but alas, in most cases, you will find yourself running very
fast through many of these beautiful environs, trying to escape all the
many, different monsters that are trying to kill you. The attention to the minute
details in these displays is simply amazing, and as gamers, we should tip
our hats of appreciation to the tremendous hard work and determination of the game developers to produce such an awesome display that
greatly enhances the overall suspenseful nature of this wonderful game.
All the
characters and enemies you come into contact with throughout the game are
constructed of polygons, and when
viewed up close, they stand out from the gorgeous backgrounds in a drastic
manner. This means these monsters are genuinely presented, adding still to
the many tense moments when you are trying to either kill them or run away
from them into a "safe" area. Many of these creatures are
superbly realized, albeit completely invented, but this is only one aspect
of this game that helps magnify the challenge of the game. The programming
behind these creatures has clearly been driven by the directive to make
killing or getting away from them as difficult as you will find in any
similar game.
There are
eight basic enemies throughout the game, including gangs of angry dogs,
water-dwelling worms, and strange supernatural beings that walk on four
stilted legs. There are bosses to vanquish throughout the game, and the
finale with the "big boss" is as tough as I've every witnessed
in any game. In addition, this last evil menace is very disturbing, and
his diabolical attempt to destroy the main character, either Aline or
Edward, is true to his "evil
nature."
The most impressive of all the graphical feats accomplished in The
New Nightmare is a programming trick called "meshing," which
simulates real-time lighting on the 2D backdrops. Each of the 1200
pre-rendered backgrounds comes in multiple versions where different
portions of the background are lit. The game sorts through the different
backgrounds, depending on where the main character points the flashlight.
This all happens so fast and so smooth that the effect of real light being
cast on the environment is realized and you find yourself forgetting the
technical nature of what the game program, your video card and your CPU are doing in the
background to make this so real. This lighting effect and especially
what the game does as you move the flashlight all around the area is
stunning, and lends to the mysterious mood of the game. In
addition to the real-time cinemas that pop up quite frequently, full
motion video clips
are also used to drive home the more dramatic portions of the story.
The music in this special game comes from Stewart Copeland, the drummer from The
Police. His compositions, including the title track and the end-game
credits, are moody excursions with wailing guitars, driving beats, and
a crooner of a vocalist who Copeland has described as the "cookie
monster." The tone of the music fits the game quite well, and
Copeland claims that he always plays the latest build of the game while
working on its aural offerings. This has resulted in music that matches
the onscreen action like few games before it.
In addition, the background sound effects are also quite remarkable, and
the attention to the sounds of the many types of monsters is equally
stunning. Many times you likely will find yourself genuinely "afraid of
the dark," the next screen, driven by the sounds of some impending terror that lurks
nearby. The use of these 3D audio files is of course more successfully
realized the more advanced the DirectX compatible sound board and the more
powerful the speakers in the system. Many times I literally jumped in my
chair as the game threw so many shocking surprises at me, enhanced by the
powerful sound effects. Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is attempting to recapture the
crown it once held as the king and originator of survival-horror. The graphics are
impressive, and the dark, ominous atmosphere piles on the suspense. The
story is genuinely engrossing, and the music plays an important role in
the game as well as setting the overall theme for this special game.
Controls and Game Environment
Up, Down, Left, Right Arrow - moves you forward, backward, turn left, turn
right
S key - flashlight ON/OFF
I key - inventory screen
A key - with arrow keys, makes your character run fast
Left Shift key - freelook mode
Left Ctrl key - target mode
M key - map
R key - radio to talk with the other character
Spacebar - action or fire
Esc key - options/pause
Left Mouse Button - press and hold for freelook and target mode combined
Left Mouse and Right Mouse - while pressing and holding the left mouse
button, just click the right mouse button to fire
Note that if you have a compatible joystick, you can go into the options
to select the joystick buttons for some of the above controls.
