Serialized, episodic TV can captivate viewers in ways that feature-length films usually can't. Most games aim to recreate the cinematic experience, but Eden Studios' Alone in the Dark aims for something different, aspiring for the high drama of an HBO series. Unfortunately, it's also among the most broken games to come out to date on a next-gen console.

AitD, like its four predecessors, puts you in the shoes of Edward Carnby, the supernatural detective hero of games past. The time is the present, and Carnby's alive, well, and suffering from amnesia in modern-day Manhattan. Of course, the mysteries of his amnesia and why he's still alive and young-looking at a ripe 100 years is one of the main devices driving the plot. What's his deal? You'll have to endure a hellish trip through the supernatural warrens of New York's Central Park to find out.

One of AitD's redeeming qualities is that it takes some great steps forward with its presentation. The concept of episodic content that you can play through, piece by piece, is certainly a clever one. Each of its eight chapters play out in the vein of a TV show, complete with a "previously on Alone in the Dark" catch-up reel before you start playing again. There are also some big moments that capture a real sense of grandiosity, as when Carnby escapes a haunted highrise in Central Park East. The score has all of the high production values of a TV show as well. In terms of presentation, there's little dispute that AitD has its heart in the right place.


In another novel twist, you can skip ahead to wherever you like, as if you were watching a DVD movie. It's a cool idea, which would be great to see in better games. Here, you'll really only use it to jump from scene to scene to avoid yet another unnecessarily frustrating set piece. (Skipping around also seems to be the only way to skip many cut-scenes, which you'll get to see over and over in many instances thanks to the myriad cheap deaths that await.) These set pieces would be great were it not for the broken gameplay that undermines most of the suspense.

Other innovations fall flat. AitD's inventory system seems novel -- and it is -- but quickly proves annoying in practice. The idea is that Edward can only carry as many items as he can fit under his jacket and can combine them with others to create improvised contraptions. Yet the inventory management hobbles gameplay instead of enhancing it. The clunky interface makes it unwieldy and slow to select items, yet the action still moves on in real time. In the heat of a battle it's immensely frustrating to try to toggle to the item(s) you want as enemies mercilessly wail away at you. A few assignable shortcut keys relieve a bit of the pain but the system is still ridiculously awkward.