After 5 long years of waiting, Alan Wake is finally out with the potential to become a very special franchise. As a movie lover I was very excited with Remedy’s latest adventure for the Xbox 360. The game tells the story of Alan Wake, a famous writer who’s days of glory are way past behind him and writers block is preventing him from finishing his latest novel. His wife Alice convinces him to go on vacation to the town of Bright Falls but things don’t always go as planned. Alan’s wife suddenly disappears and his work starts becoming a reality before his eyes turning a relaxing escapade into a hellish nightmare.
Alan Wake premise is to fight the darkness with light and that’s pretty much what you should remember through the rest of the game. At night the “lovely” town of Bright Falls transforms into a hostile environment. This darkness posses the town folks and transform them into your enemies known as the Taken. Alan is equipped with a gun and his flash light through the game, his inventory expands into flash grenades, flares (flare guns) and more powerful flash lights. To take down the Taken, Alan needs to break the darkness by using his flash light or any other weaponry that is based on light. The gameplay formula is very simplistic and doesn’t evolve much through the game but it’s fun and it does the job at the end of the day.
Just because the gameplay is fun it doesn’t mean it’s without fault. At first it’s not noticeable but by the end of the first chapters you start noticing repetitiveness in gameplay and a rather small variety of enemies compared to recent games. If you feel like this outcome is a deal breaker then you should probably stop reading because Alan Wake’s gameplay is indeed a one trick pony but if you are here for the clever story, atmosphere and thrills then please continue because Alan Wake delivers much more than gameplay.
The story is told in 6 chapters very similar to a television series, ending with a cliffhanger and a quick overview of the previous chapter before starting a new one. This episodic method of story telling keeps things fresh and exciting and leaves the player asking for more each time a chapter ends. The game runs like your typical suspense thriller with the usual cliches you would expect from a Stephen King story but the game lets you know that this was done on purpose and it never fails to entertain, It’s a fun ride from beginning to end. Through the course of the game Alan starts meeting with new characters that will help him survive this nightmare. This is when Barry Wheeler comes in, Barry is Alan’s agent and also his best friend. He is the comic relief of the game, making everything a little brighter in such a tense and bleak story.
Alan Wake is a beautiful looking game with one of the best lighting systems money could buy. This help to create an amazing atmospheric feel that makes you feel unwanted at night and creates a terrifying sensation of being watched. The game oozes a claustrophobic atmosphere unparalleled by any game in the genre with the exception of Dead Space. The great dynamic weather effects add another layer to the already scary settings. Even though the game looks great it suffers from having a lower resolution that create some blurry and low resolution textures especially during the day time segments of the game. Other technical problems like screen tearing and poor lip synching are present but they don’t take much from the overall experience in this beautiful looking and atmospheric masterpiece.
Music plays a strong part in the experience and Remedy did a successful job blending an amazing soundtrack with licensed songs to crate a thrilling world. The voice acting in Alan Wake is great with the exception of some minor characters here and there but nothing too important. The sound affects immerse the player in the nightmare, you can feel the wind blowing and the tree branches breaking as you walk in the woods and it will surely play with your nerves if played at night. The game doesn’t rely on cheap tricks to scare you, instead the sound effects work so fine that it makes the player feel hopeless and outnumbered in the forest.
Without giving much from the story away we recommend gamers to play Alan Wake and find out what’s going on in the creepy and messed up town of Bright Falls. Alan Wake does not offer much replay value after the initial 10-12 hours campaign but it does offer a unique experience that is both scary and entertaining. The game might not be a masterpiece by today standards but Alan Wake is a great experience that will play with your mind and nerves. It will leave you talking about what’s going on in what seems to be the start of a promising gaming series.
Darn it! Excellent review man! This was a great game, although I must admit the story, in some areas was much confusing.
Thanks! The story is really confusing but there’s a lot of good theories out there. If you want to read them i can send them to you.