Prior to testing Alone in the Dark, we took a look at its official website. It was well presented, with lots of interactive features, such as letting you investigate the area the game is based in: New York’s iconic Central Park. With such an impressive website, we were wondering if the game would live up to the high standards. Before we get into the details, let us give you a quick briefing about the plot of Alone in the Dark.

In the fifth installment of the popular horror franchise, you return as the protagonist Edward Carnby, a private detective who specializes in the paranormal. Alone in the Dark 5, or Near Death Investigation as it is referred to sometimes, sees him head to Central Park to check out rumors of supernatural happenings in the tunnels that run beneath it.

The game starts off with you in the clutches of your enemies, along with an elderly man named Theophile Paddington. After the long cutscene, you get your first experience of the ‘cracks’—living fissures that turn up around you randomly, and ‘eat’ anyone in their path. Soon you get to see yourself for the first time, when you face a mirror—a sure shot ploy to show off the developers’ idea of impressive facial animation.

You immediately realize that our protagonist has lost his memory— the biggest cliché in thrillers. In writing class we are told to avoid clichés like the black plague. Unfortunately nobody gave this valuable piece of advice to the scriptwriters at Eden Games. Right from this initial turn off, Alone in the Dark goes plummeting downhill, with no saving grace whatsoever.

Gameplay

Eden has tried to make AITD (Alone in the Dark) as interactive as possible, so be assured that you are going to have to use a lot of objects in the world to get you through puzzles. The only problem here is that the controls are frustrating and do little to help you carry out the many tasks that the game requires you to. There are so many keys pinned to so many actions that you get utterly confused, and confused is not the best state of mind when you are battling mutated monsters.

The camera angles had us pulling out our hair. AITD is both first person and third person, and you have the choice to switch between the two. Now, you would think that’s a good idea, right? Best of both worlds, you would think. Absolutely not! The first person view is bearable, but the third person view is just too difficult to handle. You can’t use the mouse to move the camera around, and have to rely completely on your arrow keys. It wouldn’t have been that big a deal if we were able to stay in first-person mode throughout. But AITD refuses us that pleasure too, switching to the third person randomly, completely at its whims and fancies.

In an attempt to make the game more realistic, AITD has a unique feature—blinking eyes. If you don’t blink for a while, your vision will start to get hazy. While this was a nice idea, it is horribly implemented. We had to keep pressing the ‘X’ key from time to time just to be able to see properly; sometimes even in the middle of a firefight. We use the word firefight because pyromania forms an integral part of AITD. The mutated humans, (unimaginatively titled “Humanz”) cannot be defeated by the handgun which you hang on to throughout the game. You need to burn these hellish zombies, and you can do that by pouring flammable liquid on your bullets, thus making them ‘fire-bullets’. How that makes sense, we do not know. You need to use fire to solve puzzles as well, and this is where AITD scores a little. The fire effects are stunning, and quite realistic in the game.

Graphics

As we said earlier, the facial animation is quite impressive—you can see every crease on Carnby’s face. The fire effects are brilliantly carried out and give you an sense of realism. Sadly, this is where the praise for the game’s graphics ends. Apart from these two notable factors, there is nothing in AITD which stands out graphically. The environment seems rather bland and doesn’t send a chill down your spine, like the way a good survival horror game should.

Closing Thoughts

A quality survival horror video game is supposed to keep you hooked on to your seat for hours. It is supposed to scare you, thrill you and captivate you completely. While you are playing a good horror game, it should be gripping enough to cut you off from the entire world.

AITD does none of that. Once you have been through 15 minutes in the game, you don’t feel like playing it any more. It really has nothing interesting to offer. The story is clichéd and doesn’t build up well enough, the graphics are poor and the gameplay is the worst we have experienced for quite some time. The DVD-style menus which let you play any part of the game don’t help either, as they leave you with nothing to unlock, thus taking away what could have been a small incentive to try and get through the whole thing.

The industry has had some amazing horror franchises including Resident Evil, Doom, and Half-Life. Alone In The Dark used to be a member of this elite club, but with this latest installment which promises to be an epic failure, we have to wonder if it’s time to say R.I.P. to Edward Carnby, or wait till a more experienced developer takes up the task of reviving this franchise. Give this one a pass—there are just too many misses and very few hits.

