Alan Wake

"Alan Wake" is to "Max Payne" like one thing is the same as the next thing but in a different direction.

This game in its core is similar to "Max Payne". Animations, Sounds, the fact that the story is told through a book just like in "Max Payne" the story is told through a series of comics, and the overall feeling and atmosphere that this game creates for you, all of that is like "Max Payne", and better.

The setting on the other hand is in the direction of "Alone in the Dark 5". You can drive cars, you can blow up flammables to kill your enemies, you are pretty much alone... in a darkness... a mysterious darkness.

The game has so many, so many... many, many gems.. diamonds.. golden hidden things in it. For instance, the original score, when you hear it, it just blows the mind. The sound effects, little things like that which makes the game in its overall package even more compelling. A complete comprehensive and compelling story, really, the story is what makes it so good, and the way the story is being revealed.

Alan Wake is a writer of horror novels.

You can buy his latest creation at video stores near you. Or you can wait for the movie to come out in a couple of years... :/ - Don't do that, BTW.

Alan Wake is a third-person shooter where you fight darkness with light. You have to burn off the darkness (basically a shield) before you can kill them. Enemies will pop out of nowhere and sometimes surround you easily. You're not some invincible soldier with unlimited ammo, but a simple guy scrounging what you can find.

The story is fairly straightforward. You've lost your wife and a week of your life. You search the Washington wilderness encountered people, objects, and even animals possessed by a dark force. Meanwhile, you find pages to a book you haven't written but is coming true around you. As you go on, you learn that there is an evil force in Cauldron Lake that takes control of creative people. You battle this ancient evil using only the tools you have.

I really enjoyed the story. I'm a big fan of Stephen King books, horror movies, and suspenseful shows. I very much appreciated the media references, almost like a video game Scream. One of the big things about the story is that it is quite scary. And not just a pop-out and say boo kind of way. There were times when the dark fog would roll in and I'd almost be too afraid to move ahead.

I play a lot of shooters (Halo, Gears of War, etc), but I enjoyed playing a game with a different kind of mechanic. It's not just point and shoot. There's a lot more thinking involved. One enemy can easily overwhelm, so being surrounded is a big problem. They also don't drop ammo so you have to be mindful of how you fight. On the other hand, there's only so many enemies in an area (none of that annoying unlimited enemies other games use) and then you can explore without harassment. There's several collectibles (cans, manuscript pages, caches), though only the pages contribute anything to the story.

The thing I like is that this feels like a real place with real people. The women aren't all bustling supermodels (Alice Wake aside). The town seems like it's living and breathing, or what little you experience is. The characters are all written well with believable dialogue. The voice acting is really good, not just the same five voice actors that are in every other game. Alan is amazing, and his narration never gets dull. Barry is funny and is dynamic enough to be more than mere comedy relief. The amount of detail in the levels is amazing. I know it was originally supposed to be open world, and I kind of wish it was since there seems like so much to look around. Though, I really like the structure of the game as it is.

If I have any complaints, it's just two. First, while the animation is generally fantastic the mouths sometimes move like they're made of rubber. Second, there are times when enemies can be too overwhelming and others when ammo is too scarce. The level where you first run from the cops, I had to play several times cause I kept running out of flashbangs. There were some big battles where I seemed to be burning through all my flares and ammo cause there was simply too many enemies or too many tough enemies.

Alan Wake is drastically underrated with audiences. I recommend any gamer to try it out. I also played through the two DLC and American Nightmare. All of it was fun and exciting and makes me wish Alan Wake 2 was on the horizon.

Over 5 years in the making, the spiritual successor of Max Payne 1 is a very cinematic game with good narrative and atmosphere. The tutorial may seem lame, but it gets better. The combat mechanics combining firearms and light work well. The graphics are excellent, if not technically, then certainly artistically. This is an xbox port done right, with minimal consolitis, after using the following tweaks: add "-rigidcamera" (no mouse accel) and "-noblur" to the executable's launch commands, and max the FOV and "direct aiming" in the settings). Be sure to play this at night in a quiet room when there is no one else in the house - anything else does not do it justice.

This is the best game I have played in a while. Every detail and points in this game is extremely polished. The story is the most hard to put down plot I have seen in a LONG time. The character development are really great: Alan Wake is my favorite character so far in gaming. The gameplay is solid, it makes this character feel real and in danger; he's a writer not a action hero. The environments are detailed every inch of the way. It's like you are in the game. Just personally I love this game to the bone. This is definitely one of the best games I have ever played in my life time. Just go out and buy it full price. The compelling of this game is so intense that I was scared. This is a master piece! Please, give me a great follow-up to this.