Weapons and Ammunition
Custom Colt Revolver, Silver Revolver, Triple-Barreled Shotgun, Grenade
Launcher, Rocker Launcher Pistol, Plasma Cannon, Lightning Gun,
Photoelectric Pulsar
9mm Magnesium Bullets, Feuber Phosphorus Cartridges, Fragmentation
Grenades, Magnesium Rockets, Orange Natural Gas Cartridge, Battery Charger
and Luminescent Crystals,
Inventory Items Collected
First Aid Kit, Charm of Saving, Walkie-Talkie, Flashlight, Personal Notes,
Letters, Diaries, Journals, Books, Wills and Testaments and other such
documents, Keys of all types and sizes, Statues, Dictaphone, Flasks,
Crowbar, Phonograph, Photographs, Wolf Mask, Lighter, Telescope, Riddles,
Metal Plate, Steles, Wire Cutters, Blue Lens, Seal Rings, Sacrifice
Ritual, Allen Wrench, DeCerto's Mirror, Tablet Translation, Engraved Cube,
Abkanis Tablets, Half Medallions, Tripod Support, Pliers, Diagrams, Mould,
Steel Ingot, Butt, Colored Accelerator, Metallic Cards, Barrel, Glass
Lens, Energy Stone, Perforator With Energy Stone, Indian Warning, Indian
Skin Flask, Stone Abkanis Seals, Stone Pyramid, Stone Head, Haversack,
Abkanis Statue of Hecatonchires,
Monsters
Dogs of Darkness, Photosaurus, Ophtalmicids, Luxrats, Night Rippers,
Hybrids, Procuraptors, Arachnocids, Phocomelus, Hounds of Tindalos, Hybrid
Elder, and of course the Big Boss at the very end
Note that depending on which character you choose at the beginning, the
combination of inventory items, monsters and weapons will vary. The
inventory of items varies the most from one character to another,
representing the degree of difference in these two games.
Game Play Concerns
You would be well advised to remember that although this is a brilliantly
devised, beautifully developed game, it is also very, very difficult to
play, much less finish, and I don't think it is suitable for young children. The
box clearly indicates the subject matter, rated M for Mature. The effort in this horror game is to frighten and shock, while
mixing in an adventure game style of play.
Filled with numerous horrible monsters that literally jump on you
unannounced, your main character will likely die many, many times.
In fact, the possibility of finishing this is so remote, in my opinion,
that I wonder how any gamer could possibly successfully complete this game
without the walkthrough strategy guide and the cheat codes.
You also sense that the game has migrated onto the PC platform from
the console platform. While playing the game on a Sony Playstation, I
noticed few occasions in which the gameplay or the environment differed
from one platform to another.
This game is driven by classic console video
game maneuvers, walking and running, acquiring inventory
items and weapons, and finding the right keys to open all the many locked
doors. In both platforms, the means by which you open the inventory and use, examine,
combine, or split the items, as well as how you access the weapons to use,
examine, or reload are literally the same. While you may be using different keyboard commands on
a PC, nevertheless this appears and works exactly the same in both
platforms.
The console approach is also very apparent whenever you move the main
character about 5 to 10 steps, and pause as the game loads the data
for the next screen. This classic console platform approach makes sense in
the console, because of the limited resources the game can call on to
store and load the data to present these countless screens. However, in a
PC, this constant screen pausing can become somewhat annoying, and does
interfere a little in the smoothness of the flow of the game.
As is also the case in the console platform, in many, many of these
screen reloads, when the game pauses and you have NO control over the
character, immediately upon loading the next screen, your character is
abruptly attacked by various of the many monsters in the game, thereby
giving you NO chance to back away or fire your weapon.
All this means that in both the PC and the Playstation platforms, your
character will die many, many times, with little chance for you to ward
off these death points. In addition, the game coding is such that your
built-in health status is very, very quickly eaten away by these countless
attacks from these many monsters. Although the game places numerous First-Aid
Kits used to improve your health status, the fact that you are so
quickly killed because the health reserve is so quickly eaten up, means
that you will find yourself going over certain steps in these screen to
screen changes again and again, in order to find out how to
very precisely and very exactly be in just the right place at just the
right nanosecond, in order to NOT die yet again.
