GamersReports

Forums

News

-Hottest News
-Xbox 360
-Xbox
-Playstation 2
-Playstation 3
-PC
-PSP
-Gamecube
-Gameboy / DS
-Software
-Nintendo Wii
-Dreamcast
-Neo-Geo
-N-Gage
-Mobile
-Misc
-Film & Media
-Web
-Industry
-Game Media
-Event
-Arcade

GR Store

Reviews

Articles

Media

Search

Contact Us

Links

Register!

Submit News >

Your Ad Here

Respected Sites

-Xbox Scene
-Vitalspeeds Hosting
-Final Fantasy
-Planet Xbox 360
-Free Games
-Buy Playstation 3
-Arizona Web Design
-Band Merchandise

Alone In The Dark

Written by DM on Sunday, June 29 2008

Your inventory system is literally always at your fingertips, all you have to do is look down. By using the d-pad, you can glance to your waist, which has all your items hanging on a utility belt of sorts, and all you have to do is highlight the item you want to use and hit the button. You can even select items for a “quick-equip” feature, so you do not have to look down all the time. You can also hold one thing in each hand, which sounds like common sense but never really is in these types of games. Sometimes, you will have to combine items, such as a flashlight and a battery. This is done in your waist inventory screen, and again, is easy to learn. You also have the ability to make your own weapons, of sorts anyway. You can combine fire and a bottle to make a Molotov Cocktail, or you can combine a certain power up item and your bullets to make super bullets, things like that. The game does bill the fact that you can make your own weapons, but it really is more like you can create better weapons if you know a good recipe. Unfortunately, it gets very tedious to combine things you need in the heat of battle using the game’s waist-based inventory screen. Too bad there is no quick-create.

The combat controls are another area where AITD innovates a bit. You can literally pick up just about any item your find, and use it to fight with. If you feel like beating down some of the possessed using a PC LCD monitor you found, then go right ahead. If you want to use that velvet-rope holder to bash in a skull, do it! You can even use the fire extinguisher (that you just put out a fire with) to bust open zombie heads. You also have to use fire during combat in this game, so bear that in mind. It is everywhere on the first level, so that is not an issue, but it does become somewhat of a problem later on. You see, you must drag the enemies into a fire, or literally light them on fire, in order to make the demon spirit possessing them leave for good. No matter how hard you beat them, they will eventually get back up. The best part about the combat, though, is the way you actually wield your weapon of choice – using the right analog stick. When you pull back on the stick, it lifts the item in your hand up for a downward strike. If you decide a side swipe is better, then you simply pull the right stick from left to right, or vice versa. You can even swing the item upwards if you like. I cannot tell you just how satisfying it is to beat down a zombie using a chair that literally explodes into pieces after three hits. Especially when the chair is lit on fire (any item that can be ignited has a small flame icon on the symbol which shows on screen before you pick it up). By the way, make sure you use the Katana on the first boss-type zombie you meet (the first one that talks). You cannot take it with you, but boy, what fun it is to wield.

Now we come to the camera and movement mechanics in AITD. While the first level has the majority of the game’s “oh wow” scenes, and the greatest diversity of necessary movement types (by this I mean climbing, crawling, jumping, etc), what you learn in the burning building will be imperative for you to use throughout the rest of the game. The first problem is that since the game has so many different “modes of transportation,” if you will, that the controls have been stripped down to their most basic parts. What I mean by this is that more often than not, more than one action is assigned to one button on the control pad. This can lead to more than a few “fall to your death” moments, trust me.

Another problem with the AITD movement system is the camera. It is not a free-roaming motion camera, it only moves a bit from side to side. When you have to grab a swinging rope or wire by jumping off the end of a broken floor and you cannot shift the angle to directly behind Edward. The game works on the auto checkpoint save mode that is all the rage these days, so if you are far ahead of the last checkpoint and you fall to your death, you have to long-haul your way back to the jump point and try again. The rest of the movement controls are more or less run of the mill, jumping and climbing are done the usual way. Ledge crawling, etc., should all be easy for you to grasp.

1 | 2 | 3 | Next Page >>

Related Articles: