Alan Wake: Thoughts?

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

I played Alan Wake shortly after it came out, and I really liked it. However, I've heard it was a commercial flop, despite seeing some good reviews.
I thought it was great - very atmospheric, an interesting story, and the soundtrack was excellent. I really liked exploring the environments (though they were mostly forests), but the the sections were broken up fairly nicely with cutscenes, enemy encounters, etc. However, the enemy encounters became repetitive and predictable. The graphics were great, the lighting especially. I found myself wondering what would happen next, and had a good experience with the game overall.

Your thoughts?

 

[Sulgoth]

This is the one game who's CE soundtrack actually made it onto my various music player's, it's not moody background music, it is full and true songs and for the most part they are great!

The game is fairly interesting all on its own, but I almost wish the enemies would suddenly sneak up on you and make it a good idea to be constantly looking over your shoulder. I never really found it terrifying but it definitely had the atmosphere to make you want to keep moving, almost like the whole area was out to get you.

 

[Meggiepants]

I thought it was a decent game. The repetitiveness of the enemies was not all that cool, but the idea of light attacking enemies was a neat twist on the survival horror type game.

One thing that bugged the hell out of me though, whenever you got the awesome light, the great big lantern one, it was the end of the level. You never got to keep it for the next level. Alan is running around this village, knowing things come out of the dark, but apparently he gets rid of all his awesome lights before the next chapter.

I just wanted to use that thing for more than 2 minutes at the end of a level. It was an awesome flashlight.

 

[loc978]

My thoughts about Alan Wake... From reading various reviews and articles... and seeing gameplay footage, I think it would have made a decently fun PC game. Pity it only came on the faulty-hardware-machine.

 

[VaudevillianVeteran]

I liked Alan Wake a lot, something different and something slightly more deserving of the 'Survival Horror' genre mark, but having Alan always end up in the forest some way or another just felt repetitive and silly. It didn't really feel like much of a game, more of an interactive novel, but fuck it, it was fun.
...
Kickass soundtrack though.

 

[BreakfastMan]

I thought it was pretty good. It had some awesome moments, and the game was pleasantly creepy throughout the entire adventure. It also helped that the game had a great soundtrack and a fascinating story. The wandering around in the woods in the beginning of the game was pretty tiresome though.

 

[Smooth Operator]

They had about 6 hours of great material, sadly they padded it out with unneeded fights that quickly became tedious, and towards the end it got so bad I didn't even want to finish it.
So there is some good stuff in there but overall I wouldn't recommend more then a rent to anyone.

And it's not like they will lose money on this because they stuffed ads into every corner of the game, it was damn right disgusting.

 

[Woodsey]

- Good idea
- Interesting story
- Solid graphics (but for the love of fuck, you know why new consoles are needed? ANTI-ALIASING. Sick of having to look at muddied/blurred screens or jaggies).
- Repetitive environments
- Interesting combat (but not brilliantly implemented)
- Terrible driving sequences
- Constantly 'off' pacing, with too much time in the woods , as well as bookending cutscenes (TV episode style framework doesn't gel), being major factors
- I can no longer tell if Sam Lake is doing it on purpose or if his metaphors really are that awful
- Character writing is actually very believable for the most part
- Wake isn't overly likable, but doesn't need to be since I found him relatable
- Flashbacks to New York work very well
- No PC version feels like a missed opportunity, for them and us

 

[MetalDooley]

I enjoyed it.The story was good,the atmosphere was suitably creepy,the characters were decently written,the music was good and there were some neat touches like the "Night Springs" tv show.

It did have some flaws namely repetitive combat and the way it kept stripping you of all your gear so you started each chapter with only the basic pistol and flashlight

Overall though a very good game and I'm still hopeful of a sequel

 

[GiantRaven]

The story seemed interesting but the gameplay was rubbish.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I loved it. Don't know where all this "great graphics" praise is coming from. Did you SEE characters' faces when they talked in cutscenes? Stuff of nightmares right there. Still, it was a blast to play, and the DLC for it made it even better. There had better be a sequel to it, because you can't end a game that way. You simply can't.

 

[Antari]

Great on the first play through ... but that makes it a rental ... I regret buying it

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I liked the game, but it was by no means perfect. The story was good, but all the little recaps between levels annoyed me. The combat was interesting, but after a while it became too formulaic. I really wish that there had been a few more different types of enemies, or ways to take them down. It had great atmosphere but it was by no means scary.

For every good thing there was a small little problem holding the game back from being really great.

 

[Netrigan]

Good:
spooky environment
good story
some really tense moments when I was low on ammo

Bad:
Same spooky environment over and over
far too much redundant narration
mostly boring and unremarkable combat system

It's one of those games I'd kind of like to see get a sequel, because I think they could smooth out the rough edges and put out a really good game. More enemy types, more environments, de-emphasize combat in favor of evasion, much less narration, and it could be classic.

 

[Mr. Eff_v1legacy]

Thanks for the comments, guys.
I'll have to play the DLC, and maybe the main game again.

 

[Netrigan]

Having completed the two DLCs for the game... something along those lines really should have replaced the last couple of episodes in the regular game. Episode 5 & 6 were where they tossed a lot of the horror elements out in favor of squad mechanics and stand-offs, with fight sequences spreading out to infinity. Then by the time I got to the end, I admit I didn't quite get it until I saw the recap at the start of The Signal.

The whole concept of the lake wasn't really fleshed out enough to make the ending really work for me. Having a couple of surreal levels near the end which focused on the horrors of such a realm would have really driven home the sacrifice he made to save his wife. They could have also shown a few insights into what his wife and Zane experienced. Not to mention give new life to environments that were starting to get more than a bit stale. And ending with the lighthouse would have fit in a bit better with the opening dream sequence.

 

[stefani_saturn]

excellent game, i loved my time in Bright falls, even if you do get a little tired of fighting the same guys over and over

 

[Devias-]

I loved it. Don't know where all this "great graphics" praise is coming from. Did you SEE characters' faces when they talked in cutscenes? Stuff of nightmares right there. Still, it was a blast to play, and the DLC for it made it even better. There had better be a sequel to it, because you can't end a game that way. You simply can't.

That's the uncanny valley, can't blame it on the graphics. Now that I think of it, I don't think there has been a game that has believable facial expressions. La Noire seems to have destroyed this particular obstacle though.

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

It was alright, but I didn't like how the pages you found would spoil what was about to happen.

And the darkness was incredibly lame. When it possessed people, it just made them shout random sentences. When it possessed objects, it just became annoying.

Seriously, there was a skeleton of a wooly mammoth in one of the levels. Why did it NOT possess that?

 

[blackdwarf]

its a great game, but on a gameplay point not that intresting. the darkness was cool, but the danger wasn't really there cause when you had light they were deafetable. the coollest moment was when i had no gun and had a limeted supply of batteries, then the game shined, but it was hard to walk without supplys, cause they were easy to find, at thtat point they failed.