by Jay "THE FLEA" Wade
What happens when Resident Evil and Silent Hill are mixed into one game? Well unless you didn’t read the title of this review its Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. (The 4th in the series.)
You play as one of two characters, a private eye named Edward Carnby or a young female professor named Aline Cedrac.
They are dropped onto Shadow Island where they where sent to investigate the death of Edward’s friend Charles Fiske. But they find more then they bargained for, the island is taken over by nightmarish creatures of the dark. And now they only want to escape the island alive.
Each character has their own paths and unique traits, Just like in RE2. Edward starts in the woods with a pistol, while Aline starts on the roof of the mansion but is armed with nothing but a flashlight.
The gameplay is identical to Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Search for clues, solves puzzles and kill undead creatures.
This has to be one of the creepiest games ever played. I’d say I jumped from AinD4 more then I did in ether Silent Hill or Resident Evil. This game will give you a cheap scare numerous times, Creatures will appear and the lights will go out when you least expect it, but then they disappear. Other times they jump out for the kill.
You use a flashlight to see around in dark room and some creatures are even afraid of the light.
The music and sound effects in AitD4 is the creepiest since Silent Hill, You really feel tense as you search for clues.
This is by far the best of the AitD series, the last on the PSX was junk compared to the newest edition.
My only complaints on AitD4 is the reappearance of monsters in many rooms. If you have to walk through a hallway many times you’ll run out of ammo real quick. And there’s no knife to use so its run or die. Another complaint is the FMV is only sub par compared to other Survival games.
Overall if you are looking for the next good scare in a PSX game I highly recommend Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.
PUBLISHER: INFOGRAMES
ESRB RATING: M (mature)
GRAPHICS: 8.5 MUSIC & SOUND: 10 CONTROL: 8.5
SECRETS: 6 ORIGINALITY: 9 REPLAY: 8
OVERALL: 8.5