Jack in the Dark - Saving Christmas (Won and Final Rating!)

Written by Andy Panthro

The toy shop back room is where we begin the finale.

 How can one small child save Christmas? Well, this isn’t any small child, this is a witch! And if there’s any magic in this world, surely this is the time for it. Already we have defeated the dancing puppet, and the soldier toys are back in their toybox. This has allowed us access to the back room, and with that a whole new selection of items and toys to contend with.

Santa Claus himself is sitting trapped in a jail cell comprised of candy canes at the back of the room, guarded by two dolls and a small soldier with a toy cannon. Clearly I cannot just break him out without dealing with these problems first. I noticed as I came in a box on the floor, which upon inspection is revealed to be a vanity case and a hand mirror. Given my limited available options for using the vanity case, I decide to try with the two dolls guarding Father Christmas. They eagerly go towards it, opening up more of the room.

The two dolls take care of their appearance, neglecting their guard duty.

Around the cell I find a teddy bear, and a piece of candy cane. I’d already tried the sweets for Jack’s sweet tooth, but perhaps this other candy would be more to his liking? With no way to open the jail cell door that I can see, I make my way back to the front of the shop, and move around to meet Jack once again.

Jack despairs at his own face.

Giving him the candy cane seems to placate him for a moment, although again like the sweets from earlier I’m not really sure to what end. I still have no use for the teddy bear, and the only other item that seems to be of use is the hand mirror. The book I found behind the counter does mention Jack being an ugly fellow, and that the solution to this problem could take some reflection. It doesn’t take a genius to suspect that showing Jack his face in the mirror might have an effect, and indeed it does. Wide eyed, Jack screams at the sight of his own face, and retreats back into his box.

Father Christmas has left us a gift.

As for Grace, she skips back around to go and find Father Christmas, only to find that he’s already gone! And sitting out on the floor is a large present. The view changes to the front of the store, as we watch Grace emerge from the back room having changed from her witch outfit into a princess dress. The door to the toy shop is wide open, and she can finally leave.

Which would our readers prefer? The witches outfit or the princess?

Grace turns to wave goodbye as Father Christmas rides away with his reindeer into the night, off to prepare for Christmas and to deliver all the toys to the delight of children around the world.

Leaving the toy shop behind.

Finally for our benefit, we get a few promotional images of Alone in the Dark 2, showing familiar faces, zombies, puzzles and a pirate ship! That is still yet to come, so for now lets turn to the rating.

Father Christmas waves as he rides away on his sleigh

Final Rating

Puzzles and Solvability

The puzzles are all quite easy, as you might expect for such a small and free game. Once you’ve found the book behind the counter, it almost spells out what you should do in certain situations. That said, having the puzzles be tailored to the specifics of each toy is a nice touch.
3

Interface and Inventory

The interface is the classic Alone In The Dark one, although with fewer actions. It’s still a little awkward to use, but the menu looks lovely and each item gets a detailed spinning 3D model, something that has quite a long legacy from this series of games.
5

Story and Setting

The story is quite basic, an evil Jack-in-the-box has somehow captured Father Christmas, and a young trick-or-treater has to save the day. It brings to mind The Nightmare Before Christmas, which had just released in October of 1993, and I can’t help but assume an influence there. If anyone can shed any light on this, I’d love to know!
4

Sound and Graphics

I’ve mentioned the sound in a previous entry, and this one lacks the wonderful score of Alone In The Dark and also lacks the CD quality too. It’s not a terrible tune, but its repetition does leave a lot to be desired. The graphics are early 3D, and while I praised the early strides they made with this in the first game of this series, the placement of items and characters can be a drawback, as those in the background often lack the detail required to identify them.
4

Environment and Atmosphere

The toy shop is quite delightful, with its little creepy flourishes around the edges the only small reminder that this is kind of a spooky game. It’s very mild though, and more brings to mind the sort of old fashioned shop you might see in a classic film. While the mixture of Halloween and Christmas is not unique, it’s always a fun juxtaposition of quite different holiday aesthetics.
5

Dialogue and Acting

There’s not really any dialogue or acting here, lacking the voice over for the book even. Again, this was a free game as a promotion for Alone in the Dark 2, so I won’t be too harsh. The book provides backstory, puzzle information, and so on, but again it’s quite simple stuff.
2

3+5+4+4+5+2/0.6=38

Looks like everyone was pretty generous with their guesses for such a little game, but ShaddamIVth got it exactly right! Congratulations!

I’ll see you again in the new year, when I’ll be starting Alone in the Dark 2.

My new year seems like it will involve zombies, how about yours?

Merry Christmas from me, and everyone else at The Adventurer’s Guild!

CAP Distribution

100 CAPs to Andy Panthro

• Saving Christmas Award - 100 CAPs - for blogging about Jack in the Dark for our enjoyment.  

20 CAPs to ShaddamIVth

• Mr. Duncan Award - 20 CAPs - for correctly guessing the final score of Jack in the Dark.