The survival horror genre has taken on a new dimension with a new Gallic game which is guaranteed to give you nightmares

REVIEWS

Alone In the Dark 4: The New Nightmare (Infogrames) Format: PlayStation, PSOne. (£29.99)

THE Japanese may like the world to think they invented the survival horror genre with the Biohazard series of games, better known in the West as Resident Evils 1,2 and 3, but they are wrong. Three years before the STARS team gatecrashed the Umbrella Corporation's party in Racoon City, the Alone In The Dark series had done it all.

Incredibly, after laying down the basics of the genre (pre-rendered backgrounds, puzzle solving, horrible monsters and shock moments), Infogrames, the French company behind the series, moved on to other things. This left the cemetery gates open for Capcom to come in and clean up. The Resident Evil games have taken more money worldwide than all but the very best Hollywood blockbusters. When Resident Evil II went on sale, its first weekend take displaced Titanic from the top of the entertainment charts.

Having watched all this with what at first seemed to be Gallic indifference and then growing incredulity at having let such a potential money spinner slip from its grasp, Infogrames is back for more. Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare will soon be available on more game formats than you can shake a wooden stake at. It's appearing in the UK first on PlayStation and Game Boy. Dreamcast owners should be able to save the monster antics in a month or so, and anyone lucky enough to own a PS2 should be able to savour the ultimate version by the autumn.

For now, though, it's PlayStation owners who have first shot at what could be one of the PSOne's last truly adult titles. Once again centred on the exploits of professional ghost buster Edward Carnby, only this time the French have done a bit of "borrowing" of their own, allowing the game to be played from one of two characters, Carnby or female Aline Cedrac. In the pre-rendered opening, our two heroes arrive on Shadow Island, the family home of Obed Morton, an archaeologist and a dabbler in the occult. Unfortunately for Morton, he's been dabbling rather too enthusiastically and, in doing so, has opened the gates of hell on his spooky island. Carnby has arrived to solve the mystery after his friend - and fellow investigator - Charles Fiske, is returned home in a body bag after a sojourn on Shadow Island. Aline has been invited by Morton to examine some unusual artefacts.

So you can play the adventure through as either character. Unlike Resident Evil II - which used this idea first - the game really is different depending on which you choose. Only about 50 backdrops are shared out of the several hundred you have to negotiate. Infogrames spent months working on the look of this game and that attention to detail really pays off.

Anyone who says the PlayStation is dead should take a look at Alone In The Dark 4's eye candy. Every backdrop is full of lush detail and some levels - particularly the swamp and the chapel - positively drip with Hammer horror-style atmosphere. Each character carries a torch - with a supply of never ending batteries - and they will need to use it. The Resident Evil games didn't make use of this simple idea - although I seem to recall it in Silent Hill - and it really does help make the creepy atmosphere even better. You'll jump in fright when, at a critical point in your adventure, the light suddenly blinks off, leaving your character alone in the dark.

The way the light plays across the backgrounds is also unique. You'll have to sweep every dark corner if you want to solve every puzzle and find the better weapons. Thankfully, the game has more to offer than undead zombies. The designers wanted the game to pay homage to the works of American writer HP Lovecraft, famous for his nightmarish monsters. Tentacles, massive teeth, strangely-disjointed bodies; the creatures look absolutely fabulous. And your heroes can die in the most gruesome ways. Stabbing, strangulation, drowning and much, much worse - it's all here and some. So all the crucial elements are in place. The graphics look better than any Resident Evil episode, the sound is suitably atmospheric and the hokey plot is sufficiently interesting to make you want to finish the game to see how it all turns out.

The control method will be familiar to Resi veterans and so will some of the puzzles (pushing statues, collecting items, etc). The atmosphere of creeping unease lacks the outright visceral thrills of the Japanese games and is all the more unnerving because of it. If you enjoyed the Resi series then Alone In The Dark 4 will be just the ticket.

GIZMO OF THE WEEK

WHAT is it about dinosaurs that fascinate small children? As a youngster I pestered my grandmother for weeks until she sent off to Typhoo Tea for a sticker album for the dinosaur cards given away in family-sized boxes of tea bags. That sticker album (with every dino) was my most prized possession for many years.

Similarly, millions of young kids pestered their parents to take them to see Jurassic Park and helped make it one of the biggest movie hits of all time. Tiger Electronics, the Harrogate-based purveyor of electronic gadgets and gizmos to kids of all ages, has secured the Jurassic Park license for 2001. The first product off the production line and onto shop shelves is the Dino Dex - a short of my-first-Psion meets a Nintendo Game Boy. Looking like a cross between a Filofax and a walkie-talkie, the Dino Dex contains detailed information and graphic animations on more than 70 different dinosaurs. Highlight a name and the Dino Dex automatically pulls up a dot matrix graphic of your favourite creature. There are also a couple of simple games to play. On a more useful note, the Dino Dex will keep track of names and addresses, appointments, acts as a calculator and an alarm. And as every child knows, no diary is any use without a password, the information can be protected from prying adults. The Dino Dex uses six batteries (rather a lot for such a simple machine) and the graphics wouldn't disgrace a Sinclair Spectrum, but for kids it's a lot of fun. Examples should be in the shops shortly.

CHEAT OF THE WEEK

To unlock all tracks in Le Mans 24 Hours for the Sega Dreamcast, go to the name entry screen and type: GOOZ.

Published: Saturday, June 03, 2001