Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge

Nostalgia can be a funny thing. While it can help maintain appreciation for older things, it can also blind people to the flaws inherent in those older things. For the record, I have no nostalgic connection to the Alone in the Dark franchise; I didn't play these games when they were brand new. I have no rose-tinted goggles for these games; so, the flaws are plain as day for me. I was very disappointed when I played the fourth game The New Nightmare on the Dreamcast and thought that my perception would change if I tried one of the earlier games. After playing the second game One-Eyed Jack's Revenge, I have to wonder why the series was EVER a big deal to begin with.

Alone in the Dark: One Eyed Jack's Revenge revolves around an element that should've been completely impossible to screw up... pirate zombies. These pirates led by One-Eyed Jack gained immortality due to voodoo magic and had become gangsters by 1924 where the story picks up. A kid has been kidnapped to be used as a sacrifice to maintain the pirates' immortality, and the series regular Edward Carnby is tasked with the rescue. The story is simple and has very few surprises but works. I appreciate how most of the story is told through visuals rather than text or dialog.

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The aesthetics are decent for a Saturn release. The characters are VERY blocky but clear, and the 2D backgrounds show some decent detail. Unfortunately, the rather poor camera angles lead too often to being attacked from offscreen, more so than other games with this set-up. The sound effects and voices are average at best and annoying at worst, especially the canned reaction statements by the villains. The music would be fine for another game genre but is far too upbeat for a horror game. Something more atmospheric would have been preferable.

If this was a movie, the story and aesthetics would've sufficed. However, this is a game; moreover, it's one of the worst games I ever played. The controls are beyond horrible. Whoever decided to use the d-pad as the attack button needed to be shot. It's bad enough when using the firearms but becomes completely intolerable in melee combat when the d-pad commands all have to be charged in order to work. The Highlander game on the Jaguar had better controls than this! On top of that, the interface is beyond cumbersome. Why the hell should I have to go into a menu to push an object? Also, for a game in which the majority of enemies are packing Tommy guns, you don't get nearly enough ammo to work with. The game is virtually unplayable.

The second Alone in the Dark game makes the disappointing fourth game look like Silent Hill. This is a game that was completely destroyed by control issues. I cannot believe the franchise didn't die off after this travesty. This trainwreck isn't even fit to sacrifice to a voodoo god!