"Derceto is the prey of evil....!"

Forget Capcom's survival horror games. THIS is the game you want! After more than seven years, this game still TERRIFIES me. And I always know what's coming, too!

STORY: 10/10
The story is great! A man named Jeremy Hartwood has hung himself in the loft of his estate, called Derceto. You play as either Edward Carnby, who goes to Derceto to retrieve an antique piano, or Emily Hartwood, who refuses to believe that her uncle went insane. As you go up the walkway to Derceto, the player sees an ominous scene; a pair of demonic hands rest on a windowsill, their owner watching the unsuspecting person below. The player's chosen character walks up to the loft.... and the horror begins. In Alone in the Dark, you will learn more about the story by finding old books, diaries, and memos. Why did Jeremy Hartwood go insane? How did all these evil things get loose? You'll be asking yourself many questions during the game, until it all comes together near the end. The story is frightening, and it doesn't really help that you always have the feeling that you're about to be attacked. Awesome!

GRAPHICS: 8/10
The characters you play as are quite deformed, but you've got to remember just how old this game is. The zombies are blocky and weirdly shaped, but they still manage to be scary. All the other.... things are pretty good, and will give you a good fright. The backgrounds are excellent, and you can pretty easily see what you can pick up. The animation, though, is weird. When you punch, your arm looks kind of like a rubber hose. Running, at least with Carnby, looks really weird. His upper body leans backwards when he runs. The character's faces are really funny-looking, especially Emily Hartwood's. Still, the graphics are dark and shadowy. They add to the horror.

SOUND: 10/10
WOW! The sounds in this game will HORRIFY you! Your character will make the appropriate creaking/thumping sounds depending on what surface they're walking on. That's pretty good, for a 3DO game. As you explore Derceto, you'll hear all kinds of scary sounds. ''Uh-oh.... Who made that creaking sound? Oh, it was me. OH, CRAP! AHHHHHHHHH!!!'' Possibly the scariest sound is that one that sounds like creaking metal. It makes you wonder, ''What'll be there when I leave this room?'' Attacking, throwing, and swinging sounds are a little unrealistic, but you can easily tell what they are. Zombie groans, creaking doors, and water dripping all sound great. Also, there's voice acting in this game, and it's twice as good as the acting from Final Fantasy X. There is lots of expression in the voices. When you're reading a letter that Jeremy Hartwood left behind, the voice acting doesn't make it corny or anything. Actually, the voice acting ADDS to the experience, which is something rare. Lastly, that sound you make when you die is cool! This is what death really sounds like, folks! (Well, maybe.)

MUSIC: 10/10
The music is good when it's there, and also when it's not there. They added just the right amount of music to this game. When walking around, there will be some quiet, ominous music, or just silence. There are about three different kinds of this music that randomly play. The music that plays during action parts and fights is scary, and really gets your blood pumping. Combined with the sound effects, the music is scary as crap. For example, you walk into a room, and then see that it's full of monsters. A strange horror-ish sound plays, and then the battle music plays while you attempt to fight off seven or so zombies at once. Wow.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10
This game rules! You walk through many different rooms, ranging from the loft to the library to the cellar. Along the way you solve puzzles, search shelves, read diaries, and fight off the occasional monster while trying to find a way to get rid of that thing outside the front door....

CHALLENGE: 10/10
This game is HARD! You should save after everything you do. There's not much health to be found, so if you get hurt too much in a fight you should just load your last save and try to do better. There's not much ammo for your gun either, so you can't just go around shooting stuff. The puzzles, although they're of the ''find an item'' variety, are very hard. There's no map, so you'll need to remember some key rooms. The monsters can also do some good damage to you if they get in the first hit, so save as often as you can. If you manage to beat this game without a walkthrough, you're amazing.

CONTROL: 9/10
The controls are a little clunky, but you'll get used to them. You hold down the ''A'' button to use actions, ''B'' to open the inventory, ''C'' to run, and ''R'' to open the options/save menu. To fight or shoot, you have to hold ''A'' and push a direction. The only problem is, you might accidentally face the wrong direction and try to search a wall instead of a shelf. After a short time of playing, though, the controls won't be a problem.

BUY? RENT?
If you can buy it, do. This game is pretty old, so you'd probably have to use an abandonware site or something to get it. Unfortunately, it's too old for my computer to run. What would I do without my 3DO....

FINAL SCORE: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/03