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Alone in the Dark 3 (PC) review"Alone 3 tries to blend the first game’s unparalleled approach to otherworldly detective work, with the second game’s more lighthearted but equally smart MacGyver-esque sleuthing (and jacked-up combat), in order to arrive at a happy medium. To the credit of the developers, the mixture does reach a medium, but it’s not happy. " |
I remember being stoked to get this game because the original Alone in the Dark was so singularly awesome (it still is today despite looking like shit), and its first sequel, Alone in the Dark 2 was so... special. I think I loved Alone in the Dark 3 as well, and I believed it to be on par with its great forerunners, because, as Hemingway put it, it was pretty to think so.
The harsh reality is that I loved Alone 3 for what it represented – further Alone nourishment to sate my growing appetite for the series – and the fact is this third entry in the canon was never that good. I wish I could chalk this conclusion up to revisionist history; I cannot. Sadder still is that some of the major flaws which manifested here, began to first push through the cracks from beneath the smooth surface of the second game. I should have seen it coming.
Edward Carnby has always been a certified bad ass – that much is irrefutable. He thrives on danger in a fashion which goes beyond the absurdly cliché. He’s a supernatural detective. Not because he’s dead and wants to solve crimes, but because he’s a dick with a nose for Cthulhu's minions, dead pirates and fedora-wearing gangster ghosts... And now, for the first time: cowboys from beyond the grave.
That's right; this time it’s off to Slaughter Gulch (I’m not kidding) to find Emily Hartwood, the woman with whom Carnby once shared top billing as star of the first game. It turns out she disappeared on set while filming ghost town schlock in the middle of a ghost town. We are privy to a particularly groan-worthy exchange between Carnby and a mysterious employer who coaxes him with big money to venture out to the Mojave desert where Slaughter Gulch is located.
Once you get past the extremely hokey voice acting – and it’s hard to shake, because God knows I don't want Carnby to sound like a slick, seen-it-all-before douche – it’s off to the rescue. Upon your arrival, a shocking occurrence: the only bridge into and out of town blows up, Ecstatica-style. How inconvenient. And so begins the strangest Alone yet.
Besides spookiness and fisticuffs, Alone has always been about puzzles: place a couple of mirrors strategically to have a pair of monstrous statues fire upon one another instead of upon you – and so on. The games got away with their obscure solutions because Carnby was furnished with dodgy tomes, which, when combed through, provided the strangely appropriate answers he needed.
In an effort to ramp things up as sequels are wont to do, puzzles here are more obtuse than ever, but with less supplementary context. An example of one of many ludicrous sticking points: Find a locked door? Why not pound on it with gunfire from your newly acquired Gatling gun? Why not? Because it makes no fucking sense – that’s why not. There’s a section later on which requires Carnby to cross a precipice. There is a safe path to walk above the ether but the path isn’t explained, nor is Carnby’s ability to play Jesus touched on. The best approach then, is to step safely, and save, step safely and save. Good times. Strangeness is an Alone hallmark, but the strangeness was always rooted in some tenuous strand of logic befitting the game's world. Not so here.
Alone 3 tries to blend the first game’s unparalleled approach to otherworldly detective work, with the second game’s more lighthearted but equally smart MacGyver-esque sleuthing (and jacked-up combat), in order to arrive at a happy medium. To the credit of the developers, the mixture does reach a medium, but it’s not happy.
We’ve established that the puzzles are poorly thought out and introduced, which makes detective work an exercise in "try anything in your inventory, and failing that, look for a walkthrough online." Fortunately, the combat part of the equation fares much better. Alone 1 purists who struggled with the sequel’s hard ass arcade-y shootouts (disadvantageous camera angles didn't help) won’t be similarly alienated here, because Infogrames have introduced adjustable difficulty levels.
The gesture is appreciated, and Carnby duking and shooting it out in the Wild West had the potential to be a winning concept, but it’s difficult to get away from the taint of the puzzles; they almost completely ruin the experience. As it stands, you likely will turn to a walkthrough if you feel that the adventure is one worth seeing through to the end – and you really shouldn't, because it isn’t. Without the smart problem solving bits to temper the running around and shooting, Alone is reduced to a fairly pedestrian action game with haunting music and extremely odd scenarios (Carnby reincarnated as a cougar? Check).
Alone 3 might have fared a mite better were this my only beef. But it’s not: the relentless dark makes all the areas look the same when they're really not. Just because we’re playing a game called alone in the dark does not mean the developers were forced to stick with a palette almost exclusively made up of shades of indigo. And even when Alone 3’s puzzles are clever, there's enough of Carnby's insistent "I'm not in the right place!" when he clearly appears to be, to make you second guess a brilliant solution. The game is lacking in Alone’s inimitably dreadful atmosphere and Alone 2’s cleverness and remarkable soundtrack. If this, by some stroke of misfortune is your first Alone in the Dark game, journey back to the beginning instead; despite their intention to bring it all together here, this is where Infogrames lost their way.
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More Reviews by Marc Golding [+]
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