Alone in the Dark 2 - Mission Impossible

One hour in and starting over again. Not the worst I've ever done on this blog. Probably not even going to be in the top 10 in a few years. I broke down and just got the GOG copy. The opening cinematic now plays some kind of Mission Impossible-style theme as it plays out. Its very suted to the game. When I start up the game, its got some kind of weird funky jazz going on, midi styled of course. Thematically unified, but no consistent style so far. It'll be curious to see how this goes.

Yeah, I'm feeling Carnby here

At the end of the last entry I looked up the opening moments of the game to see if I had messed up as badly as I thought I did. Yeah, mostly. I did learn that I should always use any health items as soon as I see them, so score one for being a scumbag.

This shot makes the callback more explicit

My movement continues as before. The two guards fall to my gun, albeit, they get a shot in. It does four points of damage. Four. That doesn't sound like much, but these guys can stunlock you something fierce. I push away the statue that's blocking off the hedgemaze, and just as I walk in this guy looks at me. Its brief though, I had to back up and do it again.

Its amazing how many different screenshots I took look the same

As I walk in a laughable voice says "Good morning, sir". A ridiculous statement to make. Exactly what is that supposed to be? He shoots me and I barely manage to kill him, I'm down to 27 HP. I had 60 after drinking the flask. This is going to be brutal.

If it looks hard to read here, imagine doing it in the middle of combat

I cautious advance. Caution doesn't work. The next fellow I meet, spouting "Hi guy", gets me. The second he gets on-screen he just stunlocks me to death. I can't hit this guy off-screen. Jesus Christ.

This is the other bit of the death sequence, before getting tossed

I do the starting gunfight again, this time ending with 47 HP. What genius beta-tested this and said it was okay? I can barely hit anything, and the only change is that green sparks fly out instead of white. Its screwing with my aim.

This is useful...?

The first maze guard drops this photo. I don't know what its depicting besides the people I assume are the enemies of this game. I've finally figure out the way to killing these two guys, drag them out of their hidey-holes, then hide around the corner. They can't hit squat, which means they're just as capable of me now. The other guy drops a flask and another Tommy mag, nice.

This ties into a puzzle solution a bit later

I don't know how he didn't see me the second I stepped out from behind the hedge. The room he's guarding is small and an obvious trap. Its not a trap, somehow. It has a rope and the thing does nothing as I walk past it beyond make Carnby fade out of existence.

Spooky, right? It means nothing

I start to get the hang of things. Now that I've figured out how to safely shoot at an enemy, its just a matter of finishing the maze...somehow. Sometimes mice and snakes pop up. I'm not sure if they're hostile or not. But I do get my first bit of exposition. One of the zombies drops a book about a pirate named Shorty Leg, a one-legged pirate. The book is narrated by a pirate that seems enthusiastic in his role. I don't know if this is going to be useful later or not, but you never know with this game.

Top ten anime fight scene right here

I die a few times, sometimes to my own hubris, sometimes not. There's a series of card suits I'll get into in a bit, but first, let me regale you with this game's AI. We all know that its very rare for AI to not have an exploitable flaw. However, this time I got really lucky, not even intentionally exploiting it...at first. Fat zombie approaches, gets close, misses me. So I take advantage and beat the daylights out of him.

I didn't even realize this was a puzzle

Next, a series of cards. There's a hook here, which goes with the rope. Most of which are traps, but one takes me to a dungeon. There's another gun zombie. I burn through my ammo on him, but manage to kill him with my fists. There's a note book, but its torn. Its actually clever, the info it gives is cut in half so its not clear what its about yet. With nothing else to do I move a chest and get a card. Is there going to be a real puzzle soon?

I withdraw any complaints I had about Carnby's combat skills

As I do that an altar rises up behind me and a ghost approaches. Oh, well, might as well try to kill him. So I start kicking him. He's not reaching me. Holy crap, I killed him. I get a sword for my trouble. Hot diggity. Moving up in the world. The rest of the underground cave proves useless at the moment, but I suspect the candles at the altar can be lit later.

For a game I'm complaining about aiming a lot, I sure have a lot of screenshots of Carnby killing things

Back on the surface, I figure this saber can be used against either a face in the hedgemaze I keep seeing or against the hostile roots blocking one of the paths. I reach the roots first. Takes a while, and I'm suspecting they're invulnerable, but they fall to the saber. Then the saber breaks and disappears. You couldn't let me have one thing, could you?

Giving the man some space before crushing him like a bug

Behind the roots is Shorty Leg, at least, it seems a reasonable assumption. Every time he shoots he gets knocked backward, and me without a gun. Takes a few attempts, but I eventually get him into a position where I can punch him to death in an endless loop. He drops a piece of newspaper, I don't know what I'm going to do with that. There's another flask. Now I'm left here wondering how to advance. Despite looking like a piece of cloth, I can do nothing to it.

The statue looks funny, I think they painted that, but I'm not sure

I suppose I could have examined the picture more clearly, but given that I have a rope and a hook I figure this must be the puzzle. I'm right, the door opens.

Once again, a level ends with me in the same place

 As I enter the room, I climb down a ladder. The ladder makes a sound not to disimilar to a stock hammer against anvil sound. I suppose Carnby could be packing steel boots...The ladder eventually gives way and Carnby ends up where the pressure plate took me before. Ah, doing things properly...how much it sucks. I still lose my weapons, not that it matters much at this point.

Total Time: 2 hours

This Session: 1 hour