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The majority of games I have seen being released so far this year have pretty much retread old ground, then tread again with gasoline and a match, until May 18th that is. It felt almost like a pressure valve of creativity burst and we got some pretty interesting titles such as Red Dead Redemption, Split/Second, and the admittedly-too-close-to-a-movie-tie-in, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. Always being the one trying to sniff out breaks in the Space Marine mold, I spotted a curious occurance in terms of Xbox 360 Exclusives, namely, a game in which the protagonist's closest form of protection is a tweed jacket.
Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller game developed by Remedy, the same creative minds behind Death Rally and the Max Payne games. First off, I have to get a joke out of the way. What the hell is up with this company and naming their protagonists? Max Payne, a wronged cop who kills a lot of people, therefore delivering what? Max pain!! Now we have Alan Wake, a character in what is basically a horror story. What's going to be next? Ethan X. Plosion in their next action game? Alright, jokes aside, let's get to the review.
The story revolves around bestselling author, Alan Wake, who, after suffering a two year long writer's block, is persuaded by his wife, Alice, to take a vacation. Hence the happy couple goes out to the nice little mountain town of Bright Falls. Before they can unpack, however, some faceless entity takes over the town and messes things up. Alice goes missing and Alan is being chased by shadowy madmen. Furthermore, Alan is finding pages to a novel that has his name on it, a novel that has an identical series of events to the insanity happening in Bright Falls. Desperate to find his wife, Alan resolves to collect the manuscript and stop the dark presence.
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Where's Captain Sunshine when you need him...
The gameplay of Alan Wake is 3rd-person and is quite fun, save for a few moments of unrefined platforming. The sections are broken up in daytime interaction with Bright Falls' citizens and nighttime moments of claustrophobic, atmospheric treks in the woods that are broken up by the occasional axe murderer. During the nighttime sections against the shadow men, called the Taken, your only means of defense is light. Using a flashlight, or whatever you have handy, you can "burn" the dark presence that protects the Taken. Once their dark armor is gone, the Taken are open to more direct forms of attack, like a firearm. Of course, humans aren't the only things that can be Taken....
In terms of characters and story, Alan Wake is almost a masterpiece. Alan Wake is revealed as a truly human yet relatable character, whether it would be with how he handled his success or his short temper, yet it never gets bogged down in laughable angst or gritty depression. Alice grows on you and becomes a character you actually want to save, and chances are you can write a story about... anyone in Bright Falls. The entire world just oozes personality, whether it be through the townsfolk, the occasional radio or tv show you find, or even in the game's soundtrack which is probably one of the best I've ever heard of in a game. The story as a whole feels like a really good Stephen King story, but also brings in the warm familiarity of small mountain towns along with some pop culture and satire, all of which gives the game a good balance of horror and humor. All of these elements combined help give real punch to Alan Wake's overall feel as a television thriller series.
How Alan Wake manages to keep itself potent throughout a twelve hour or so play time is how the game is broken up into episodes. Each new episode introduces new elements in both story and gameplay, keeps the player moving forward, and will usually end in a cliffhanger or curveball to the player, which is par for the course for viewers of Lost (ie. me). Part of me wants to say this is used as a gimmick in order to to mask a tv show as a game, but when the gameplay is so functional and the plot is so compelling, it doesn't exactly merit a negative aspect but more on the lines of unique.
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Nathan Drake never has to put up with this...
Of course, as my mantra goes, no game is perfect. For such a strong story oriented game that Alan Wake is, there are quite a few problems in their cutscenes. The framerate gets inconsistent in a few areas but can be easily overlooked, and ironically, everyone looks mostly realistic until they open their mouths. The lip sync is off and sometimes doesn't even match up with the dialogue, making everyone look like a high-tech handpuppet. Also, the game feels a bit like it runs out of steam around the final level and might leave a few people underwhelmed, especially when it comes to the headache inducing ending.
All of these problems are mostly small and shouldn't worry anyone too much in the long run. In my opinion, Alan Wake is a pretty damn good game. I got everything I wanted out of a psychological thriller and more. I am more than psyched for the inevitable DLC and possible sequel and all I can say is it is definitely worth any gamer's time.
Buy or Rent? I'd say if you're an Xbox owner with sixty American dollars handy, you can do a whole lot worse than buying Alan Wake. For those who are a little too slow to try something new, rent it and give it a chance.
