GamerCreated.com

Alone in the Dark for the Wii has a good deal of things that would have worked, had they spent some time to work on things and testing them instead of rushing them off to school without their pants. There are concepts that could have really made the game shine as an example of what to do. Instead we're given an example of what NOT to do.

For example, if you're going to use motion control, don't use them as a substitute for button input. Many of the motions are mapped to the buttons with few exceptions, and those few exceptions could have just as easily been mapped as well. Also, if you're going to use motion controls, don't have similar motions on complex actions. While it's a nice idea to be able to put things away with an inward tilt of remote or nunchuck, having to do both along with an outward turn in order to open the inventory makes for elongated sessions of playing with your gun, your flashlight, and jumping multiple times. Even reloading the gun is a chore with the motions involved, which only adds to the point. And don't even get me started on the driving. Turning the car with both remote and nunchuck only made things less real and more "just how far can I throw a DVD."

The storyline is barely worth a mention, given how it's barely there at all. When it is there, it's often drunk and all over the place with pointless characters that serve no purpose at all. The worse part, you play the most pointless of all given the time gap between the last time Edward Carnby appeared in the series. Think that's a spoiler, it's plastered in the booklet as well as on the box. The only thing the PR people didn't spoil is the female counterpart who should have been fired, and the fact that both endings leave the player feeling like they've just wasted the past how-ever-long just trying to get through the sometimes random and often brain dead puzzles and situations only to be jilted. Then again, with the game lopped into parts which you can select through it's "DVD style scene selection" menu, it's pointless even playing the game all the way through, let alone having spoiler alerts. Select last scene and you beat the game.

Overall, the game's not worth it. No, really, it's not worth it. You want survival horror, get "Obscure: The Aftermath" or "Escape from Bug Island" instead. Better yet, do "Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles" or "The House of The Dead: 2 & 3 Return". Heck, "Bleach: Shattered Blade" is better, and it's not even the same genre. The only redeeming factor in Alone in the Dark would be the concepts it attempts, but the lack of polish make them less of gems and more like specks of dust blown away by horrible design and programing.