For those of you entirely unfamiliar with the earlier release of Alone in the Dark, the game follows a paranormal investigator named Edward Carnby who wakes up in the middle of what is immediately clear to be a "bad situation." His memories are gone, he's being held captive by what appear to be gun-wielding criminals and -- perhaps most importantly -- all Hell is breaking loose in New York City and Edward is the only man that can stop it. The rugged protagonist soon finds himself struggling to survive in a city being torn apart by hellish forces as he attempts to piece together his past, with the help of bewildered art dealer Sarah and the enigmatic scholar Theophile Paddington. Everything revolves around a mysterious stone that seems to be the source of the madness that has the city in chaos.
I'll be the first to admit that the story has a few problems and certain sections of dialogue are lacking, but for some (perhaps miraculous?) reason, I took to Edward Carnby and his ridiculous, oddly-timed curses. Upon playing through Inferno, I realized how much potential occult tales have and there's definitely a chilling charm to Inferno that coaxes you into playing. I love the apocalyptic setting of the game and some of the later thematic elements -- while perhaps not fully explored -- definitely captured my interest and enhanced the experience as a whole.
Inferno is basically an adventure game with horror elements. You play as Carnby and guide him along through both first and third-person perspectives. Inferno has a number of different gameplay elements, including a light amount of platforming, some combat and a handful of fairly creative puzzles. Driving sections, inventory management and cryptic cutscenes are also present in full force, so there's a little pinch of everything here.
Inferno definitely boasts a number of improvements over its earlier console counterparts. Controls have been highly refined to give players a better handle on Edward and full camera control has been granted to the right stick. In fact, the camera is pulled further back to give players a better view of the action. The most obvious change is Edward's movement, which is now an analog system on the left stick, as opposed to having to hold down a button to run. Furthermore, he doesn't move like a tank which is a huge help, and the driving segments are also now tolerable (though still not perfect).
One of the most prominent features of Alone in the Dark was the item creation, and that's still the case with Inferno. However, inventory management is much more accessible. Players can now more easily scroll through items and combining different items together doesn't have to happen in a particular order. Certain in-game action is also paused while Edward looks down into his jacket for items, which makes equipping your weapons much easier.
I should point out that the original version of Alone in the Dark offered shortcuts that many players were unaware of, so those return here in Inferno. This lets you bypass manual item creation completely in favor of quickly snagging the combinations you need, which helps out in a pinch. Alternatively, you can simply cycle through different items while playing with the L2 and R2 triggers.
One of the biggest criticisms leveled at the earlier versions of Alone in the Dark was the burning of the evil roots, which happens very late in the game. In order to advance to the ending, Edward was suddenly tasked with backtracking all the way through the park and burning a ridiculous number of evil tree roots that would grant him spectral powers -- powers necessary for completing the game. This monotonous and oh-so-sudden task was lamentable and fortunately its structure has been seriously tweaked for the PS3 version. Players are now filled in on the task earlier and even guided to destroy some of the roots throughout the game's middle sections, making the end much more reasonable.
Besides that, I was quite fond of the adventure aspects of Inferno and how many of the interactive moments are told through first-person. For example, when getting into a car, you're brought into first-person so you can peruse the glove compartment, switch on the lights and -- of course -- hotwire the engine. It can be a bit on the clunky side but I'm quite fond of games that take advantage of narrative-based gameplay as told through the characters' eyes, like Half-Life and the recently released Mirrors Edge.
Unfortunately, using both first and third-person is where one of my first complaints comes into play. You can still only perform melee attacks through third-person and handle your pistol (tragically, the game's only gun) in first-person. There were numerous times when I wanted to run-and-gun in third-person but was unable to do so due to this restriction, so it's a shame that issue is still present.
Some of the platforming elements can also be awkward at best and the camera can get jerky on occasion. And as fond as I was of the item creation idea, it seemed like there were few efficient ways of eliminating the "Humanz," the zombie-like enemies that wander Central park. I thought that using fire bullets would be the best bet, considering how you can attack with them rapidly and from great distances, but the only way to kill a Humanz is with fire and -- in the case of bullets -- hitting them directly in their Fissures, the scar-like markings running across their bodies. Inferno just isn't accurate enough as a first-person shooter to make this an enjoyable option. I consider myself to be a fairly good shot when it comes to an FPS, but I was having some serious trouble hitting those weak points.
And even though tweaks were made to the aforementioned root burning, I still couldn't help but feel that wandering the drab, dark stretches of Central Park was snooze-worthy and lacked the same energy that the other sections possessed. I found the game's last area to be especially intriguing in comparison, given the context.
Verdict
Yes, Inferno still has some glitches to its name (it crashed on me twice) and the gameplay could have been further refined, but there's no question that the PS3 version is a major improvement over the originals and offers a much more enjoyable experience. Despite all it's problems, I can really see what the developers at Eden Games were going for when they set out to make Alone in the Dark, and I find many of their efforts both admirable and intriguing. If you feel like you can work through some of the remaining gameplay issues and a few plot holes, I think Inferno is an adventure game that gamers can appreciate. At the very least, you can more clearly see what the overarching vision for Alone in the Dark was while enjoying the game's super cool soundtrack.