So, you should save often, as often as you come across the Charms of
Saving. Many of the monsters can be best handled if you run very fast away
from them, rather than trying to kill them. This is especially due to the
fact that even when you do find the weapons and the ammunition, killing
many of these monsters requires eating up your ammunition. For example,
while killing a Luxrat creature only requires one shot from the custom colt
revolver, using only this revolver against a Photosaurus creature means you
will have to shoot it 24 times. With this weapon, the many Hybrid
creatures have to
be shot 15 times, and the Procuraptor will have to be shot 100 times.
You have to take everything, look everywhere, read everything, and find
all the many keys that open up all the different areas, mainly to find the other
more powerful weapons that are more effective with various other monsters. As is the
case in most all classic shooter console games, as you work your way through
the game, you later find the more powerful weapons that have to
be used with the monsters that are more difficult to kill. At the very
end, even the last "big boss" cannot be killed with any of the
weapons, and you will have to solve this last puzzle in order to finish
the game.
Of course, knowing which of the many weapons is the
"best" one to use against the many monsters is a tedious
trial-and-error process, unless of course you just get the strategy guide
that helps eliminate this very frustrating part of the game.
The use of sound in the game is very important in this game, and with the
right sound board and speakers, then you might just be able to detect
these sound clues. Trouble is, these important audible clues come amidst
the always pounding soundtrack that is playing all the time. This means
that although there are indeed sound clues, you may find it nearly impossible
to know when such a sound clue has occurred. Unless, of course, you follow
the official strategy guide that again comes to the rescue explaining when
these supposed sound clues are happening.
In the huge industry of computer games, there have tended to be a few
major genres, or styles of games. These include adventure games, real-time
strategy (RTS), role-playing games (RPG) and first-person shooters (FPS).
Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare succeeds well as an excellent example
of a game that combines the
"thumb-twitch" skills of a shooter with the classic adventure
game features of getting through various barriers to find objects that
have to be carried back to other areas to help solve puzzles or open doors
in order to find still other objects that will be needed in later scenes. The game also
succeeds in keeping the degree of moving back and forth to a
minimum, and is certainly less tedious in this respect than what you have
to do in traditional adventure games.
All the while you are moving around, trying to get into locked rooms, find
objects or keys, you are constantly harassed by the many dangerous
creatures that you have to either run away from or kill. In these
situations, the FPS skills shine, and force you to get real good with the keyboard/mouse
controls.
I think that without all these monsters trying to kill you, Alone In The
Dark could succeed as a classic adventure game, something special in
this genre of computer games. The beauty of the game is such that without the need
to always fight to stay alive, the game could play very well as one of the best adventure games yet.
However, as I've said earlier, if you want to enjoy this adventure game
component, and worry less about your hand-eye coordination and your thumb twitch
skills, just activate the game's cheat codes, especially the God Mode, which means
you cannot be killed by these "bad guys." Watch out however,
even if you do activate the God Mode, as there are many situations in
which there are just so darned many monsters trying to kill you that you
could easily find yourself boxed into a corner constantly being attacked.
While you cannot die, you may not be able to maneuver your character out of the
way, forcing you to stop the game and start over at your last save.
The save feature in the game does add to the frustration level. You
CANNOT save your game anywhere you wish anytime you wish, as is the case
in so many other games. The coders have included numerous "save
points," referred to when you run across objects called Charms of
Saving. These charms sparkle when you are near them, and when you get
close to them and press the action key you will pick up and place a charm
in your inventory.
The key to using these is to remember once you pick up a Charm of Saving
you are strongly advised to save soon. If you try and save at
other locations after you have collected a few of these Charms, you might find yourself at an earlier point in the game
when you then come back and activate the load game feature. This means
that items you pick up may not still be in your inventory, and you may
have to replay some of the game to get back where you thought you had
earlier saved. These Charms of Saving are also found by looking for the
sparkle effect, another reason to be very sure to be diligent about
looking everywhere in every screen to be sure not to miss any of these
special objects.
