Alone in the Dark 2(EU)

Overview

• Full Name: Alone in the Dark 2
• Code:
• Type: Survival horror
• Developer: I-Motion, Krisalis Software
• Publisher: Infogrames
• Language: English, French
• Release Date: August 3, 1994
• Region: FR
• Barcode: 3 329720 009399
• Local Title:
• Rarity: 1
• Notes: I can't find any evidence of a pan European release, the French version just seems to be a repackaged version of the US as it seems to be NTSC (Letterbox in PAL)

Summary

Alone in the Dark 2 is the second instalment of the Alone in the Dark Series.

Gameplay

The original game's horror theme has been significantly de-emphasized in the sequel. While there are some supernatural goings-on (Voodoo black magic), the main villains are gangsters and pirates. While the enemies are revealed to be possessed by evil spirits, and are green and zombie-like in appearance, they are far from the shambling walking corpses of the first game, and walk, talk, and behave much like ordinary people, arming themselves with guns and shooting at the player. The player can pick up weapons on the way with firearms such as the Revolver equipped at the start of the game, Shotguns, Tommy guns, a Derringer pistol, Flintlock pistols and melee weapons such as Swords. The game world is larger than that of the original, encompassing not only a mansion, but also the surrounding gardens as well as a pirate ship hidden in caverns beneath the house; however, unlike the first game, with the exception of the main house, its locations may only be explored in a strictly linear sequence, a pattern that would continue in later sequels.

Although much of the game is spent playing as Carnby, the player will occasionally take control of Grace Saunders. Grace, a child, cannot fight and is instantly captured if the gangsters spot her, so instead she must sneak around and defeat the gangsters by turning common household objects into booby traps.

Plot

It is Christmas of 1924, three months after Alone in the Dark. "Supernatural Private Eye" Edward Carnby and his partner Ted Stryker are investigating the kidnapping of young Grace Saunders. The trail of clues leads to an old mansion named "Hell's Kitchen" - the home of an infamous gangster boss and his gang. Edward decides to pick up the trail when he learns of Ted's disappearance in the mansion. Unfortunately, Edward soon finds out that Ted has been murdered.

Carnby eventually finds out that the mobsters are the corporeal forms of the spirits of pirates that plundered the sea hundreds of years ago, the lot having sold their souls in exchange for eternal life through voodoo magic. Fighting his way into the house and ultimately onto a pirate ship hidden in the cliff on which Jack's house is built, Edward must survive, discover the secret of the pirates' apparent immortality, rescue little Grace, and find out why the pirates are so interested in her.

Development and Release

In 1989, Frédérick Raynal, a staff programmer at Infogrames, was assigned to port the early 3D game Alpha Waves. Working on the game inspired him to begin programming a tool for the creation and animation of 3D characters, with help from Franck De Girolami. In 1991, Infogrames CEO Bruno Bonnell proposed a game in which the player would use matches to gain snapshot views of an otherwise completely dark environment. An aficionado of horror films such as Dawn of the Dead, Raynal saw in this proposal the opportunity to create a horror-based game, and was given permission to lead the project.

The game's working titles included In the Dark and Scream in the Dark (or Screams in the Dark). Following Raynal's basic vision for the game, Infogrames artistic director Didier Chanfray rendered a series of concept sketches using white chalk on black Canson paper. These sketches were used for an internal contest to pick the game's graphic artist, Yaël Barroz. By this time Raynal already had decided that the game would make use of text to convey the backstory, as he felt computer graphics at the time were not advanced enough to be frightening on their own. He had also determined the game's setting: A 1920s manor. I wanted a big enough house, where you would start in the attic so that you could completely explore it before finding the way out. The turn of the century allowed for weapons while avoiding the modern commodities that were too difficult to properly handle: electricity, for instance, would have caused atmosphere and consistency problems.

Initially he planned to create the game's backgrounds using scanned photos of an actual mansion built in the 1920s, but this idea proved too ambitious for the 3D rendering tools available, and the team had to use hand-drawn bitmaps instead. Items and characters in Alone in the Dark are three-dimensional, rendered upon a two-dimensional fixed background. Mixing polygons and 2D prerendered background images required a fixed camera angle, which designers used to their advantage to create dramatic scene setups appropriate for a horror-themed game. In September 1991, the team of Raynal, Chanfray, and Barroz presented an early playable version of Alone in the Dark - containing only a couple rooms - to Infogrames, who then green-lighted production of the game. The development team was expanded to include Franck De Girolami (programmer), Philippe Vachey (composer), Hubert Chardot (writer), and Franck Manzetti (designer).

