Review: Alan Wake
by Rob Vicars | Thursday 10th June 2010
The Review
The Xbox Dashboard is a great place for little nuggets of information that appear to you at times most unexpected, and prove to be
incomprehensibly invaluable in their later use. Or at least, that happened to me once. Most of the time it's largely the opposite. However,
whilst watching the E3 call-back video this week, it happened to mention that in 2005, at the first E3 unveiling of the Xbox 360, Alan Wake
was announced. Thereafter I learnt that the game was in its planning stages as early as 2001. And then I learnt that there are some long lost
historical writings that say the Sumerians actually started work on Alan Wake BEFORE EXISTENCE BEGAN. Okay that last one wasn't true, but the
others were entirely.
So, it's been NINE years Mr. Wake. That's a lot of books you could have been writing.
Alan Wake, after wading through several different genres, as nine years of development is quite likely to do to you, finally came to a halt on what the game cites as a 'Psychological Action Thriller'. But if you haven't played it at all, it's better to say this. Silent Hill. It's a third person-survival horror at its bare essentials. Alan Wake himself is a distraught, block-suffering writer who ventures off to sleepy North American town Bright Falls with his darling wife, in hope of a relaxing holiday, so he can get away from all the not-writing he's doing at home. After not having written a book in a long time, and this block clearly affecting his unsettled day to day life, his wife yearns for him to once again be writing and happy. And let's face it, probably wants some money. After turning up at Bright Falls, which frankly looks like the kind of place you'd only ever be dragged to by a dark presence, and settling in, Alice Wake tries to convince Alan to begin writing again. At which point he storms off and low and behold a Dark Presence kidnaps Alice. Therein Wake begins his journey to unravel the mysteries of what is going on in this seemingly crazy town, why he is finding a book page by page he can't remember writing, and that is coming to life before his eyes, and what has taken his wife.
The opening sequence is a stroke of genius, as you're chased towards a lighthouse by a seemingly harsh ghostly book critic. The shadowy figure launches insults about your appalling writing skills as you run, teary-eyed in the opposite direction. It's like Chris Eubank died and started reviewing books instead. The narrative to rest of the game however, is utterly captivating. The brains behind Max Payne penned this gem, and it shines through here, the story being compelling and driven and the characters solid enough to evoke some sort of compassion in the player, perhaps even to a Half-Life 2-esque extent. The game was always going to be a story-driven case of affairs so it had a considerable esteem to live up to, and does so stylishly and competently. The manuscript pages you find littered through-out the game are perhaps the most rewarding collectable, as the narrated story clipping that comes with each is well written, relevant and enlightening enough to make you genuinely worried when you miss one. This does however work against the flow of gameplay in places.
For combat and general manoeuvring, it's a run-of-the-mill setup on the controller, save for most of your time spent wandering, you'll have a torch. The torch beam reflects where you are facing, and is mapped to the right stick , a control scheme I actually found worked really well, despite it not being a huge change from anything we've seen before. It makes Wake slightly more accessible. As mentioned in the pre-awareness run up to the game, light is also your weapon, and this doesn't mean you're just lobbing desk-lamps at everyone. The idea is you aim your torch at your enemies (known in the game as The Taken) release them from the darkness that somehow makes them invulnerable to bullets and the cap them in the head with your hand gun. Sounds simple enough right? It is. Very. And combat can get a little samey, although the camera actions are a nice change of flow for sudden appearing enemies and when you pull off a cinematically acrobatic dodge. Visually, it's mostly impressive. Character models look solid and the environments are atmospheric in their structure, though once or twice I caught a texture gingerly stuck in an awkward position on its model. A number of fences and outdoor furniture looked a little poorly textured too, but really this was at close inspection. The game held all its bits together well throughout the lighting effects looking stunning in places, though perhaps not the graphical exception I was hoping for.
It's combat is solid and fun albeit slightly repetitive, and it's story brilliantly engaging, though for all the high hit-rate, Alan Wake is still incredibly short. Splinter Cell: Conviction short. Verne Troyer short. Replayability comes soley from doing it again on NIGHTMARE mode, which reportedly isn't all that nightmarish, although there are several manuscripts that can only be found in this mode, so you'll need it for all the achievements. Other than that if you bought the game new you'll get the next 'Episode' DLC (fitting in with the TV show theme running throughout the game) for free, and there's another coming later on in the year you'll have to pay for.
