Alone in the Dark 2 (video game)
| Alone in the Dark 2 | |
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 Cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Infogrames Arrow Micro-Techs Corp (PC-98, FM Towns) Krisalis (3DO) |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Distributor(s) | (PSX, Saturn) |
| Designer(s) | Franck De Girolami |
| Series | Alone in the Dark |
| Platform(s) | DOS, PC-98, FM Towns, Mac OS, 3DO, Sega Saturn, PlayStation |
| Release date(s) | DOS
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| Genre(s) | Survival horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Alone in the Dark 2 is the 1993 sequel to 1992's survival horror video game Alone in the Dark developed and published by Infogrames as the second installment in the series. It was ported to the PC-98 and FM Towns in 1994 and to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1995 under the same name, and to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1996 as Alone in the Dark: Jack is Back in Europe, and renamed as Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge in North America.
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 Tommy Guns and shooting at the player. The player can pick up weapons on the way such as a few firearms like your Revolver which you start off with carrying and then theres Shotguns and 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 the mansion, but also the surrounding gardens as well as a pirate ship hidden in caverns beneath the house.
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. 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 rescue little Grace, and find out why the pirates have taken an interest in her.
Jack in the Dark
Jack in the Dark is a small game made during Alone in the Dark 2 production. It was used as a promotional game distributed at Christmas 1993 (just before Alone in the Dark 2 release). The game was on a single floppy in a golden wrapping featuring a Jack-in-the-box illustration on the top. It is a short adventure featuring the young child Grace Saunders. During Halloween, she enters a small toy store after dark and gets locked in it. There, the toys are alive, and Grace must save Santa Claus from an evil Jack-in-the-box. Jack in the Dark is an adventure game that focuses purely on puzzles and has no combat. Later CD versions of both Alone in the Dark and Alone in the Dark 2 came packaged with Jack in the Dark.
Release
There were two DOS versions of the game, the floppy disk version and the CD-ROM version. While the floppy version was the original, the CD-ROM release added a full Red Book audio reworked soundtrack, dialogue speech (in English, French, German and Japanese, depending on the country the game was released) and a new playable section of Grace Saunders not present in the original version, which connected the mansion and the ship areas. This version also removed the copy protection from the floppy disk release.
As the first installment in the series, outside of Europe the game was distributed in North America by Interplay Entertainment and in Japan by Arrow Micro-Techs Corp, which once again developed and published Japanese-exclusive versions for the PC-98 and FM Towns computers.
The console releases of Alone in the Dark 2 included a port for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer released in 1995 which is very similar to the DOS CD-ROM version, and also versions released for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1996 which featured reworked and fully textured polygonal models, instead of the flat shaded ones from the DOS versions and 3DO port. New FMV cutscenes were also added to these ports. All console releases were also published in Japan by Electronic Arts Victor, with the Sega Saturn and PlayStation versions being released as Alone in the Dark 2: Jack is Back.
Reception
The Saturn version received generally negative reviews. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 4.25 out of 10, citing difficult aiming, poor graphics, confusing cutscenes, absurd voice acting, and camera angles which change too frequently, making it difficult to hit enemies or get a sense of direction.[1] Sega Saturn Magazine gave it a 54%. They commented that the game has "a well worked plot mixing the fantasy and myth of pirates with a bootlegging 1920s America to create a sort of Gothic noir", but echoed Electronic Gaming Monthly's criticisms with the aiming, graphics, and camera angles.[2]
References
- ↑ "Alone in the Dark Review". Electronic Gaming Monthly (84) (EGM Media, LLC). July 1996. p. 26.
- ↑ Bright, Rob (May 1996). "Review: Alone in Dark 2: Jack's Back". Sega Saturn Magazine (7) (Emap International Limited). pp. 80–81.
External links
- Alone in the Dark 2 at MobyGames
- The MS-DOS version of Jack in the Dark can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive
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