Be Excellent To Each Other

Hey all,

I've been playing this over the past couple of days and thought I'd share my views so far. I've played through most of the game (up to the start of the final chapter) and must say it's one of the more intriguing, frustrating, innovative and flawed games I've come across in a while. Oh, and while I've kept the spoilers to a minimum, and haven't revealed any plot points, I have described the gameplay a little.

The Good...

Although ostensibly a survival horror, this really exaggerates the 'survival' at the expense of the horror. There's quite a 'unique' control system that focusses on interacting with your environment, from using fire extinguishers to batter down locked doors, to shooting wall brackets to release cables that you can then climb up. None of the ideas are completely novel, but they combine well to give you a feeling of a real place rather than just a series of levels.

Speaking of which, Central Park seems beautifully realised. I've never seen the real thing, but I had no problem suspending my disbelief.

Also great is the notion that many enemies can only be killed with fire. While you do have a gun, it's only really useful for weaker enemies and as a tool. So to actually kill the humanoid enemies you have to burn them. You can go for the simple but brutal option (hold a branch in the fire until it catches alight then pound them with it), make molotov cocktails or be a little more creative. For example, you could get a drink from a vending machine, keep the empty plastic bottle, use your knife to puncture a parked car's petrol tank to fill the bottle, combine it with some sticky tape, throw it at the ground at a point where your target is wandering then shoot it as he walks by...

All this is done in real time, BTW. If you're under attack, you can't just break off the fight to improvise a molotov cocktail. Healing, too, is handled well. Minor scrapes can be dealt with by a first-aid spray (in real time), and aren't particularly troublesome, although enough will kill you. Major wounds (like being twatted into a lamp-post by an 8-foot tall zombie) trigger a timer which counts down as you lose blood. Only bandaging your wounds will save you, and this takes time. And bandages.

Which brings me on to inventory management. You can only carry what will fit inside your jacket, and while the space inside suggests that our hero stripped it off some unsuspecting tubby bystander it's still pretty limited. You can't just load up on molotovs and march into battle. This neatly prevents the earlier Resident Evil games' situation where you start being highly vulnerable, making every shot count and thinking 'do I really need to kill that zombie' and end the game with enough firepower to take down a small army, idly blasting zombies and monsters alike.

The Bad...

Some parts of the game are among the worst designed I've ever encoutered. The game is divided into 'chapters', and the first chapter ends with you driving away from a big scary monster through the streets of New York. Firstly, the driving engine isn't bad, but it's not really up to the job. Secondly, there are some mind-bogglingly stupid situations on the drive where it's not clear at all what you need to do to survive, and only one choice will let you survive. And most importantly, there are no checkpoints. None at all. Death can come at any time (including through random occurrences, like bouncing when landing and another car swerving into you), and you have to restart. It's only about five minutes in total, but it took me forty-six attempts to get through. Forty-fucking-six. You might be luckier than I, but sadly that's what it comes down to. Luck.

This isn't the only such segment - there are others, but it's by far the worst. There are a small handful of sections where random death stalks...well...randomly. They might be short, but they'll have you experiencing a nigh-orgasmic thrill at the thought of finding whichever sadistic bastard dropped these sequences into your game, getting his testicles in a vide and crushing them to smooth pate.

Finally, near the end there's a free-roaming segment which has you running around the park destroying certain things. It's fun, but there's far too much of it. It's a fairly blatant attempt at lengthening what would otherwise be a fairly short game. While it does challenge you to put into practice what you've learned in the game, it does dramatically restrict your ability to create fire - while a little of this would be pleasantly challenging, too much of it leaves you running/driving around, unable to proceed until you've found something you can use to burn the damn targets.


The Ugly...

Maybe I'm wrong, but I strongly suspect this was rushed onto the shelves. It feels...well...rough as hell. The control system is unwieldy at points, there are more than a few bugs lurking and (in the free-roaming sections) if you save the game then load you may well find yourself halfway across the park with several angry monsters nearby. And possibly with half your items missing.

The plot is interesting but incoherent. The characters are poorly-defined, acting as the situation demands rather than staying true to any notion of 'character'. To be honest, I'm fairly indifferent as to how the story ends at this point.

