*DISCLAIMER: You do not have to take my word on everything I say in this review. I will not be doing a final score nor will I tell you to buy or avoid this game.
Atari [http://www.centraldark.com/]. This instalment brings the protagonist, Edward Carnby, to New York to fight another evil that has risen from the depths.
The game starts out with Edward (will be referred to as "the player" for now on) on a hospital style where he is surrounded by 3 guys wearing black overcoats and one other person, Theophile Paddington, who knows about everything that is going on in the game. Now, there is one feature I would like to point out here. When the game starts out you are still dazed from waking up. In order to see where you are going and to clear your blurry vision, you have to blink. Yes, there is an option to blink, it may seem stupid but when a zombie spits in your eyes, who's laughing now? The guy who can blink and get the spit out so he can see.
Anyways, almost right away the story begins to present itself right away with the mentioning of a stone, how it's the cause of all the problems happening, and how Theo is the only one who can save everyone. You are only there because, well, it's never really explained. You are almost immediately split up from Theo and taken to the stairs because only one elevator works. Just as you reach the maintenance passage (which has the stairs), your escort gets taken by what is dubbed "The Living Scar", which is basically a rip in the group that follows the player and causes most of the trouble in the game. You are then left alone to fend for yourself. You have to fight your way from the top floor of the apartment building (or office, never was sure) all the way to the parking garage beneath it. Along the way you are introduced to many of the technology in the game. Let it be the dynamic fire where it spreads dynamically across flammable materials such as wood. Fire later becomes one of the most important weapons you can ever have in this game, considering most of the enemies are destroyed by fire, are afraid of fire, or just need lit on fire to make killing them easier.
On your way down, you meet a Sarah Flores who is trapped in an elevator. You help her out of the elevator and then she becomes your sidekick, well, not really sidekick. She follows you everywhere and is useless. You run into an injured Theo who Sarah carries while you make your way to the parking garage where the real fun begins. Oh, and if you are wondering why they are going to the parking garage? Well, the building is on fire, it's falling apart and apparently the only entrance is blocked by rubble.
Once you get to the parking garage you are introduced to hot wiring a car and driving. Both of which are fun to do except for the fact that the zombies can actually pull you out of the car while you are hot wiring it. The driving segment consists of driving through the parking garage while avoiding zombies and the odd ceiling collapse. Once you make it outside, you see that Central Park is right outside the building and that the park has become twisted. You then begin driving to get away from the building, but no, it can't be that easy. The road starts falling apart and buildings along the road start collapsing. The driving segment is almost too hard, even on easy. Once you get to the park the game really starts to unfold. I wont say too much because what happens beyond entering the park is all spoilers. All I'm going to say is the game starts to become even more messed up.
Being New York that it is, you'll find anything laying on the ground. From a gun to fuel canisters to medical sprays. Anything and everything you will ever need in this game can be found on the ground. Once you pick up anything it is put in your stylish inventory which I found was pretty cool considering in most games you don't see where the player puts all his items (alas due to a small error with xfire I was unable to take a screenshot of the inventory).
The game also features what I like to call TV Show feel to it, where you can skip "episodes". If you get stuck on one episode you can then skip it in favour for the next episode. At first I laughed at the feature but once I got stuck on one of the many driving sequences I was forced to use that feature.
Overall the game felt like I was watching a show but also felt like I was part of the show. Some scenes get tedious, such as the wiring scenes which can take a while to figure out what wire combination does what you need done.
The Central Park environments are amazing. Eden Games actually sent a bunch of artists and environment designers to New York to scope out Central Park. They really did a great job. I really don't know what else to say.
The game also has an amazing soundtrack which features some of the best songs ever. The odd time I might find myself playing one game but instead of listening to that game's music, I'll have the Alone In The Dark music playing. Props to the sound department for making the game have such awesome music.
Well, that's about it for my stroll through Central Park. If you think I missed something, please tell me and I will add it (if what I missed is needed). This review is a change from my usual reviewing format [http://www.fpsbanana.com/threads/102570?21]. I only changed my format because I felt like the other format only dissected the game but didn't really talk about the game. As I mentioned in my disclaimer (under the banner), I will not be giving the game an overall score nor will I tell you to buy or avoid this game.
Oh and before I finish this review I want to say this at least. Give the game a chance, it has gotten some bad reviews but hey, I liked the game. I mean sure it has issues but overall I liked it.
Yeah, this isn't my first review but this is the first one I've posted on The Escapist User Reviews section. Please tell me what you think of my review format and what you think of the review
