Alone in the Dark: Hands-on

GamePro tests drives the new Alone in the Dark on the Xbox 360 and Wii.

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At first when characters start mentioning "cracks in the walls" in Alone in the Dark, you're not really sure what to make of it. Creepy...cracks? But once Edward Carnby wakes up and clears his vision (accomplished by pressing in the right thumb stick to blink), you'll see that the cracks are, indeed, creepy, and they also eat people. Or turn them into zombies. The plot isn't entirely clear yet, but there is definitely something evil happening in and around Central Park.

At a recent press event in San Francisco we were able to get some hands-on time with both the 360 and Wii builds of the game, but first Phil Harrison (of Infogrames, formerly Sony) and Nour Polloni (a producer at Eden Games) gave an introductory presentation. One of the most interesting features, aside from the really neat fire physics system they developed so things burn naturally, is the DVD-style chapter select menu. "We want everybody who plays this game to finish this game," Polloni stated, and skipping sequences as needed seems to facilitate that. Since the whole thing is meant to capture the "captivation and addiction" of prime time TV, they've included "Previously on Alone in the Dark" sequences, in case it's been a while since you played last, and also previews of the next "episode" to entice you after a cliffhanger.

Cross Genre

Alone in the Dark is sort of a cross between a PC adventure game (which makes sense considering that's where the series started in 1992) and a modern survival-horror game. There are multiple ways to solve puzzles too; for instance, a particular locked door features a number pad with bloody finger prints that gives you a pretty good indication of what the code is, but if you are feeling impatient and shoot out the console, you have to toy with wires to electronically pick the lock.

A button press switches you between third and first-person views. The Wii version makes use of an unfortunate first person "remote-look", where you point at the edge of the screen to turn, but you do get to use motion control to steer during the driving segments. Pulling your gun or flashlight out of your coat pocket inventory automatically by drawing the remote across your chest seemed to work more often than not for me, but it might end up a little too involved for those times your really just need to shoot someone in the face immediately. Alone in the Dark ships June 24th for Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and PC with the PS3 version to follow later on.

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