It's not frightening. All the ingredients are there...human frailty, limited resources, deadly enemies; but somehow it just doesn't 'click'. As opposed to the Project Zero or Forbidden Siren games (which could have the average special forces trooper scurrying from the room in search of a change of underwear) you never feel particularly frightened. The monsters just don't inspire fear in the way that some other games' foes do.

It also has little to do with the earlier games. The first game is pretty much the originator of the survival horror genre (yes, yes I know there were others before it like Sweet Home, but it's the first one most of us can think of), and despite its faults it was a unique game with a wonderful atmosphere. Although there is an attempt to tie in the narrative of the early games, narratively it has farmore in common with the (urgh) fourth game or (shudder) the movie. This is nether good not bad...but if you're expecting this to be the early games remade with modern technology you'll be disappointed.


So there we have it. I can't quite decide whether I like it or not. The game occasionally delights and enchants...then beats you about the head with shoddily designed sequences and bugs. It hasn't stopped me from enjoying it, and I do feel that an attempt to try something new and step beyond genre boundaries should be rewarded. Also, were I marking it out of ten, it would get an extra point for actually letting you shoot the locks off doors or blow them up to get through, rather than having to constantly search for fucking keys. Picture the scenario - burly special forces agent rampaging through the enemy base, carrying enough weaponry to blow up Ireland comes screeching to a halt and radios in... 'Damn'...'What is it Johnson?'...'It's a rusty gate with a tiny lock. No way in hell am I getting through there'...'Those unmitigated bastards. Better just call the mission off then'.

Sorry. Oh yes...Alone in the Dark. To steal Plissken's wonderful comment:



I love it...but it just won't stop beating me...

So - buy it, or don't buy it?

What happened to this Beexy site?

Play it, definitely.

If you're unforgiving then this game will infuriate you. I'm generally fairly tolerant of a game's faults if the overall experience is good but this game led me to almost stop playing and go trade it in on a few occasions. If you don't mind slogging through some shoddily designed parts, knowing there's something better around the corner then it's probably worth checking out. I've heard a lot of comments comparing the 'experience' with Stalker on the PC. I haven't played Stalker, but I get the feeling that they've got a lot in common.

It tends to score around 7 in reviews, which seems about right. To be honest, the game is a mix of bits that would score 4 or 5 and bits that would score 9.

Oh - the game does allow you to skip forward (if you're having a particularly tough time), but you might miss some story. I've not done it yet but some people seem to think it's the way forward.

As to whether or not to buy it...all I can do is share my opinions. The forums on gamefaqs.com are usually a fair mix of opinion, viral marketing attempts and trolling, but could possibly fill in some gaps in my ramblings.

It's coming.

Keep watching.

Hey Darth Judo! I miss your avatar from WoS. And your words and stuff, but y'know, I remember avatars foremost

I have this game, and look forward to playing and being annoyed by it later. From what I've heard, your review seems pretty accurate.

I am enjoying the trend of large, interesting game reviews that are appearing on this site.

Please continue.

There's loads that you just can't see yet. Hurry up, Gaywood! *shakes fist impotently*

I was really looking forward to this, partly for being AITD and partly for being by Eden "Test drive Unlimited" Games so I'll likely give it a chance.

In fact, picked it up on release day, since it was 'only' £34; not played it due to moving. Tch.

I'm a SubEd, so I can see the review forum.

Oh yeah, never mind then. I think I'll be giving AITD a go at some point.

The 'Reviews' sub-forum of General Discussion? Er, everyone can see it, y'know... Or at least, I can, and I'm nobody.

I think there's more to it than meets the eye though.

It says in the forum that you can only see your own reviews in the forum... but the SubEds can see all of the reviews.

Is this not the case any more?

Probably some residual of the fact that you used to be somebody. Can you test now?

As can myop as he's a mod. Want to help load the site rather than just whine about it?

I'd be more than ahppy to help out, as long as it doesn't involve anything more than basic knowledge of internets.

But there's much fist-shaking to be had!

You know I'm only joking anyway. I'm quite happy to load some articles once you show me how.

I can still see the Reviews forum, and not just my posts, probly cos I used to be a contenda, I coulda been somebody* If this is fixed, could you make me a SubEd or whatever, plz? I'm seriously intending to try and 'do' all of my Dreamcast games.

* I have never, ever wanted to mod a serious forum.