I found this save process to
be very tedious and unnecessary, and another indication of how the game
has migrated from the console platform to the PC. This limitation to how you can save
a game is
well known in console versions
of games. In some of the longer scenarios in the game, before you get to
another Charm of Saving, you have to
play through a fairly lengthy path in the game before you get to another official save point in the game. In
the worse console examples of this process, gamers have learned the hard way to take advantage of these
relatively rare save points. Once they try to save a game way past these save
points, they then come back to find out that they have to play through
all this all over again. A very frustrating experience indeed.
About The Official Strategy Guide and Cheat Codes
You can bypass all the tremendous frustration and annoyance in this game by
implementing the cheat codes and following the official strategy guide.
While I realize there are many hard-core action gamers that would not
dream of doing such, I also suspect there are many, if not more gamers
that will gladly use all the help they can get with this game, in order to
get through it and complete it.
In my opinion, since I have far too many other things in life to do than
merely play computer games all the time, and having to live a normal life
of working for a living, rather than being able to stay up all night
playing games, sleeping till noon or later, to then get up and do it all
over again, with nothing else to do, I have to fit playing computer games
into a already very complicated, responsible life. So, I find the use of
strategy guides, and in the case of this very difficult game, the cheat
codes, absolutely essential in getting through the game and being able to
fully experience all the programmers worked so hard for me to
see and enjoy.
What fun is there in not even being able to get through 10% of what a game
has to offer, because it is so darned hard to control the character, fire the
weapon, run and dodge very fast moving monsters, all at the same time
while you try not to die every minute or so? Since in my case I do not have
countless hours to again and again try to get the right
combination of keystrokes at just the right time, that many times might
take a couple hours to finally get right, the use of the guide and the
cheat codes means that I can have more fun with the game and totally
experience all the beauty and wonder of the marvelously drawn backgrounds
and the equally marvelous sound effects.
The official strategy guide from PrimaGames (see below) will help you know
where to go and what to look for, what objects need to be found, and of
course the location of all the weapons that are essential in combating the monsters.
Without the guide in this game, I suspect many gamers will be hard
pressed to realize all the many, many places you have to go in order to
get all the right objects that are required to get other important places
to open up.
The adventure game features are very complex in this game. As you strive to
go all over the many areas to find all the many objects that have to be
taken back to other places, you are all the time being thwarted by the
many creatures that attack and try to kill you. This means the joy of
the very well developed adventure part of the game is constantly being
impeded by these monsters that force you to either run away from them or
kill them.
Since the running away is so many times hindered by how fast these
"bad guys" move, as well as suddenly attack you when you have no
control over the game, in my case, I just stopped trying to
independently get through these very annoying and irritating road blocks,
and used the "God Mode" cheat code. The game is certainly much more fun this
way, and you have a much better appreciation for the tremendous hard work
of so many obviously talented people that designed the game.
In addition to the God Mode, the cheat menu will allow you to activate All Weapons, All Items, WRInfo, Debug Info, as well as a super Go
To option. This Go To option in the cheat menu is the best I've ever seen,
and is very complete and well organized. I've run across these Go To options before, but sadly in so many other situations,
when you see what the game presents from which you are to select, you cannot tell where in the game you will be. In this game, this option
is much more clear and directly related to the areas of the game, and the
list of areas you can go to is chronologically ordered from the beginning
to the end of the game. I used
this Go To code once at the very end, and the All Items code also came in very handy
once.
I can
attest that many, many times, without the use of the strategy guide and
the Cheat Menu, I would never, ever have finished the game. However, since
I did use these aides, I did finish the game playing both
"versions" with both characters, and thus have a much more
positive end-user perception of the game. This is because I have been able to get
through all of it and have been able to experience all the many wonders
that await those that move through the many varied and awesome areas of
the game.
In the Playstation console version, the cheat codes provide you with
unlimited ammunition for the weapons, but no infinite health, or God mode.
In the PC version, there is no cheat option for unlimited ammunition, so I
played in the God Mode and did not have to worry about running out of
ammunition. When I wanted to have some fun, I would then use the
particular weapon instructed in the strategy guide, just to see how the
various weapons worked and how the monsters died.