Laptop bag: Laptop bags are available in a variety of designs ranging from protective sleeves to shoulder bags to backpacks. You may pick the one that matches your personality or the one that allows you to carry your college books and accessories as well.

Laptop mouse: No matter how agile your fingers are over the touchpad, nothing is as comfortable as a mouse. A laptop mouse is highly recommended if you use your laptop more on the desk than on your lap. Also they are light, compact, and fit snugly in the bag.

Memory card reader: If you’re a shutter bug or a mobile phone junkie, pamper yourself, overstep your budget a bit, spend a few hundred rupees and invest in a good USB card reader, if your laptop lacks one. We suggest that you pick the one that reads most memory card formats and is compact as well.

Notebook webcam: Although you can use a desktop webcam with your laptop, a notebook webcam is designed such that it clips on to the screen frame. The best notebook webcams that we have come across are by Creative, Logitech, and Microsoft.

Kensington lock: Securing your laptop with a Kensington lock is the best way of protecting it from theft while you’re away, especially at busy places. Almost every laptop has a Kensington security slot which can be used to attach this specially designed lock.

Notebook cooler: A notebook cooler is a metal plate (usually made of aluminum) fitted with USB-powered fans, meant for dissipating heat from the base of the laptop. It’s advisable to use one if your laptop becomes unbearably hot to keep on your lap.

Bluetooth dongle: A Bluetooth dongle comes in handy when you want to transfer data wirelessly to compatible portable devices such as cell phones, smart phones, or other laptops. You can even use it to fire print commands wirelessly to Bluetooth-enabled printers.

Portable speakers: It’s quite rare to come across laptops which have good speakers. If you really want to enjoy watching movies and listening to music on your laptop, a good pair of portable laptop speakers are a must-have.

External storage device: An external storage device is an indispensable component if you want data portability. While USB flash drives are ideal for porting documents and small files, portable hard drives are suited for carrying your entire movie or music collection on the road.

Mouse pad: Some brands such as Belkin and Logitech offer innovative accessories for laptops. For instance, check out this handy carry pouch by Belkin called the Mouse Trap. When unzipped completely, this pouch converts into a circular mouse pad.

USB hub: Most laptops are equipped with two or three USB ports which can be used to connect external storage devices, webcams, peripherals such as printers and scanners, and so on. If you are running short of USB ports, buy a USB hub and get upto four more ports.

USB-to-PS2 adapter: There’s nothing to beat the comfort offered by standard desktop keyboards and mice. If your laptop spends more time on your desk, get a USB-to-PS2 adapter and make yourself comfortable by using a PS/2 desktop keyboard and mouse.

We loved the nearly-full-sized keyboard which stretches across the width of the device, making us forget we were using such a tiny device. It really was a joy to type with, as opposed to the cramped and unusually laid out keyboards on most netbooks. But the trackpad is much too small, and the curious arrangement of buttons on the sides doesn’t work well at all. An SD card reader is built into the side, along with two USB ports, a VGA display output, Ethernet and audio ports. Our test unit came with a large 6-cell battery that bulged out the bottom of the device, acting like a stand. At 1.43 kg, it’s also a bit heavier than usual for a mini laptop.

The Mininote’s configuration is quite a disappointment. The 1.2 GHz Via C7 processor makes things quite sluggish, and 1 GB of RAM is not quite enough to run Vista smoothly. The display is a gorgeous 1280×768 pixels. Surprisingly, the Vista Aero interface is able to run, although it’s definitely not recommended.

We found the unit ran a bit hot while testing, getting slightly uncomfortable on the lap. Raw performance was as expected from such a configuration: it took over 13 minutes for our video encoding run, just under 19 minutes for audio encoding, and 7 minutes, 51 seconds for the file compression test. These figures reflect roughly one-twelfth the processing power of a current-day budget desktop PC. We observed 100 percent CPU usage and a maximum load temperature of 41 degrees C during all three real-world tests, which means you shouldn’t expect any serious multitasking capabilities. Compressed DivX video playback was smooth and stutter-free, but only if nothing else was running in the background.

