Xbox 360: Alan Wake

Developed by Remedy Entertainment, "Alan Wake" is the newest addition to survival horror video games and is Xbox 360 exclusive. If you don't own a Xbox, I apologize that you will not be able to play this masterful game. Because, on every front, "Alan Wake" is a very, very good video game.



Summary: The player controls Alan Wake, a writer with a serious lack of inspiration. In order to get away from it all, Alan and his wife, Alice, seek out a vacation spot called Bright Falls----a small, seemingly New England town, that runs off of gossip and the local radio station. However, Alan is quickly entangled in lies and inconsistencies, and his wife disappears. Along the way to finding her, Alan begins to find pages to a manuscript with his name on it that he hasn't written yet, and the pages predict the events about to happen.

The game is divided like a television series, in that each "episode" of the game ends with a cliff-hanger, and the next begins with a "Previously on Alan Wake" introduction. There are six episodes that make up the game, and should last around 10 hours if you aren't the kind of person who collects all the manuscript pages and coffee thermoses.

Review (Pros): The biggest issue that I usually have with video games is the control scheme. A game could have perfect scripting, scenery, transitions, voice acting (which this game does), but controls are usually a problem. This is not the case for "Alan Wake." Building upon the over-the-shoulder look utilized by Resident Evil titles and "Dead Space," Remedy perfects the scenario. Alan carries a flashlight that acts as a great, natural reticule for enemy-blasting. In fact, all enemies have to first be "burnt" with a flashlight before bullets can kill them, which is both hectic and fun.

Overall, the game is entirely creepy----the atmosphere, characters, and plot all drive this mood home throughout the experience. Not only do people attack you, but the Darkness that Alan battles can also harness inanimate objects (like train carts) to hurl at you. As a player, you are constantly on your toes. However, you also have a pretty good idea when things are about to attack you. The screen tends to become blurry or a quick cut scene reveals the ambush. This helps the player from being completely ambushed.

Lastly, the story is absolutely fantastic. People can watch you play and be just as sucked in as the gamer----trust me, it happened. It works just like a suspense series on television, providing the viewer with only enough idea of what's going on to get to the end.



My only problem with "Alan Wake" revolves around the fact that it offers very little replay value or reason to play on a higher difficulty. I wish that Remedy had used an ending system, much like that of "Dead Space," in which you have to beat the game a certain number of times to unlock the "true" ending. The only reason to play "Alan Wake" again (instead of jumping on the "Red Dead Redemption" bandwagon) is to unlock manuscript pages that can only be found in Nightmare mode. I've also been told that beating the game on the highest difficulty unlocks another, higher difficulty. I'm not sure if that rumor is true, but it still doesn't entice me.

If you have 60 bucks, I fully recommend "Alan Wake" because of its atmosphere, flawless control scheme, and remarkable story-telling. But if you want your money to last, stick with RDR for some seriously long game play.

In conclusion:
"Alan Wake"
4.5 out of 5

Source of image: Wikipedia