The game briefly acquired the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game license, but was ultimately denied it when Chaosium determined that the game was too simple to do justice to the rules of the pen-and-paper game. The character Emily Hartwood was added because the conventional wisdom of the time was that a game would appeal to more female gamers if it had a female playable character. To maximize the player's anxiety and fear, the game was designed so that even such mundane actions as walking down a hall, opening a door, and reading a book could cause the player character to die. Though such deaths would only occur in select places, they would make the player feel unnerved whenever taking such actions.

During the game's production, Raynal and Barroz became romantically involved and conceived a child. Most of the production was marked with a spirit of optimism and creative enthusiasm, but the bug-testing phase wore out the team, especially Raynal. By the time it was released, he felt dissatisfied with almost every aspect of Alone in the Dark and felt certain that all of its flaws would be noticed by players.

Outside of Europe, Alone in the Dark was distributed in North America by Interplay Entertainment and in Japan by Arrow Micro-Techs Corp, which developed and published Japanese-exclusive versions for the PC-98 and FM Towns computers. The game was also ported to the 3DO by Krisalis in 1994. This version is largely identical to the original, but uses an orchestrated version of the original soundtrack and adds voice acting to the character intros and documents. This version was also published in Japan by Pony Canyon. An Atari Jaguar CD port was also in development by Infogrames but it was never released. A 32X version was also planned but never released.

In 2012, when asked for a possible high-definition remake of Alone in the Dark, Raynal said he loved the idea but no attempts have been made yet as he no longer holds the rights to the franchise

Reception

Reviewing the 3DO version, GamePro described it as "a clunky, semirealistic game", citing restrictively linear game design, an overly slow-moving player character, and "silly-looking, quirky-moving monsters", though they did praise the moody sound effects and 3D camera angles. In contrast, Electronic Gaming Monthly commented "A faithful translation of the PC title, this game has excellent graphics and sound ... for fans of more deliberate game play, this is the one to get." Next Generation reviewed the 3DO version of the game, and stated that "Alone's subtle mix of eerie music, grim animation sequences, and suspense-filled storyline create an atmosphere of tense horror that adds an interesting new twist to the standard graphic adventure."

