Well, my internet was down for a week. So it gave me perfect oppurtunity to dig into my Limited Collectors Edition of Alan Wake on the 14th May.
First thing you notice is the love put into just the box. It's a book. ( surprise ). Seriouslty though it's amazing quality. Book texture, and engraved Alan Wake logo on the front. It includes a book of Alan Wkae Files, Bonus Disc and Soundtrack disc. As well as the game. Also it gives you the first DLC episode free.
So hows the game? Will it change your perception of Thriller/horror genre? Read on.
First things first. Put the disc in and you will be sucked in. No doubt about it. I finished the game in 4 days (whilst working ). My wife wanted to be there for the whole game. Basically the game is around 13 hours on my first playthrough on Hard. Going back to my wife, it's the only game she has ever shown any interest in watching. This in itself is a testament to just how engrossing this game is.
With Alan Wake it has been fully designed for people who love single player stories. It's been solely designed to give you a thrill ride with top notch Tv series scripting and cast. Does it succeed? Very much so. There isn't any other game in the medium that has anything like this. ( Sorry ME2 Alan Wake destroys your storytelling ). It's been crafted in such a way, where genuine cliffhangers finish the episodes. Genuine proper scripting with the best camera work you'll find in the gaming media. Remedy have truly set out to make you want to see whats next. It's this merging of TV/Gaming that has never really worked until now. Real world songs handpicked to create wonder and suspense are all there. Even David Bowie makes an appearance. If you even remotely liked the sublime Silent Hill 2, you are going to be treated to what feels like heaven.
The gameplay itself is more divers and much more free flowing than any other horror/thriller game ever made. Think to RE4 or RE5. Part of the way RE has made you feel tension is through deliberately making the controls awkward. Not moving freely for example. twisting to shoot in RE5 for instance is a chore. But it does add urgency. Alan Wake has been crafted so that it doesnt need this. In a way it's a testamont to just how well the game is scripted. Alan Wake's control is without a doubt leagues ahead of any other title in this genre. On the first playthrough you dont at anytime feel as though the gameplay is old either. You are slowly introduced to new ways to dispatch of enemies. And just when you thought you had seen it all, the game will throw in one of the best set pieces gaming has ever seen. All I will say is if your a rocker, you will love this part so much.
What of the visuals. Many of you have 360 games like Gears 2 or Mass Effect 2 in your collection. I will be frank. Alan Wake absolutely destroys both these games. By a long way. The lighting, effects and amont of onscreen detail is not matched. A good example is a certain part in the game where huge amounts of fireworks are let off and fired into the sky. The amount of shadows and lighting here is jaw dropping. There is no game out that shows this many individual different dahdows ( And all shadows are of a massively high res ) all while you can see 2km in any distance. Your in a field. Trees cast shadows from the fireworks, cahracters cast shadows. But all while each individual firework is a light source. It's a phenoinal sight. On the Binus disc Remedy state they looked at other engines ( naming UE3, Havoc Engine ) and that no engine was capable of doing what they wanted. Oh it's believable to. There are to many jaw moments in the game to just pick some. But another I have to mention is when you come up to a dam. The dame is huge, you can see all the way to the bottom. You can see as far as the eye can see. All rendered in realtime. Couple that with the 60 odd light sources lighting up the dam and then ( without ruining the game ) the effects your about to witness on top of that, without a doubt it makes ME2 and Gears 2 look like childplay in both engine and graphics. It's totally forgiveable that some textures are of lower res. Because the sheer amount of detail in a trailer park or the sheer amount of effects and draw distance all in realtime. It's something you have to let your 360 have the priveldge of rendering.
The soundtrack is also amazing. It's fantastic the way and episode ends. Camera work pulls out, song kicks in and all you can do is want to play on. Just like watching Lost, it gives you that feeling of not wanting to sleep, but to watch just one more. Songs litter the game world ingame. Perfectly timed. Poets of The fall, David Bowie and Old Gods of Asgard all make an appearance on the playlist. And better yet is the ability to play any song off the game disc that you have heard in the game as you play.
Basically Alan Wake is a lovingly crafted singleplayer experience. With far better conrols and gameplay than any other game in the genre. Proper on the edge of seat story with the best scripting your going to find in our medium. Graphics that make any other 360 effort look embarrassing and an ending that is EPIC beyond belief. At the end credits, Remedy declare Alan Wake 2 is coming. And to expect the story to carry on in DLC between the 2. It's worth watching the Making of Alan Wake just to see the love gone into the game. Even the stars in the game at night are exactly the way the consolations appear in real life. Amidst 100's of high res dancing shadows ( Even individual bracnches of trees cast these ), superb draw distance ( Episode 3 in the daytime as you cross the map is gut wrenching ) the best effects you'll see, amazing twisted and surprising story, fantastic soundtrack all make up my faveourite game this gen.
If you dont like the genre, it wont change your mind. ( Although it's worth witnessing just for the lighting, shadows draw distance and effects ) But to lovers of Silent Hill and Resident Evil for example this is the pinnacle of the genre. And you owe it to yourself to buy Alan Wake and continue the story with DLC and Alan Wake 2.
10/10