Personally I loved Alan Wake, it dragged me kicking and screaming into its world like an Elephant being forced into a paddling pool of mice. Whilst I intended to experience it once, and then chuck it in for Red Dead, I actually went back and bought the Special Edition, which comes in a beautiful case made to look like a book, along with the usual documentaries and soundtrack, it also includes a book written by an in game character. Similar to the game, it's excellently written and draws you further still into its world. It's a must-play game whether you keep hold of it or not, and a true triumph for the story-driven video game argument.
So, it's been NINE years Mr. Wake. That's a lot of books you could have been writing.
Alan Wake, after wading through several different genres, as nine years of development is quite likely to do to you, finally came to a halt on what the game cites as a 'Psychological Action Thriller'. But if you haven't played it at all, it's better to say this. Silent Hill. It's a third person-survival horror at its bare essentials. Alan Wake himself is a distraught, block-suffering writer who ventures off to sleepy North American town Bright Falls with his darling wife, in hope of a relaxing holiday, so he can get away from all the not-writing he's doing at home. After not having written a book in a long time, and this block clearly affecting his unsettled day to day life, his wife yearns for him to once again be writing and happy. And let's face it, probably wants some money. After turning up at Bright Falls, which frankly looks like the kind of place you'd only ever be dragged to by a dark presence, and settling in, Alice Wake tries to convince Alan to begin writing again. At which point he storms off and low and behold a Dark Presence kidnaps Alice. Therein Wake begins his journey to unravel the mysteries of what is going on in this seemingly crazy town, why he is finding a book page by page he can't remember writing, and that is coming to life before his eyes, and what has taken his wife.
The opening sequence is a stroke of genius, as you're chased towards a lighthouse by a seemingly harsh ghostly book critic. The shadowy figure launches insults about your appalling writing skills as you run, teary-eyed in the opposite direction. It's like Chris Eubank died and started reviewing books instead. The narrative to rest of the game however, is utterly captivating. The brains behind Max Payne penned this gem, and it shines through here, the story being compelling and driven and the characters solid enough to evoke some sort of compassion in the player, perhaps even to a Half-Life 2-esque extent. The game was always going to be a story-driven case of affairs so it had a considerable esteem to live up to, and does so stylishly and competently. The manuscript pages you find littered through-out the game are perhaps the most rewarding collectable, as the narrated story clipping that comes with each is well written, relevant and enlightening enough to make you genuinely worried when you miss one. This does however work against the flow of gameplay in places.
Game Images
For combat and general manoeuvring, it's a run-of-the-mill setup on the controller, save for most of your time spent wandering, you'll have a torch. The torch beam reflects where you are facing, and is mapped to the right stick , a control scheme I actually found worked really well, despite it not being a huge change from anything we've seen before. It makes Wake slightly more accessible. As mentioned in the pre-awareness run up to the game, light is also your weapon, and this doesn't mean you're just lobbing desk-lamps at everyone. The idea is you aim your torch at your enemies (known in the game as The Taken) release them from the darkness that somehow makes them invulnerable to bullets and the cap them in the head with your hand gun. Sounds simple enough right? It is. Very. And combat can get a little samey, although the camera actions are a nice change of flow for sudden appearing enemies and when you pull off a cinematically acrobatic dodge. Visually, it's mostly impressive. Character models look solid and the environments are atmospheric in their structure, though once or twice I caught a texture gingerly stuck in an awkward position on its model. A number of fences and outdoor furniture looked a little poorly textured too, but really this was at close inspection. The game held all its bits together well throughout the lighting effects looking stunning in places, though perhaps not the graphical exception I was hoping for.
It's combat is solid and fun albeit slightly repetitive, and it's story brilliantly engaging, though for all the high hit-rate, Alan Wake is still incredibly short. Splinter Cell: Conviction short. Verne Troyer short. Replayability comes soley from doing it again on NIGHTMARE mode, which reportedly isn't all that nightmarish, although there are several manuscripts that can only be found in this mode, so you'll need it for all the achievements. Other than that if you bought the game new you'll get the next 'Episode' DLC (fitting in with the TV show theme running throughout the game) for free, and there's another coming later on in the year you'll have to pay for.
Personally I loved Alan Wake, it dragged me kicking and screaming into its world like an Elephant being forced into a paddling pool of mice. Whilst I intended to experience it once, and then chuck it in for Red Dead, I actually went back and bought the Special Edition, which comes in a beautiful case made to look like a book, along with the usual documentaries and soundtrack, it also includes a book written by an in game character. Similar to the game, it's excellently written and draws you further still into its world. It's a must-play game whether you keep hold of it or not, and a true triumph for the story-driven video game argument.
This game was reviewed on: Xbox 360