| Welcome to Dreamcast Magic |
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| Note: these pictures are in low resolution and the game looks much better on a TV. |
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| Story: 8/10 Charles Fiske, a friend of Edward, is found dead near the mysterious Shadow Island (zero points for the name, but we�ll let that slip). Edward�s investigations lead him to Fredrick Johnson, who reveals that Fiske was looking for three stone tablets with inscriptions never before deciphered. Johnson asks Edward to continue with the investigation, and sends along a young translator named Aline Cedrac to help. During their flight to Shadow Island, �something� attacks the plane and forces Edward and Aline to parachute to safety. Edward lands in the depths of a woodland area, while Aline injures herself landing on the roof of a mansion. That�s where your adventure starts� the storyline remains the same no matter which character you play as, and crosses over along the way via meetings and conversations with the other character. Graphics: 10/10 It may have started life as a PlayStation game, but the graphics in this game rival those ever seen as the most realistic. Each character is made of about 2,000 polygons, giving them an amazingly realistic look. The two heroes have around 300 animations each, which blend together easily to make swift fluid actions. The backgrounds are pre-rendered, unlike Resident Evil: Code Veronicas� real-time locations. The characters are textured so realistically and the backgrounds are high-resolution and full of color, the two blend together almost seamlessly. The lighting effects are the key to the game. You really get into the game when you are walking around with your flashlight on when you see the light from you flashlight reflects off mirrors, cast shadows on walls and even show shadows of objects like chairs move as you do and it can really creep you out. Also added is a set camera view so there are no problems with the camera ever, but you may get confused from this because the controls don't change with the view, which similar to like Resident Evil. Controls: 8/10 The controls aren�t bad at all, just awkward to someone new to these types of games. If you are a fan of Resident Evil then you shouldn't be bothered by the controls, but if you're a first time player, then you need to get used to the way the game is first. The controls are very responsive and were well done. What people first starting off find it confusing is when the camera changes the controls don't to match to view so pushing up is always going forward, but after sometime you'll see this is a good thing. Music: 8/10 The introduction movie (where Edward prepares for his flight) has some classic-style horror music, but the majority of the game has some well-suiting action beats, like something from The Matrix. Although, the actual amount of music is little, as most of the areas have an atmosphere made up of slight sounds, making for a spookier atmosphere. Sound: 9/10 The noises you hear hint to bad things to come, and some are so random that they scare the crap of you. Speech and sound effects are also done well. For one a survival horror game with good voice-overs, thank god! Every conversation from the mad antagonist's to the protagonists is clear and can be understood with ease. The effects from wading in the water and firing a gun are clear, even the ''click'' of the flashlight as they are turned on and off are perfect. The sound does a great job trying to instill fear into your subconscious. Gameplay: 9/10 Going from room to room in the scary mansion can be, well just terrifying. As you search for clues you are faced with countless horrors of monsters and other such creatures. This game is scary but you�ll have so fun playing it! Saving is worth noteing; to save you have to use items called Charms of Saving which you use when you want to save your game. You can run out of these, however, and it�s the most frustrating thing to want to save but find out you have no more. The only way to get more is too find them, however as long as you don�t save none stop you�ll have plenty of extras in-case real life calls. Unlike Resident Evil, you can save wherever you want. No more of that terrible "typewriter-only" bs. Unlike Resident Evil it also features AITD for holding an unlimited number of items! So no worry about picking which item you should drop. This game is scary to play but it�s so fun! Just simple go up to the chest like storage unit that is scattered around the game and grab what you need. Replay Value: 7/10 Like most horror games, there isn't much replay value, which just comes with the type of game. But actually effort was put into making it have more replay value by adding to different plot lines with 2 different characters. After you beat the game with the first, you can go back with the second to try to beat it in a different fashion. Adding this showed major effort and is unheard of and cool seeing the game from a different view. Also should be mentioned this game is 2 disks and quite longer then any survival horror. Overall: 9/10 This game is the best survival horror game out for the Dreamcast with its top of the line graphics, sound and plot this game is a sure fire path to hours of Dreamcast fun and terror! History: -In its European release it was titled Alone in the Dark 4 |
| while these pictures all look like CG movies pictures for the game, none of them are they are all in game pictures! |
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