Product Description

Central Park is hiding a secret. Built as a safe haven not only for the people of New York, but for something else entirely. The vast parkland has been protected by generations of guardians while the most expensive city in the world reached skyward on its fringes. Now the truth can no longer be contained, and paranormal investigator Edward Carnby finds himself inexplicably cast into the eye of the storm as over the course of one apocalyptic night he must uncover the earth-shattering secret behind Central Park. New York will never be the same again.

• Central Park - One of the worlds most iconic and best loved urban landmarks has been accurately reproduced using satellite data and thousands of photographs
• Captivating Story - The story reveals the conspiracy behind Central Park and challenges beliefs on the afterlife based on ideas and theories drawn from real-world spiritual philosophies
• Narrative Intensity - Taking cues from blockbuster TV drama's, the story is told in a TV season-style narrative structure to deliver maximum intensity throughout, keeping the player hooked
• Real-World Rules - Revolutionary technology brings a new level of environmental interaction to the gameplay where anything you could do is real-life, you can do in the game
• Immersion - The player is plunged into the heart of the action in real-time with full movement control, in-game inventory system, on-body damage and healing system, and physiological effects
• Photographic Rendering - Edens proprietary Twilight technology and rendering engine create a lavishly detailed game world with highly realistic and advanced cinematographic effects including depth of field, camera focus, numerous light sources, moisture, reflections and high dynamic range effects.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7595 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Atari
• Released on: 2008-06-20
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
• Subtitled in: English
• Dimensions: .55" h x 5.32" w x 7.48" l, .31 pounds

Amazon.co.uk
There’s something strange and frightening happening in the middle of New York City’s Central Park; something whispered to have been intentionally kept secret; something that players are compelled to explore in Alone in the Dark.

Known today as a safe haven for New Yorkers yearning for relief from the stresses of their chaotic metropolis, history records that Central Park was built on a useless swamp, yet as the New York City skyline hurtled towards the sky over the last 150 years, making the city the most expensive real estate in the world, the park has remained untouched. Why? Civic pride? Perhaps, but the recent strange happenings in and around the park are casting doubt on that, doubts that require investigating.

The return of an iconic series

Paranormal PI Edward Carnby. .

Stunningly spooky views of NYC. .

The odd wildlife of Central Park. .

A whole new inventory system. .

Enter Edward Carnby, Paranormal Investigator
Despite the title, Alone in the Dark is actually the fifth game in a series that dates back to 1992 and centers around the experiences of Edward "the reptile" Carnby. A paranormal investigator by trade, Carnby is looking for answers to the strange events and horrific creatures reported in and around the park, but gets more than he bargained for when all the mysteries and terrors of the park spill out over the course of one apocalyptic night. It’s the player’s task to avoid the new frightening dangers of the park as you search for the answers to what these supernatural occurrences mean and why they are happening.

Gameplay Based on Full Player Immersion
Packed full of action and vivid in its realism Alone in the Dark goes to the extreme to keep players engaged and immersed by plunging them into the heart of the action in real-time at every turn and challenging them to survive using full movement control. The goal here is to allow players to do or at least feel that they can do more or less whatever is possible in real life, within the game.

Need to avoid a blast of steam or an eruption of fire that has shot up in your path? You can simply side-step it or you can handle the obstacle with a little more panache by using the environment around you, for example by swinging around it using reachable pipes or wires. In another situation you may be challenged by attacking monsters. No problem. You can take the path of least resistance, again by side-stepping them or placing an obstacle between yourself and them, but if you are feeling like taking out a little aggression you can pick up a board, chair, box, etc. and have at it. Nearly anything that you come across that would be usable in real life is usable in game and can be wielded in several different ways.

In addition, game developer Eden Studios has done away with a few in-game conventions in favour of real life upgrades. Instead of old-fashioned health bars Alone in the Dark uses realistic body damage and physiological effects to show players how much damage has been done to Carnby by the new dangerous nightlife of Central Park. Basically this means if Carnby has been taking a licking he’s going to be a little bloody. Monsters use sensory perception of all kinds to find their victims, so players need to keep aware of Carnby’s physical state, as well as the impact he has on his surroundings. Also gone are traditional inventory systems that take players out of the game while you switch or check items in your possession, replaced by an in-game inventory system where items are carried in the folds of Carnby’s trench coat. This allows you to stay in the action the whole time. Sticking with the realism theme, the number of items that Carnby can carry is limited, but since ingenuity is built into the system, items can be combined or their uses altered, mostly with tape, so players can adjust as challenges arise.

TV Style Intensity That Keeps You Hooked
Built around a unique television style episodic narrative game structure, the storyline of Alone in the Dark is split into a number of distinct 30-40 minute episodes, doled out one at a time as you play. This new way to progress through the storyline ensures that players can enjoy the game regardless of the amount of time they have available without ever feeling lost. Each time a saved game is launched, the episode will begin with a video summary of the previous episode to quickly re-immerse the player in the story, removing the need to remember where you were or what you were doing at the end of your last play session. In addition, every episode will also close with a nail-biting, cliff-hanger ending to rattle players’ nerves. And when you choose to leave the game, a video teaser of the next episode will play to leave players always wanting more.