We decided not to consider the scores from our usual synthetic benchmarks. The figures were below par as expected considering the Mininote’s configuration. but such tests don’t consider the real situations in which these devices are used.

It seems that the Mininote is best suited for simple office productivity tasks such as word processing, web surfing and PowerPoint presentations. Whereas most “netbooks” are targeted at first-time users or those who have severe budget limitations, this one aims at a more premium market. It will appeal to those who want a laptop only for commuting, and not as the primary machine that they will get work done on. It’s much easier to carry than a full-sized notebook, and might be useful as a second laptop for regular business travelers, sales and marketing professionals or anyone who needs an ultraportable computer.

Verdict: Whip it out and hook it up to a projector to make presentations or use the comfortable keyboard to write your reports on an airplane. You won’t really need too much processing power for this, so the only real limiting factor is the cost. A full-sized notebook could actually be bought for a bit less than this, so it remains to be seen whether the pros will outweigh the cons for enough people.

SUMo v 1.10.0.47

System Requirements: Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista

The ideal update tool must first identify all programs on a PC, since only then can it work out which programs need updates and which ones don’t. When it comes to the application recognition rate, SUMo leads the pack. The tool detects even the rarely used programs, for instance, Hex-Editor HxD. Though the HxD consists of only one EXE file, it does not install itself in the system. The excellent recognition rate of SUMo is the result of an extensive online database with about 90,000 different programs which are the most popular applications. It identifies these programs on the user’s system and then checks against the online list to keep a track of new versions and programs. Moreover, SUMo proves itself to be very flexible—for instance, the user can configure the tool in such a way that it scans practically the whole disk for applications. There is a drawback to SUMo, which is that it is only as useful as you want it to be. If you want something that takes care of the processing of dowbnloading and installing automatically, then SUMo is not for you since it requires that the user take the initiative after the scan. The tool presents a list of all programs and specifies all the ones where an update is available. After clicking on ‘Update’, SUMo directs the user to its website where it displays a compilation of statistics about which version is used by how many users. Unfortunately, a direct download link is missing, instead of which the user has to manually search for the updates, for instance on three popular downloading sites (MajorGeeks.com, FileForum and Download.com) or Google. Modifications of the program settings include loading at system start-up, disable checking of Microsoft products and beta versions, and scan speeds.

To selectively check individual programs simply drag and drop the EXE (Executable) file of the application to the SUMo program window.

Personal Software Inspector v 0.9.0.1

The security specialist software development company Secunia is known for detecting weak spots in programs. That’s why the primary function of the update tool, the Personal Software Inspector (PSI), is to first load critical patches in popular programs. Due to this, the online database behind it is also not so extensive and it comprises only a little more than 4,000 applications. On the bright side, PSI takes thorough action—it scans the complete hard disk for EXE files as well as DLL files and reads the corresponding version information from the library in order to assess the topicality of the software installed. The tool then compiles a signature for each and every program found and sends it to the Secunia server which checks it against its database. Next, PSI prepares a security report on how many unsafe versions require an update. With this methodology PSI offers a complete package when it comes to the downloading of updates. Furthermore, a wizard guides the user to the suitable link—he only has to click it.

PSI is the most user-friendly of all the update tool applications featured here. The welcome screen informs the user of all relevant information, such as the last time a full system scan was run and state of their applications—are they insecure, about to expire or patched. If there are any security concerns, PSI will automatically alert the user with warnings. The historic development of your system since using the Secuina system store option is also displayed prominently in the form of a timeline bar chart, where the current score is compared to the state of the machine during the previous ten weeks. Furthermore, a graphical application overview, in the form of a pie chart displays the number of programs patched, unsecured and expired.
During the scan process, Secunia follows a series of steps which includes downloading search rules from the Secunia server via secure HTTP protocols, searching files on local fixed drives, collecting information about files and the operating system, determining missing Microsoft security patches, and matching data with the Secunia file signatures engine. Once the scan has been successfully completed, a pop-up window displaying the current Secunia system score appears.