Implementing the Cheat Menu
In the PC version, to get to the cheats, you will need to modify your
shortcut icon for the game that is placed on the desktop during the
installation of the game. I had to add a new shortcut, different from the
one that by default is placed on the desktop, the one with the picture of
Carnby. You indicate the path to the alone4.exe file that is placed in the
Alone In The Dark folder that is in the Infogrames folder in the Program
Files folder on the hard drive selected to store the installed game. Note
that the default shortcut icon indicated a different EXE file, that while
it did open the game, it did not work with this cheat setting.
You add a shortcut with a path to the alone4.exe file to look like this.
"C:\Program Files\Infogrames\Alone in the Dark\alone4.exe" wizardmaster
Note the path to the alone4.exe file is all inside double quotes, followed
by a space, followed by the word wizardmaster. This is the default path
that is defined in the installation process, but of course you can change
the hard drive and folder to place the game files.
When you double-click this modified shortcut icon, that will look like a
little DOS window
icon, the game will start as usual. Once the game has loaded, you press the letter "I" key to get to the Inventory, where you will
find the Cheat Menu. If you use this modified shortcut icon to start the
game, the Cheat Menu will work with either character you select to play the
game.
Frankly, with
this game, I don't know how anyone could possibly complete the game
without the cheat codes and the guide, unless they have nothing else to do and
can spend hundreds of hours playing this game, trying again and again to
get the character through the many very difficult parts. As for me, I don't have this kind of time to devote
to this or any other game. I would much prefer being able to get through
the entire game and savor the
richness of the environments and the scenery that have been so wonderfully
produced.
I very much appreciate that the coders have included this Cheat Menu
option that although it is not documented anywhere in the included user
manual, it is supported and built into the game. You just have
to wait a while after these types of very difficult games are released,
before you run across the cheat codes that make the game so much more fun to
play. I also was impressed with the obvious attention the coders placed on
creating this Cheat Menu that is the best set of cheat helps I've ever
seen. Now if only other computer game manufacturers will take this hint
and also make their cheats as easy to work with and use as in this game.
Targeted Customers
Clearly, Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare is an excellent example of
the best of today's computer games, but this is a game for "hard-core action gamers." Folks new to computers and
computer games will not only need to make sure their system has the horses
needed to run the game, they will likely also need a lot of help from
friends or family more experienced with these types of very difficult
games.
Novice computer gamers will likely wonder why in the world anyone would
purposefully put themselves through such a terribly difficult, frustrating
and irritating game play experience. Instead, novices will likely ignore this in favor of
more subdued, leisurely games in the adventure game genre, where the
main character usually does not die and you have a lot of "free time" to
wander around exploring various environments while never being attacked at
all by any "bad guys."
In this type of action game, you really need to know before you buy the
game not only the relatively high system requirements to support the game, but in
addition, you will need to be very good with thumb twitch skills so vital
in the video console game environment.
However, for many of the targeted market, this game is exactly what they
are looking for, providing new types of monsters to kill, new types of
weapons to find and learn how to use, and of course, the need to have
split-second timing of all the right keyboard
commands to get through the many very difficult levels.
If you work with just the strategy guide, you are not guaranteed success
with the game. The guide helps you know where to go and what to
find when you get there, and what you have to do with these objects later
on. Getting through the many very difficult parts involving the many
monsters trying to kill you is a matter of skill and a lot of luck. Or, if
you want, just implement the God Mode cheat and relax and enjoy the game
and all it presents.
Windows System Requirements
P-II 400 MHz (or better) or AMD K6-3 450 MHz (or better)
64MB RAM (128MB RAM recommended)
Windows 95B, 98, 98SE, 98ME, or 2000 (Win 98SE or 2000 recommended)
DirectX 8 compatible sound card
400MB hard drive space for installation
100MB additional space free while playing the game
DVD or 8x CD ROM or faster (20x CD ROM recommended)
OpenGL-Compliant graphics card with at least 16MB RAM
Keyboard
Mouse
DirectX 8.0a recommended
Joystick control supported
Install and Setup
After the installation, and you first load the game, you will play the
game with the second CD ROM disc in the CD ROM drive. You need to leave
the disc in the drive as you play, since if you remove it while the game
is running, you risk losing any unsaved progress you have made.
