Alone In The Dark On GBC Is A Bizarre Relic You Should Play At Least Once

Soapbox options allow our particular person writers and contributors to voice their opinions on scorching matters and random stuff they have been chewing over. Today, Ollie sits down with the least liked entry within the present Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy library and finds an odd, twisted model of a sport he loves…

Alone within the Dark: The New Nightmare for the PlayStation is not any masterpiece.

It’s a kind of survival horror video games that arrived after the gargantuan success of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, although the Alone within the Dark franchise itself preceded each by a variety of years. The New Nightmare stood as the primary reboot of the collection (with the second reboot presently within the works at Pieces Interactive and THQ Nordic) launching in 2001, seven years after Alone within the Dark 3.

Critics on the time have been principally constructive of their evaluation of the sport, with many praising its visuals and environment, whereas additionally criticising the script and puzzle components. With 15 critic evaluations accessible, the PlayStation model now sits at a more-than-respectable 77 on Metacritic. All in all, the final consensus with gamers gave the impression to be, “yep, great effort, but not as good as RE or Silent Hill.”

Me personally, although? I completely adored Alone within the Dark: The New Nightmare.

I liked the grim, gothic nature of the sport: the darkish forest surrounding an unlimited, creepy manor on Shadow Island; the best way it places emphasis on utilizing a torch as each a navigation instrument and a weapon towards the supernatural creatures; the over-the-top ‘B film’ voiceover work that might make the creators of Resident Evil immensely proud. It was great.

It wasn’t good although, by any means, and I think about that if the sport have been to return out right this moment, the huge variety of alternate options accessible — coupled with the truth that I now have my very own disposable revenue — may imply that it could fall by the wayside. But as a toddler with solely a small handful of video games to name my very own, it saved me hooked from begin to end.

The New Nightmare launched on a number of consoles again in 2001: PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Windows, and Game Boy. The first 4 platforms acquired roughly the identical expertise bar a variety of minor graphical variations, however the Game Boy Color model was drastically altered with a view to accommodate the expertise for handheld players.

I’m additionally impressed at how nicely the essence of the sport translated to such a special piece of {hardware}

I knew, in fact, that Pocket Studio’s Game Boy model of The New Nightmare existed, nevertheless it wasn’t till its current addition to the Nintendo Switch Online service that I truly performed it for the primary time.

Frankly, I’m shocked at simply how totally different the expertise is and the way a lot has been minimize and adjusted, however on the identical time, I’m additionally impressed at how nicely the essence of the sport translated to such a special piece of {hardware}. It is, in my view, a really weird addition to the Nintendo Switch Online service, however one I might urge you to check out. If nothing else, it’ll fulfill your morbid curiosity.

Looking on the narrative variations between the Game Boy model and residential consoles first, these are literally fairly stark. In the total model of the sport, you’ve got the choice to play as certainly one of two protagonists: Edward Carnby, the primary character of your entire franchise, and Aline Cedrac, a younger University professor who has her personal vested curiosity within the overarching thriller. On their method to Shadow Island, their aircraft is attacked, forcing the 2 to leap out in midair, finally touchdown in separate spots on Shadow Island. It’s this method that permits you to expertise the sport from utterly distinctive factors of view, and it really works fairly nicely for essentially the most half.

The GBC model, nonetheless, ditches this fully, focusing the expertise squarely on Edward Carnby alone. In truth, any sense of hazard within the opening cutscene is totally neutered. While the aircraft successfully crashed within the house console model, it lands safely on Shadow Island on Game Boy. Not solely that, however Carby instructs Cedrac to attend by the aircraft like a very good little sidekick whereas he goes off on his spooky journey. The two stay in communication through walkie-talkie, however Cedrac’s involvement within the story is minimal, at greatest.

You may argue that the narrative modifications make for a extra streamlined expertise; that is the Game Boy we’re speaking about in spite of everything, and there is solely a lot you may match into the little factor. The larger modifications, nonetheless, include the gameplay.

Navigating Shadow Island and its manor is definitely fairly just like the larger model. You’ve bought pre-rendered backgrounds that minimize between numerous digital camera angles, showcasing simply sufficient of your environment whereas blocking sure key visuals. For an 8-bit Game Boy title, the environments do look fairly spectacular, however areas from the house console model have been minimize fully, leading to lifeless ends and blocked doorways that might have in any other case been open, resulting in an excessive amount of confusion on my half.

But that is not all that is been modified. The major variations truly come into play once you go into fight, and that is dealt with in a remarkably comparable approach to Capcom’s GBC survival horror providing, Resident Evil Gaiden.