Uncheck the option ‘Only display easy to update programs’ in the ‘Settings’ dialog box. This enables PSI to also make a list of software for which it does not offer downloads, for instance, Microsoft components like the Core XML Services.

UpdateStar v 2.1

Imagine the perfect butler—he is always present but unobtrusive, one snap of your finger and he asks you what you want. UpdateStar works exactly like this. This dream tool delivers smooth system security right from automatic identification to download. Even the program interface is neat and clear and lists the installed version as well as the latest version. The graphical user interface has been updated to suit the Vista operating system, with a ribbon style instead of a menu bar. The tabs include ‘Start Page’, ‘Programs’, ‘Import’ and ‘Help’. Only one function has been clumsily implemented—if you close the UpdateStar window, the program remains active in the background. Then you can only end it via the icon in the taskbar.  This becomes a problem if you have deactivated the system tray icon display option during the installation, since it means UpdateStar can only be closed using the Task Manager. In fact, it’s high time that UpdateStar had an update fixing this minor annoyance. Despite having a large database of more than 80,000 programs, the tool provides barely an average recognition rate. This is because it only finds programs which are registered in the system control software directory. Thus, some applications like the Media Player Classic are not recognized. The only other thing that is missing in UpdateStar is a thorough registry scan, such as the one Personal Software Inspector executes.  Check the option ‘System programs’ in the ‘Display filter’ window to enable UpdateStar to make a list of Microsoft programs currently available, for instance, the .NET Framework.

Software-UpToDate v 1.1

Users of Software-UpToDate automatically become a part of a community project of the same name because, after the scan, the tool displays a notification of whether it discovered a new version as specified in its online database. The tool ascertains details about the existing program with the help of two methods—preferably, it takes the metadata from the Windows Installer of an application. However, there still exist many software products that use their own setup routines. That is why UpToDate additionally scans the registry and detects at least all programs that are entered in the system control. What is missing in the tool is the second component—downloading the update or even installing it. Only rarely does UpToDate specify the manufacturer and a direct link for downloading is completely missing.

In the application window, go to ‘Extras | Options’ and check the options ‘Display upgrades’ and display ‘Alpha/Beta/Release candidates’. By doing this, you enable Software-UpToDate to display these updates as well.

Update Checker v 1.021

This update tool, from the developers of FileHippo.com, offers updates in the Web 2.0 style—after starting, the installed programs are automatically scanned and the user is directed to a dynamically created website, which presents the result. Since only the ‘Program’ directory is scanned in the basic setting, the recognition rate is low. Moreover, the Update Checker only detects those 200 programs which are hosted on the website FileHippo.com. The limitations seem drastic but FileHippo.com has quite a good stock of applications. Important freeware programs, for instance, Process Explorer, or Autoruns by Sysinternals, are present and, more importantly, the link on the website ensures that the update download functions smoothly.
In order to access the program settings, click ‘Settings’ during the scan process and specify additional folders in ‘Custom locations’ using the ‘Add’ button, in which the Update Checker can search for installed programs.

Automatic Update Client v 0.8.6

This update tool is restricted to the monitoring of only a handful of programs—the database lists fewer than 100 supported applications. You can find out which applications it supports in the update client to check whether with the limited choice is satisfactory. Click ‘File | Update all programs’ to access the update client list which displays all the supported programs—this is the complete database of this software. However, once a program is included in the support list, the update tool offers complete service—it even shows beta versions and offers a direct download. Another drawback to this program is that the user interface is in the German language, and while it’s pretty intuitive to understand what each listing stands for, it can become a hindrance.

Click ‘Settings’ and check the option ‘Automatically download and install updates’ under ‘Downloads | Use AUC downloader’. From now on, the software will always install the latest versions or updates automatically.

With version 3, Firefox has fully embraced the add-ons experience. The Add-ons dialog box, accessible from ‘Tools | Add-ons’ now comes with a ‘Get Add-ons’ tab, such that users no longer have to navigate to the website (addons.mozilla.org) to get them. It even has a handy search field.