Note that this is an excellent example of today's state-of-the-art
computer games, and you will definitely want to close all
terminate-and-stay-resident files (TSR) that may be running in the
background. This includes any anti-virus files, and especially any screen
saver files. All other existing files should be deactivated, or you will
experience problems with the game.
The Readme.txt file that comes on the first disk should be read by anyone
playing the game on a Windows 95 B (OSR2) machine, in order to find out
how to change the path to the icon loaded onto the desktop during
installation. This change will allow you to open the game on this older
operating system.
The game defaults to installation in the Alone in the Dark folder in the Infogrames folder in the Program
Files folder on the selected hard drive, and it will ask if you want to place
the game's icon on the desktop.
The Readme.txt file also explains the graphics cards and chipsets
supported by the game. This list does include the newest nVidia board,
their GeForce 3 card, that is to be eclipsed by their newest card due for
release around Christmas 2001.
Since this is software that will seriously challenge most all systems, you
will want to be sure you have the up-to-date drivers for your 3dfx
graphics accelerator card and 3d sound card.
Although the vendor says this game will run in Windows 2000, as gamers
likely know, the problem is not with the game, but with the drivers for
their graphics card in their Windows 2000 machine. Windows 2000 is NOT
designed primarily as a home computer, but it does represent the future of
Windows, as witnessed by the pending October 25, 2001 release of
Microsoft's upcoming new Windows
XP (Professional and Home Edition). This new OS will represent the first Windows
platform for home computers build on the stability and security of Windows
2000.
This just means that drivers for video and sound cards for a Windows 2000
environment are usually the last drivers manufacturers invest time and
money to code. So, it should not be a surprise that the most technical
problems likely with this game will come from trying to run it on a
Windows 2000 machine that has a 3dfx
graphics boards and 3d sound boards. Finding the drivers for these boards
that will support this game will just be less successful than drivers for
these same high-end boards in a Windows 9x environment.
You will also have to have the latest version of DirectX, and then make
sure your video and sound board drivers have been updated to support
DirectX 8.0a.
The game will NOT run in a Windows NT machine, and has not yet been tested
for Windows XP.
I loaded the game (all files) on a Win 98 SE machine (P III-850, 256MB SDRAM) that had
a Creative Labs Annihilator 2 video card (an nVidia GeForce 2, 32MB
RAM board), 30GB IBM 7200 hard drive, internal Zip 250 drive, standard
floppy drive, a Creative Labs Live X Gamer! sound board, CD RW drive, DVD
drive with MPEG 2 decoder, standard MS Intellimouse and keyboard, Logitech
joystick, two 8-port USB hubs, and Cambridge Soundworks DTS 2000 speaker
system. The game worked
fine with these boards and the latest drivers for each. The drivers came
from Creative, and were updated as of just 2 months ago.
Note that having newer 3dfx video and 3d sound cards and a high-end
speaker system will likely result in less errors when playing the game.
The better the speaker system the more impactful will be the rich sound results intended in this
beautifully created, but challenging game.
In the case of this high-end game, this is an excellent example of the
type of software that is designed to run pretty much only on what I would
call "gamer PC's." This means computers with the latest in video
and sound boards, as well as drivers, the fastest CPU you can afford, a
"ton" of RAM, and a high-end speaker system capable of supporting
diverse sounds from the array of speakers enhanced by the power of a
sub-woofer. The
so-called "sub-$1,000" machines will likely NOT support this
game, and neither will "legacy" machines, or machines older than
about 2-3 years.