10/10 Greatness

The titular Alan(Matthew Porretta; flawed, yet likable) has written several successful crime novels, only now he can't seem to get started on the next one. He and his wife Alice(Brett Madden; loving, without just putting up with everything) go for a vacation in the sleepy port town of Bright Falls, Washington. To reconnect, to relax, to get away from it all. Unfortunately, that's not up to them. Something strange happens. She disappears, and he now has to get her back, as things around him make increasingly less sense. What is actually going on?

Her phobic fear of the dark sets up the core conflict between that and light - large static lights are Safe Havens(regeneration is sped up significantly, they're among the checkpoint saves, and enemies disappear back into the shadow that they appeared from - like in a slasher flick), smaller ones provide aid via a set source of brightening. And your handy flashlight, that you can find different strengths of, the better, the more batteries(which you have to manually replace, lest you wait for it to slowly recharge, without using it) it'll take to fill it, can slowly(or faster, if you "boost" it - which drains it, and is the only way you can more accurately aim!) drain the evil protecting the Taken - people from the area who are being controlled. Their pitch-shifting taunts(regular phrases, related to their profession - hunter, deputy, etc.) and the poltergeists(normal objects, like a steel beam, "invisibly" raised and thrown at you) are the only aspects that can seem silly to those of us not big on supernatural possession fiction.

Once you've removed the black, Venom-like(Spider-Man villain, not "poison") substance covering them like that, these nearly-usual-looking(they poured some water on the designs to make them "slightly off" - it worked) can be dealt with with bullets, from the revolver, hunting rifle or one of two kinds of shotgun(which can push them back whether it'll kill them or not - and that may be necessary! You can only carry one two-handed weapon at a time; choose carefully, you can't carry much ammo). Reloading can be sped up by tapping the key for it, something I hope makes its way into more like this - it gives you something active to do to speed it up, and keep in mind, it's all "one bullet/shell at a time" with this arsenal. Flares can be carried while walking, or dropped in place(you just bought yourself a few seconds of peace), and will prevent them from getting too close, and the flaregun and flashbangs works like grenades(that won't hurt you). Carefully using all of these in conjunction with each other is vital to get through this.

Although there is arguably almost too much action, for something that is a psychological thriller that nearly gets into horror, it doesn't get monotonous(in spite of the fact that with the gameplay, like Left 4 Dead, it doesn't take long to "try everything"). Provided you're into the story; if not, this isn't for you. The episodic nature(complete with "previously on", cliffhangers and separate focus that all adds up to a cohesive whole) keeps this tight, with the plot moving, characters introduced and developed and the setting changing throughout, without losing you along the way. It's something as rare, today, as a mystery that answers nearly every question brought up along the way, if the very ending is unsatisfying(which the two hour DLCs don't change - if those don't come with your copy for free, I wouldn't bother with them). The downside is that the length suffers - 9 and a half hours to complete the six chapters, and while there is replayability(in the three difficulties), some of it, like Achievements and collectibles(purely for the doing so), harm the otherwise solid immersion.

Another thing that has that outcome is the mini-radar; I understand it's a GPS - however, in something like this, disempowerment is important, and this is the only thing where they get that wrong. It attracts attention to the otherwise inobtrusive HUD. Each part of this opens with a bright day sequence, giving you time to breathe, and wonder if what is going on is all in your mind - albeit as you progress, these get increasingly eerie. It goes on to nighttime, with everything around you feeling dangerous. The atmosphere is able to instantly turn from serene to threatening. Rivers and cliffs that you have to cross on rickety bridges or go near on old, abandoned(recently or otherwise - much in this is just "that which was quaint, is now sinister with the passing of a few hours since people were in and on them") buildings that you don't trust to not collapse. You're almost exclusively in the gloomy forest, and yet it doesn't get old.

Along the way, you find pages from Departure, the book Wake was going to author. And it explains(via narration, which our protagonist also does over the course of it) what is going on that we don't see, as well as predicting things that then happen! This is very foreboding, making you wonder how what you read comes to happen, or what will occur after it. The twists and pace keep you constantly wanting to go on, to find out more. Early on, this does waste some time, and other than that, the script can be hit and miss - on the whole, this is solid. Dialogs aren't repetitive(outside of the ones, along with monologues, that restate objectives - those even go over regular ones! And as usual, these come when you're exploring, I wish you could turn them off), acting is great with nearly no exceptions and the people in this are credible, interesting and varied. The bubbly diner waitress, a fellow New Yorker "lost in the wild", etc.

There is a lot of disturbing content and a little blood in this. I recommend this to any fan of the creepy horror and themes of Stephen King. 8/10