Complete comfort
To ensure that you surf more comfortably and make the Fox fit for the Internet of the future and hassle-proof, the first thing to do is to check out the following add-ons.
Sometimes, it is really annoying to click on countless links while searching on the Internet. With ‘Interclue’, you need not go through this unnecessary step—hover your cursor over a link, and a small icon will appear next to it. When you hover over that icon, it opens up a pop-up window that shows a preview of that website. You can enlarge the window as desired, or send the links directly via mail or even save them as bookmarks. An alternative to ‘Interclue’ is ‘Cooliris’. While ‘Cooliris’ is merely a pop-up window, ‘Interclue’ has the advantage of notifying the user about potentially harmful websites that contain malicious content or are phishing scams. However, while the ‘Cooliris’ preview displays the Web page as it will appear on your Web browser, the ‘Interclue’ preview displays only the bare basics—text, images and links. Which add-on will best suit your purposes is up to you, depending on your preferences.

‘All-in-One Sidebar’ gives you a good overview of all the features in Firefox—the extension opens a toolbar on the left of the screen which lists information on the integrated forms, links and the security certificates of the websites you are looking at; it also allows direct access to the browser configuration settings and arranges your downloads and history in an easy-to-understand way.
Firefox’s default download manager is not ideal when you download data from the Internet regularly—should the Web connection disconnect before the download is complete, then all files will be lost. To solve this problem, you can use the ‘DownThemAll!’ manager. With this add-on, not only can you can recover downloads that get stopped abruptly, but the downloading process is accelerated and goes on comfortably. You can save all the elements on a web page, or thanks to the numerous filters, any data can be downloaded selectively, for instance, images or text.
Not all websites are displayed properly in Firefox, mainly because they have been written exclusively for Internet Explorer. But now, instead of opening IE in a separate window, with ‘IE tab’ you can harness the functionality of Microsoft’s Web browser in Firefox itself. It embeds the IE engine in Firefox—to open a Web page in IE, simply right-click a link and select the option ‘Open Link in IE Tab’.

Security on the Web
Firefox developers patch security loopholes in the browser regularly. However, hackers always find new leaks in no time. Use security tools for this purpose and protect the fox from all those dangers yourself.
JavaScript presents an enormous security loophole. The problem is when you deactivate these functions, most websites will not be displayed correctly any more, especially in the age of interactive Web 2.0. With ‘No-Script’, you can determine the websites on which scripts may run—namely which websites should always display scripts and which are supposed to be blocked.
Apart from this, to make all those advertisement banners and pop-ups disappear, ‘Adblock Plus’ is just the right tool for you. The add-on uses various filters to block undesirable elements. However, if an advertisement is still displayed, add the field of the advertisement to the ‘Adblock’ filter with the press of a button. You can also exclude individual Internet sites as exceptions to the rules.
Script and ad-blockers already protect your PC quite well, but in spite of them, every visit to the Internet will leave traces—and in extreme cases, data spies can use this confidential information to steal your bank details or passwords. In order to protect yourself from Web criminals, there are various tools that will hide your IP address. Like most such programs, ‘FoxyProxy’ uses the Tor and Privoxy global router networks for encryption. Unlike its competitors however, this add-on offers lots of additional information for experienced users and it also provides various options as well.
If you combine the three extensions, you have an almost perfect and unique browser. However, even the best security settings are of no use if you set insecure passwords and leave them unprotected. The standard password manager in Firefox is no doubt useful, but not really safe. If you don’t want to give up control of your passwords to Firefox, it is better to use ‘Secure Login’. The tool uses the password manager, but extends it with useful functions—you can, for instance, determine for yourself whether to log in automatically or on demand, and whether to activate JavaScript protection or not. On top of that, ‘Secure Login’ offers a phishing filter that compares second-level domains and raises an alarm in case of websites with fake credentials. The actual key management, however, is carried out by the password manager from Firefox.