Magazine Reviews

Name	Date	Region	Rating	Notes
Console Plus	Sept 1994		91%	Un jeu d'aventures exceptionnel qui vous tiendra éveillé des heures durant. L'adaptation est de bonne qualité
Ação Games*	Oct 1994		90%	Originalmente lançado como game para PC, Alone in the Dark logo se transformou em clássico para os amantes dos games de terror. Agora os jogadores de 3DO tem a oportunidade de encarar este arrepiante desafio. O esquema de jogo e a movimentação estão idênticos aos do computador. Apenas os gráficos ficaram um pouco inferiores ao original. Mas não compromete. Todo o clima de suspense e terror que caracterizam o game foi mantido, prato cheio para quem gosta de diversão inteligente com muitos sustos.
Computer and Video Games (CVG)*	Oct 1994		86%	After the tragic Dr. Hauzer I was sceptical about how this would perform. No need, though, because this is a spot on conversion from the PC original, and it runs at a speed comparable to a 486 33mhz PC. The sound is the biz in this version and the only difference is that you can't have as many saved-game positions as the PC. Alone is an excellent game but there are too many collectibles which are of no use in the game. I'd prefer it if this had been the sequel.
Megablast*	Sept 1994		85%	Die Optik mit den superben Animationen hat sich auch am 3D= das Prädikat „brillant“ verdient, und die mit Digi-Sprache und Wolfsgeheul aufgepeppte Soundkulisse steht da kaum zurück. Binnen Kürze bereitet auch die Padsteuerung viel Freude, man kann hier also nur zuraten. Der technisch opulente Besuch im Dunkeln hat so viel Atmosphäre und aufregende Monsteraction zu bieten, daß Adventure- und Metzelliebhaber gleichermaßen auf ihre Kosten kommen – uns sich jetzt schon auf die Fortsetzungen freuen werden. Denn am PC/CD-ROM geht Alone in the Dark bereits in die dritte Runde!
Gameplayers*	Jan 1995		85%	The 3DO version improves some on the PC title by adding extra digitized sound effects and voices. Overall, this is a scary little number that's well worth the time and effort. Go for it!
3DO Magazine*	Dec 1994		91%	Multiple camera angles, haunting polygon graphics and a Voodoo inspired storyline make this an incredibly intimate and atmospheric adventure. Originally released on the PC in '93, it still looks pretty amazing and although it uses a lot of NVRAM, is well worth a look.
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)*	Sept 1994		8/10	Multiple camera angles, haunting polygon graphics and a Voodoo inspired storyline make this an incredibly intimate and atmospheric adventure. Originally released on the PC in '93, it still looks pretty amazing and although it uses a lot of NVRAM, is well worth a look.
Video Games*	Jan 1996		70%	Zugegeben, der zweite Teil sieht grafisch besser aus. Dafür spielt er sich aber schlechter. Auch wenn Ihr stillsteht, hampelt Euer Charakter permanent rum, schaut sich die Gegend an oder macht sich mit der Knarre wichtig. In Konfliktsituationen wird hierdurch und durch die oft lausigen Blickwinkel das Zielen beim Schießen oder Schlagen erschwert. Im ersten Teil ist die Kameraposition zwar auch nicht immer optimal, behindert werdet Ihr dadurch aber seltener. (...) Durch bessere technische Qualtät und die tiefere Schauergeschichte ist Alone In The Dark 1 in jedem Fall das bessere Spiel des Duetts.
Edge*	Oct 1995		70%	Of course, despite these flaws 3DO Alone In The Dark is a great game – even a group of particularly stupid monkeys would have had a job mucking up this conversion. It looks good, the gameplay is engrossing, and the soundtrack is atmospheric. And it’s worth noting that this two-year-old title is more playable than much modern 3DO software.
GamePro*	Nov 1994		70%	Alone in the Dark is for gamers who want a little puzzle, a little challenge and lots of hangtime. While the action is nothing to write home about, you'll marvel at use of fully animated polygons and 3-D views. The problem is, after that you'll be all alone.
Mega Fun*	Oct 1995		62%	Die 3DO-Umsetzung des bekannten PC-Spiels hat in Sachen Grafik glücklicherweise nichts eingebüßt: Es sieht immer noch gut aus, wie die Dame im Rock das Gewehr lässig über die Schulter legt. Grafik allein reicht aber leider nicht: Die (häufig verhinderbaren) Kämpfe sind recht reizlos, da die gegnerischen Figuren - auch die eigene - ihr Pensum an grafisch anregenden Manövern schnell ausgereizt haben. Imposant sind die Auftritte einiger Monster, die von guten Sounds unterstützt werden. Ein Gefühl von Action während des Kampfes vermisse ich aber, da Interplay seinen bösen Buben kein eigenes Taktikgefühl zuerkannt hat. Schade, daß die sehr schön gestalteten 3D-Räume durch den mangelnden Reiz des Spieles fast wie ein Innenarchitekten-Demo wirken. Das Mysterium zu lüften. sollte für Fans dieser Spiele-Kategorie jedoch ein Grund sein, sich dieses Spiel einmal anzuschauen.
Famitsu*	Apr 1994		33/40
Next Generation*	Jan 1995		3/5

• - Need review page

Other Versions

PC Versions including MS-DOS, PC-98 and FM Towns, Mac and a later release on IoS. There were also planned but cancelled releases for the Atari Jaguar and 32X.

Credits

• 3DO Producer: Vince DeNardo
• 3DO Programming: Krisalis Software Ltd.
• Produced by: Infogrames
• Directed by: Franck De Girolami
• First assistant: Vincent Terraillon
• Production designer: Patrick Charpenet
• Screenplay: Hubert Chardot, Frederic Cornet, Christian Nobais
• Scenario coding: Christiane Sgarlon, Christophe Nazaret
• Animations: Frederique Bourgin. Jean-Marie Nazaret
• Settings: Jean-Christophe Blanc, Christophe Anton
• Music and sounds: Frederic Mentzen
• Publishing: Olivier Robin, Edith Protiere
• Game Manual: Larry Fukuoka
• 3DO Testing: Scott McKelvey, Nino Levitin, Ryan Rucinski, Raphael Hernandez
• Translations: Beate Reiter- Vialle
• Special thanks to: Bruno Bonnell, Eric Mottet, Olivier Goulay, Norbert Cellier, Bill Heineman and Sasha

Linked Titles

• EU NTSC Version - Alone in the Dark (EU NTSC)
• North American Version - Alone in the Dark
• Japanese Version - Alone in the Dark
• American Demo - Alone in the Dark - Demo
• Sequel - Alone in the Dark 2
• Cancelled "Threequel" - Alone in the Dark 3

Media

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  Back of the box

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  Contents of the box

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  Picture of Disc

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  Screenshot

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  Console Plus Sept 94 Review