Vivid Photographic Rendering
Even on a bad day, and this will be a bad one, Central Park and New York City are something to see. With Game developer Eden’s proprietary Twilight technology and rendering engine, players can expect to see everything from the City’s famous landmarks to the manifestations of the evil that have been festering in Central Park come to life as if you were there. This lavishly detailed game world takes advantage of highly realistic and advanced cinematographic effects including depth of field, camera focus, numerous light sources, moisture, reflections and High Dynamic Range effects.

Whether it’s the innovative game play, the unique episodic game structure, the advanced physics or the return of a ground-breaking protagonist recast in the modern era, Alone in the Dark holds something for players willing to take on the mysteries and dangers at the heart of Central Park.

Manufacturer's Description
Central Park is hiding a secret. Built as a safe haven not only for the people of New York, but for something else entirely. The vast parkland has been protected by generations of guardians while the most expensive city in the world reached skyward on its fringes. Now the truth can no longer be contained, and paranormal investigator Edward Carnby finds himself inexplicably cast into the eye of the storm as over the course of one apocalyptic night he must uncover the earth-shattering secret behind Central Park. New York will never be the same again.

Customer Reviews

A poor man's "survival horror"....
I really wanted to like this game,being a big fan of the genre,but it is yet another shambolic and unacceptable version of a game clearly designed with only the console market in mind.In fact it's pretty much unplayable on the PC due to the Xbox 360 oriented controls.You can change them in the game,but this is not only awkward to do,but rather pointless as it doesn't make an iota of difference to the gameplay,which can,at best,be only described as last generation.It makes little or no attempt to utilise a mouse/keyboard control system and as for the first time you end up in a car(which takes forever to get started),the way the camera sticks and jerks around while you try to see where you're going will have you reaching for the reset button on your tower.The "enemies" are nothing we haven't seen before either and the whole premise of combat is hit and miss and totally random.Also the way you manage items in your inventory is the most long-winded and cumbersome method i've ever had the misfortune to come across.The gameplay is nothing more than a mish-mash of several other games and consequently has a disjointed and unfinished feel to it.The 1st person mode is fairly superfluous,as you can't "fight" whilst in it,you can only shoot.As none of the enemies can be killed using only gunfire this is rendered fairly meaningless.

Resident Evil 4 successfully reinvented what was becoming a somewhat predictable franchise/genre and injected a much needed new lease of life.Silent Hill Homecoming may yet do the same for that particlar franchise.Unfortunately,anyone who thought this latest iteration would do likewise for the Alone in the Dark series will be bitterly disappointed.And shame on Atari for releasing it on this platform in this state.Avoid.

A fundamentally flawed game
As a long time 'AITD' fan (I played through the first three games several times, all those years ago) I was hoping that this resurrection would banish the memory of 'The New Nightmare'. Sadly it was not to be.

Firstly, the good points. The game is very atmospheric, and has some fresh ideas. The story seems like it could be a good modern-day romp through a Lovecraftian nightmare, with enough hideous monsterness that old H.P. himself would have smiled. I was doubtful of the 'episodic' nature, seeing it as not much more than a gimmick. However, it does seem to work fairly well. The game designers really have tried to make the player a part of an adventure, as opposed to merely controlling an on-screen character.

Which brings us to the bad points.

This game is NOT designed to work correctly on the PC. It has button commands designed for an Xbox controller, and does not run well with a keyboard & mouse combination. The action switches between first- and third-person perspectives, and third-person is catastrophically flawed. Even simple tasks, such as navigating through the levels, is tricky in third-person perspective as the character movement is slow and clumsy. First-person is much easier to use than third-person. However, the game determines for you when you can and can't use the first-person view.

This leads us to the very heart of the problem, the reason why this game is so broken as to be unplayable. You cannot fight whilst in first-person mode, which means that a successful outcome is down to luck rather than skill or judgement. I've played through the very first fight about 10 times to make sure of this. You either end up landing multiple blows on the enemy, which makes it ridiculously easy, or you can't actually fight at all, which makes the game impossible.

Other minus points - whilst the story seems like it might be interesting, some of the scripting and acting is awful. The scene where Carnby first meets his female assistant is so clichéd it actually made me cringe.

So to sum up: a game that console users may like but which has such with such a fundamental flaw in the control system that it's probably unplayable on the PC, especially when the enemies get harder. The fact that Atari (who are in deep financial do-do) have threatened to sue websites and magazines which give the game negative reviews tells you all you need to know, really.

Another poor console port.
This game is spooky with great atmospheric graphics, then the intro finishes and you're tumbled into a poor console conversion. Never mind that it doesn't work well with mouse and keyboard - it doesn't even work that well with a gamepad.

A patch could probably save this game because it does a lot right but like the original Gothic RPG you're going to have to learn to love it despite the control scheme.