Jam-packed Multimedia
Listening to music, viewing pictures and storing videos—all these multimedia functions can be undertaken by Firefox effortlessly with the right add-ons.
With ‘FoxyTunes’, you can upgrade your Web browser to include a slim audio player. The tool uses any player installed on the PC for playing and can even access Internet services such as last.fm. With different skins available from the manufacturer’s homepage and diverse setting options like cover artwork display, ‘FoxyTunes’ is a very flexible tool to use.
To optimize the browser for images, ‘PicLens’ is the right choice—the add-on shows images from portals and searchable databases such as Flickr, Facebook and Google in a stylish 3D view, and controls slideshows in full screen mode.
If you want to use graphics from the Web for your presentations, then the ‘FireShot’ tool is sure to help you out. This tool creates screenshots and allows you to enhance pictures immediately with your own comments, info bars and graphics.
Many videos on the Web do not allow you to download them. But with ‘Video DownloadHelper’, this restriction doesn’t apply any more as it displays videos from every website and downloads them with a single click. The automatic search is a brilliant tool as well—a click on the program button and the add-on will give you a list with hundreds of video portals.
If you do not want to use a separate storage space for the clips that you have  downloaded, you can arrange for a hard drive online—with ‘Gspace’, you can use a Google mail account as a normal hard disk partition and save on offline storage space.

Community tools
The world of social networking survives exclusively on community spirit, and people who actively participate in blogs and forums. The only problem is that the number of such sites has grown immensely in the past few years—and new ones are being added each day.
It is barely possible to get an overview of all the activities on such sites. In order to make searching for the latest news easier, we have helpful tools like ‘BlogRovR’. If you store interesting websites, sorted according to topics of your choice, it will gather news and comments automatically. Besides, the extension can also be used as a track-back display.
If you come across any interesting presentations while surfing the Internet, you can make schedules in the browser and coordinate them with friends, thanks to ‘ReminderFox’. The tool also integrates data from external services like ‘Google Calendar’. Additionally, it also serves as a ‘to-do’ list manager.
Personal contacts go a long way in making chatting faster. The instant messengers ‘ChatZilla’ and ‘SamePlace’ are perfect for this purpose—‘ChatZilla’ is a small client that uses the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) system. Nevertheless, if you use services like Google talk, msn or AIM, then ‘SamePlace’ is the best instant messenger  that you can have. This tool is not only great for chatting, but can also be used to exchange pictures or to play games like chess as well.
Finding addresses with ‘Locator’ is child’s play—you just need to select an address and then a right click will open a pop-up window with all the important information from ‘Google Maps’.

Extensions for developers
Specialized web programs are a must if you want to tinker about with homepages or work with servers. Luckily, there are extensions for Firefox which makes the working a lot easier.
The extensive add-on ‘Firebug’ is available for analyzing websites. No action on a site will ever go unnoticed by this tool; Firebug lists hidden processes as well. If you want, it can also change the entire look of a website for you. There is a special add-on for this purpose though—with ‘Stylish’, you can edit the look of any site with the help of CSS. Alternatively, it is possible to download ready scripts from the manufacturer’s website.
The ‘Web Developer’ package is indispensable for hobbyists—the toolbar contains all the tools required by professionals for testing. However, even inexperienced users can gain a lot from the tool collection. This is because multiple options increase security as well. You can, for instance, deactivate form fields, Java as well as JavaScript easily and delete all private data with a single click.
‘FireFTP’ and ‘SQLite’ Manager top off the developer package—‘FireFTP’ is a slick, functional FTP client, with which it is easy to download data, manage servers and websites. And with the ‘SQLite Manager’, your databases can be kept under control.
Use all the 25 add-ons and you have the perfect browser for every purpose. We have put all of them on the CHIP DVD so you have an easy-to-use package ready for immediate use.

Firefox add-on packages
ComforT: All-in-one sidebar, DownThemAll, Interclue, Cooliris, IE Tab.
Security: Adblock Plus, FoxyProxy, NoScript, Secure Login.
Multimedia: FireShot, FoxyTunes, Gspace, PicLens, Video DownloadHelper.
Community: BlogRovR, ChatZilla, Locator, ReminderFox, SamePlace.
Professional: Firebug, FireFTP, Stylish, SQLite Manager, Web Developer, Greasemonkey.