Alan Wake; it is a name most gamers have heard about for a good long while, maybe even to the point of being parodied under a similar umbrella as the mythological Duke Nukem: Forever. Why? Because this game was first revealed back at E3 2005!
With possibly one of the longest public development times for a game in recent history, coupled along with its many E3 accolades, it means Alan Wake almost has to live up to a standard almost unseen on a game that has taken so long. But Remedy do seem to live by the code of ’it’s done, when it’s done.’ Which to be fair, has to be commended.
So with its final impending release date of May 14th, you should read on to get yourself to grips with what you can expect from this psychological thriller.
Alan Wake is an author a bit down on his luck, suffering from below-average sales of his previous book, Insomnia and such a chronic writer’s block he makes himself and his wife go on vacation to Bright Falls, a quaint little Oregon town. Yet little does he know that his next ‘killer’ book has already been written and the events are about to become reality.
Soon after arriving in Bright Falls Alan gets separated from his wife Alice and is at some point running from police in the dark, fighting shadowy figures with torches, flares and all manner of other light sources planted and hidden throughout the game to help fight these possessive apparitions known as ‘The Taken’.
You will also come across invisible marker pen clues that will aid you in progressing by shining a flashlight over them first which makes them glow. These help until you find yet another page of Alan’s supposed unwritten book, which has somehow mysteriously been written. Read the page and the events happen either moments later, or while actually reading. The more savvy movie-buff would liken this style to that of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead movies, where a group of college kids find a ancient book known as ‘the book of the dead’ and end up unleashing a nightmare of demons.
The similarities are there, but that is not all, as Alan Wake is taking a page out of the Alone in the Dark remake by making the game feel more serial and adding its own TV twist on each chapter of the game with climatic scenes or boss battles. One such known instance is when Alan is making his way on top of the dam and is about to be swamped with Taken until a tornado appears and throws cars about and the chapter ends. Alan Wake takes multipal references from other games, TV and books to make it become more unique than anything else you’ve experienced as a gamer to date.
Remedy went to a lot of work in creating Bright Falls and is part cause for the games extended development, as Alan Wake was previously aimed at being a sandbox title, but it didn’t make much sense for something intended to be a psychological thriller. So rather than scraping the idea, the sandbox was used to create a more linear style narrative which lends to the fact Alan Wake will not be just a simple start, middle and end – but big enough to span multiple titles and handfuls of post release DLC.
Alan Wake isn’t a straight line though, as you can wander about the town seeing real footage of the actor who mo-capped the protagonist in TV interviews portraying happier times for Alan during the day. Because the nights are going to remind you of the goings on in Silent Hill. Mix in a probable Freddy Kruger induced insomnia and paranoia of anything not bolted to the ground. It’s hard to imagine but this is a game world where your enemy can literally possess almost anything and make it deadly.
Luckily the distractions of friendly and humorous supporting characters can lighten the otherwise dark and burdening shadow Alan needs to deal with, so expect at least one escort scenario thrown in. But something is bound to happen from tragedy, separation or possession.
This seems to sound like a lot of adventure but little action, but it’s quite the contrary as just the well documented first chapter of the game is filled with so much fighting off of the Taken, you will take stockpiling of ammo and portable light sources as a serious enough undertaking that any resulting break in action will be quiet the reprieve.
So now enjoy the latest trailer from Alan Wake and the shots below and look for a copy during daylight hours May 14th 2010 on a game suppliers shelf near you:.
