Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare - Game Boy Color - Review

The Alone in the Dark series began on the PC way back in 1992.  Set in the 1920’s the original game follows the story of a down-on-his-luck private investigator named Edward Carnby. Carnby is tasked with investigating the mysterious mansion of a recently deceased artist and upon searching the building he finds himself embroiled in battle for survival against the supernatural. The game garnered huge critical praise at the time for its story, atmosphere and clever use of cinematic camera angles. The success of the game would spawn two direct sequels over the next two years however neither of these managed to capture the same interest as the original and the series soon found itself fading into obscurity. 

 Just two years later Resident Evil would release for the Sony Playstation.  It quickly became one of the best-selling games for the system, and would go on to spawn several sequels and kick-start the entire survival horror genre with a multitude of clones in its wake. Though certainly ground-breaking in its own right the game had clearly taken some inspiration from Alone in the Dark, mainly in its use of cinematic camera angles. Although the link was initially denied by Capcom, director Shinji Mikami would eventually admit that without Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil would have likely been played from a first-person perspective.

In 2001, Infrogrames, keen to capitalise on the success of the booming survival horror genre, released a new, rebooted Alone in the Dark game for the PC, Playstation and Dreamcast. The game titled ‘The New Nightmare’ once again stars the private investigator named Edward Carnby however the setting has been moved up to present day and Carnby’s age and appearance have drastically changed.

The game was well received at the time for its atmosphere, story and graphics, though somewhat ironically the main criticism was aimed at its similarity to the Resident Evil series, especially in its controls, puzzles and use of pre-rendered backgrounds.

A port was also created for the Game Boy Color by a small British developer known as Pocket Studios. Due to the highly anticipated Resident Evil Game Boy Color port being cancelled late in development Pocket Studios found their game being held up as the perfect replacement. Early screenshots amazed the gaming press and public alike and when the game finally released in May 2001 expectations were high.

The story begins as Edward Carnby is contacted by a young archaeologist named Aline Cedrac. She informs Carnby that his friend and partner, Charles Fiske has been found dead after taking on a case for her. Fiske had travelled to a place called Shadow Island in search of a stolen statuette and it was off the shore of the mysterious island where his body was found. Together Carnby and Aline decide to travel to the island to uncover the mystery of Fiske’s death. On their way Aline informs Carnby of the Statuette Fiske was tasked with searching for. She claims it is of native-American origin and contains a dark and great power. She also believes that the man responsible for stealing the statue and for Fiske’s death is a multi-millionaire recluse named Alan Morton. When they finally arrive at the island, Carnby vows to return the statue and deal with Morton alone.

Carnby is controlled with the D-Pad but whereas the console version of the game uses the tank style control scheme synonymous with survival horror games of the time the Game Boy Color port opts for a simpler approach with the character moving relative to the camera position. This certainly works well enough but it does mean that the player will have to re-orient themselves between screens.

Carnby can interact with objects and pick up items with the B-Button. Items will appear as icons on the floor and these can include flasks, which replenish health, and ammo for Carnby’s guns. More unique items may be denoted in the scenery with a glistening effect, but others are hidden in cupboards or drawers with no obvious clues.

Pressing select brings up the inventory screen whereby you can scroll through your acquired objects. The objects aren’t separated into categories though so scrolling through them can be a bit of a chore especially when you are carrying numerous items. Some objects such as notes and documents can be read with the B-Button in the inventory screen, whereas consumable or usable items must be equipped with the A-Button and then used in game.

The usable items are necessary for completing the games puzzles with the majority being as simple as using a key on a door or using crowbar on a loose rock to help you progress to a new area.

Although there are many empty areas of the map which serve no purpose, thorough exploration is definitely recommended to make sure you don’t miss anything as, in true survival horror style, ammo and health is very limited and essential for the games unavoidable combat encounters.

Combat in the Game Boy Color game works a little differently from the console versions in which the monsters appear and are battled in the main game environments. In this version however there are predetermined encounters in which the player will be taken to a square arena and must find and dispatch all of the monsters that inhabit it. Carnby will have his revolver readied and all the player has to do is move around and shoot with the A-Button.  Once found in the game Carnby will also be able to change weapon with the B-Button to a shotgun and a crossbow. Each weapon has its own advantages  as well as its own stock of ammo.

Aiming can be quite difficult as Carnby is limited to 8 directions and often the monsters will be positioned awkwardly for him. Also there is no way to strafe, dodge or cover and so the battles are simply based on attrition with the only tactic really being to stand and shoot.

Some encounters will also contain several ammo pickups and as these are in very limited supply it is highly recommended for the player to take the time to pick them all up. This can be tricky the monsters have the same walking speed as Carnby and so it’s best to kill all but one of the monsters before collecting the ammo and then finishing the last one off. Once all of the monsters are killed the game will return to the exploration mode.

The graphics are certainly very impressive for a Game Boy Color title with the developers making good use of the systems high colour mode. The pre-rendered backgrounds are lifted straight from the console versions and look detailed and impressive though they are fairly low-resolution and somewhat lacking in colour.

Carnby’s character model looks somewhat odd in front of the pre-rendered background but is still nevertheless impressively modelled and well animated with very smooth scaling as he walks into the background and foreground.

Use of music in the game is fairly subtle with much of the action only having ambient noise or eerie silence to listen to. The title screen music is pretty decent though the quality seems fairly distorted and unpleasant though that may well have been a deliberate choice to keep with the games tone.

Overall Alone in the Dark is an impressive addition to the Game Boy Color’s library and whilst I can’t say the game is without its flaws I still feel it’s a game worth having in your collection. The puzzles are very straight forward and ultimately not very rewarding and the combat is lacking in depth but otherwise the game manages to capture the spirit of a true survival horror game. The backgrounds are suitably creepy and atmospheric and the story is in intriguing enough to keep you engaged throughout the two hours or so it takes to play through and although I can’t say I was ever scared whilst playing the game the lack of ammo and health combined with the unpredictable enemy encounters can lead to some genuinely tense moments. 

The game can be bought cheaply and easily, so if you like what you’ve heard why not seek out a copy of Alone in the Dark and attempt to uncover the mystery of Shadow Island and see if you can survive its monstrous inhabitants.