Alone In The Dark: Inferno - PS3 review

26 November 2008 12:00 GMT / By Chris Pickering

If you look back at our review of the Xbox 360 version of this latest in the long running Alone In The Dark series, we were heavily critical of the irritating camera system, horrible driving sections, and a pretty dull and tedious gaming experience.

Well for this delayed PS3 version - now with "Inferno" tagged on to the end of the title adorning the game box - developer Eden Games promised to look at all the criticism levelled by the gaming press and gamers alike and tweak. Hopefully until they could sit back and look upon a game worthy of the Alone In The Dark name.

The biggest change is to the much maligned camera system. Before, a tweak of the right stick would only cause your character to glance slightly in your chosen direction, still giving enemies ample opportunity to sneak up on your blind side.

Now it works just like every other third person title out there, allowing you to spin, tweak, and manipulate the camera to see exactly what you want, when you want. For those who failed to play the original this may not sound too special a change, but for those incredibly frustrated by the misguided original, it’s a change akin to adding brown sauce to a bacon sandwich after trying mayonnaise.

Another huge minus that’s been changed is to the aforementioned horrific driving sequence. Before, it completely lacked any kind of checkpoint system, meaning just one wrong move would dump you right back at the start. And when that happens for the thirtieth time, even the most placid of individuals would be tugging at their hair.

Not only has Eden added checkpoints meaning failure would only punish you with a small drop back, but the handling system has seen a vast change. Out goes the spongy system which made it practically impossible to avoid all the debris just waiting to ruin your day, and in comes something that, though not exactly of a high quality, certainly helps to keep you stuck firmly to the road.

As great as all these changes are - and if you crazily enjoyed the 360 original, you’ll find this one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences of all time - it still fails to hide the fact that there are still more than enough flaws to keep this from taking on the likes of the recent Siren re-make.

Scares are still at a premium, with only the most timid of individuals finding cause to switch the PS3 off due to pant wetting. The story is still packed with completely ridiculous writing, nudging the enjoyment factor ever lower. And the fire obsessed fighting system is still as frustrating as ever.

Verdict

You’ve got to commend the development team for obviously looking at all the criticism levelled at the Xbox 360 original, and going back to tweak and change to the nth degree.

But this latest in the Alone In The Dark series still suffers from enough flaws and drawbacks to prevent it from being too heartily recommended.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Atari
Price as reviewed: £39.99
The good: Much improved over the 360 version, completely changed camera system, vastly tweaked driving sections
The bad: Still lacks real scares, most puzzles still irritating and lacking in inspiration
Quick verdict: Hugely improved from the Xbox 360 original, but still lacks the kind of quality to nudge it anywhere near to must-buy status
Score