In the medium term I'd suggest that reviews are entered directly into the site, and not bounced through the forum. It only makes extra work.

that fucking driving section...

jesus.

First dinosaurs, now cars.. whatever next?

Jesus, alone in the dark red cavalier

Yes. I've just done the driving section.
If ever the Rick Dangerous Remake gets off the ground - these are the chaps to do it.


Hnnng.

I'm nearly at the end now and I've really grown to like the game. A few issues for sure but I'm liking the combat and (most of) the puzzles, so I can't complain. It's very traditional survival horror fare really.

You can skip sections of the game at will can't you? Could you concievely skip all the way to the end?

Because once it hits the bargain bin I'm all over this game. Hell if I was rich enough to by full price games I would probably get it, because although it seems massively flawed it seems to be doing enough interesting things to warrent a play through.

You can indeed skip though it - seemingly at will.

Somehow though ... it just seems like cheating.

Well obviously, but I would rather skip a block that give up the game altogether.

I really believe all games should have them. Just because The Ususal Suspects DVD had chapter selection doesn't mean everyone watched the last chapter first.

Oh, yes, I agree - and I think including such a thing is a fine idea.

I'd just hesitate to use it myself.

Great game. Play.

Wasn't there a film of this, though?

It's probably best to pretend there wasn't.

What, a film based on a videogame? What on earth could go wrong?

FTFY

Edit - This kind of implies that I think there are good films based on videogames, but I'm not sure what they are (although the first Mortal Kombat was ok, and the Resident Evil films (the first two anyway) are watchable).

I really liked Sillent Hill movie. Yes, the dialogues were crap but Pyramid head was there and that scene is awesome, so is the fact that Sean Bean's characters has a Portuguese name

I forgot about Silent Hill, that was pretty good. I haven't played the games that much so I didn't feel obliged to spend the whole film moaning about what it was doing wrong story-wise.

there was nothing wrong about the story (and i only played a bit of 2 and three), its just that the dialogues weren't good. But the atmosphere was really spot on.

I really, really liked Silent Hill - the movie. One of the few horrors I've found interesting or scary, ever. Loved the Pyramid Head scene*, and... yeah, the atmosphere. The sirens. The baddie being the Borg Queen from Star Trek - First Contact. Don't even play the games, but liked it enough to buy on DVD.

* the symbolism of who he is, what he represents, and that scene - cor. It makes me want to play the games themselves, 'cept I'm a wuss with scary games.

I made it through the first game, but I was too crap at the second to get anywhere. I can play the Resident Evil games with their "ha, you weren't expecting that, were you?" type scares, but having to walk around in Silent Hill and voluntarily subject myself to its horrors was more than I was willing to persist with, they're not really scary, they're just downright creepy. Akira Yamaoka wrote some really disturbing tracks for the games as well.

Here is the intro for Silent Hill 4, fuck that.

I still maintain the first Resident Evil is a genuinely good movie.

I think he's waiting for me, but then I'm waiting for Craster and Devilman to do stuff too!

Are the reviews ready to go on the site? If so I can put them up this week, just wasn't sure if they were ready and just being dumped into their own section or put on gradually so they each had their own front page mention?

Anyway, time this got sorted I think!

*cracks whip*

Well, all right-minded people would, as it is.

There's not anyone who disagrees, surely?

S'alright. Better than Alien Vs Predator. Couldn't take more than about 10 minutes of the first sequel though, or be arsed with t'other.

They definitely decrease in quality, the 3rd one is pretty unmemorable.

I quite liked AvP, and will be acquiring AvP2.

I really liked RE2. Admittedly a large amount of that is due to...



Oh, and Silent Hill was great. Sean Bean didn't die, though, thus breaking a trend.

I have just remembered the scene in RE2 where Milla Jovavich comes flying through some church windows on a motorbike. You should avoid this film if you feel that will offend you (or make you laugh so much you can't watch the rest of the film).

I love the first three Alien films way, way too much to like AvP. Same with the sodding awful Alien Resurrection.

Oh come on, Alien Resurrection was worth it entirely for the Lee and Herring piss take of the ending.

Aye me too, but if it has amazing bits sandwiched between horrendous mistakes like the car chase I keep hearing about, then it's nice to know you could skip them.

i kinda liked AvP. On the other hand, i hated alien 3. Stupid CGI spolied the movie.