Alan Wake

Long in development, and bearing a strong ancestry, Alan Wake is finally here. The game may give off a lofty mood but it has a strong emphasis on action and it’s just as exciting as it is frightening. I guess you could expect as much from the people that brought us Max Payne, but was it worth the wait?

You play as Alan Wake, a successful author that’s suffering from a potentially deadly case of writers block. Hoping to get away and gather himself, he takes his wife to the barely populated town of Bright Falls. What can go wrong? The picturesque setting of Bright Falls is the perfect setting for backwards horror and Alan Wake uses it to it’s full potential to create some truly exhilarating moments. The story is told in episodes, with the game taking you where it needs to. It has a great pace to it and feels more like a television show than a game level. If the script was better the story would be the total package and it would be easier to believe in the characters. Alana Wake is a novelist from New York that takes to his role as a “Ghost Buster” a little to readily. The supporting cast isn’t any better. They continuously add unnecessary dialogue that seems to change the atmosphere of the game. For a group of people that are fighting a formless horror that can seamlessly conform their every surrounding to its violent will, Wake and his friends seem to be taking the situation a bit too casually. It’s a shame given everything that the story does correctly. It allows the story to unfold around you rather than dictate it through cut scenes. The narrative game play sequences are also done well but the feeling is too short lived. Too often you’ll be introduced to a bad character or hear a goofy line that doesn’t belong and it will remind you that you’re playing an action game.

Alan wake makes great use of a limited tool set to give you a relentlessly paced experience. The game is extremely linear. You are often encouraged to travel of the beaten path and look for collectibles and manuscripts, but you’re never off script for too long. The game is about taking you from point A to point B and it does it will excellent style. It also does a great job of playing on our elemental fear of the dark, and will have you stumbling around in the dark while doing everyday video game things finding keys to doors, solving puzzles and shooting down spiritually possessed country folk. The best thing about it is that the game never feels repetitive. You’d think since he’s fighting spirits he’d have his very own “Dematerializer” right? Wrong, Alan Wake’s arsenal is comprised of pistols, hunting rifles, and shotguns complimented by flare guns and flash bangs. The most valuable tool by far is his flash light, which illuminates his path in this shadow covered world. In Alan Wake a light source serves as a check point and safety. When you reach a check point you’ll have to turn on a generator that powers a flood light which refills your health and saves your progress. Before the last episode comes to an end, you’ll have fought against rooms full of murderous poltergeists, driven down spooky back roads, and run the streets of Bright Falls. Alan Wake is 6 episodes long which will take you an hour or two to complete each depending on how often you explore. I don’t know if it’s cause of its actual length or due to how relentless it is, the game is over before you know it. By the ending you can be sure that there will be more episodes.

Whether the developers intended to or not Alan Wake is an action game. One with amazingly good mechanics too. Light is your allie against the darkness, but shining your lamp in the enemies face only goes so far. If you really want to put a bad ghost down you’ll have to resort to guns. Alan will always have his flashlight and revolver. Flashing your lights beam causes your enemy to step back and remove the darkness that has overcome them. You have to be conservative though. Flashing your light will quickly drain its battery. Some enemies can only be killed with light like possessed objects and flocks of spirit birds. Being caught under equipped is bad because you’re enemies are way stronger than you and can tear you to pieces with ease. If you’re attacked by a mob then you can drop a flare to give yourself some room to breathe. If things get really bad just pop off a round from your flare gun and watch the fireworks clear the area. The combat in Alan Wake is very satisfying. The feedback is brilliant and the encounters give you a sense of dread. You really feel like these possessed hill billies can tear you limb from limb.

Alan Wake paints a beautiful picture, and Bright Falls looks like a decent place to visit to get away minus the creepy spiritual activity that happens after dark. There isn’t a part of the place that feels like a game level even when it’s at its most game like. The game makes excellent use of the lighting and puts you in some truly frightening places. When the wind picks up and the dark presence starts to whip up the shadows, you start to see the craziest things moving from the corner of your eye. The audio is on point as well. When the darkness comes you will here all types of sounds and trees rustling all around you. When the combat starts, the whooshes of flying hatchets and the sounds of revved chainsaws always come with a feeling of dread. Alan Wakes presentation is one of the best and it sells it’s nightmare completely.

Alan Wake paints a vivid nightmare that you won’t be able to sleep through. It’s the best take on a horror game in a long time and every moment felt like it was scripted. There is absolutely no fluff here. Alan Wake is a finely crafted single player experience, one that won’t disappoint.