Note also that Infogrames also supports a Community & Support forum
where you can read about technical problems some gamers are experiencing
with this game. Remember that although there are technical difficulties
with getting this game to play on some systems, in my opinion these
difficulties are no more than what I've seen and personally experienced
with so many other games in the past. When you think about the countless
combinations of the many different types of computer systems customers try
to play this, or any computer game on, it is a wonder that the game plays
on any system.
The root cause of these problems does not necessarily lie with the
game manufacturer, but in the tremendous variety of system configurations
on which the game may be installed. It is literally impossible for any
game manufacturer to guarantee their game will run on all these systems.
This is why so many video game
console players stay satisfied with playing video games on their console.
Writing game software to run on one console platform is far less difficult
than trying to make sure the game software will be compatible with the
literally thousands of different ways people build their computers.
In addition to the already tremendous challenge with computer hardware, is
the never ending litany of drivers necessary for the peripheral devices to
properly work with the system. When you factor in the rapid schedule
of release of still newer video and sound boards, that also mean still
more drivers, this can easily result in problems trying to get some
computer games to work properly on some machines.
With the nVidia company now pretty much dominating the video card market,
even this company continues to push the edge of video card technology.
They have managed to pretty much stay on their own established pace of releasing
new video
cards about every 6 months. We now are awash in the adaptation by many
vendors of nVidia's latest
GeForce 3 card, but by Christmas 2001, expect yet another new board from
nVidia. The half-dozen or so manufacturers that buy the license to
adapt nVidia technology to their video boards also have to keep
running to keep up with the drivers for their boards, and these drivers
are also always changing.
I am many times amazed that given this complex, rapid pace of endless
changes in video and sound board technology and drivers, that any software
manufacturer would even consider producing computer games today.
When they do produce something as impressive as Alone In The Dark: The New
Nightmare, we gamers ought not be so quick to complain or criticize, and
instead express our appreciation for the very hard work and long hours
these companies invest in order to produce something so dynamic and so
reasonably priced.
Price
$39.99 PC platform
$39.99 Playstation, Dreamcast platform
$29.99 Gameboy Color platform
Prima's Official Strategy Guide
$14.99 -- 144 pages -- softbound
Title: "Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare"
Author: David S.J. Hodgson
ISBN: 0-7615-3632-9
Publisher: Prima Games
Division of Prima Communications, Inc.
3000 Lava Ridge Court
Roseville, California 95661
916-787-7000
http://www.primagames.com
About InfoGrames, Inc.
Infogrames, Inc. is a leading publisher and distributor of video games for
consoles (Sony, Sega, Nintendo, and Microsoft), personal computers, and
Macintosh systems. The company's award-winning franchises, in addition to
Alone In The Dark, include Deer Hunter, Test Drive, and Unreal. Infograme's
Humongous Entertainment division is a leader in children's entertainment
software and its Macintosh publishing label, MacSoft, is the number one
publisher of Mac entertainment software. Based in New York, Infogrames,
Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames
Entertainment SA (IESA) (Euronext 5257) and serves as the headquarters for
the company's operations in North America.
Founded in 1983, IESA is a global publisher and distributor of video games
for all platforms, as well as interactive digital television, mobile smart
devices (WAP, HDML) and in-flight entertainment systems. IESA recently
acquired Infogrames Interactive, Inc. (formerly Hasbro Interactive),
including its line of software based on well-known licenses such as
Monopoly, Jeopardy, and Atari, which are distributed in the US by
Infogrames, Inc.
http://www.infogrames.com
About DarkWorks
Darkworks S.A. specializes in producing state-of-the-art software for
computers, as well as all the existing video game console platforms. Their
Alone In The Dark game is produced for the PC and the Sony Playstation.
Darkworks Studios has been based in Paris since 1995, and focuses on the
design and development of adventure/action games stimulating the emotions
and the immersion of the player.
http://www.darkworks.com
Contact
Wiebke Vallentin, Public Relations
Infogrames, Inc.
20931-B Burbank Blvd.
Woodland Hills, California 91367
818-251-3355
818-251-3300
FAX 818-704-5683
http://www.infogrames.com
http://www.aloneinthedark.com
http://www.darkworks.com
You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.
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Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare