The execution of the scenery and atmosphere has masterful precession in its perfection. The dark forests that consume the majority of your time look real and may cause a phobia of camping anytime soon after completing the game. The atmosphere is incomparable with any game in the past 10 years save Silent Hill 2. In addition, many of the set pieces here are memorable except for one of the large climatic moments that made appearances in several other titles before Alan Wake. Although the setting looks great, from the town to the dark forests, there is a lack in creativity as to why you must traverse this forest again. The story resonates long after you finish the game, but you will forget parts of the narrative the moment they are completed. These moments are the common threads in horror movies that cause the audience to stand and yell for the protagonist not to look in that closet or go into the basement alone. What really draws people into the narrative is that just when you think the ending is obvious, everything changes. The psychological side to any great work is in its ability to draw you in and never let go.
Alan Wake claims primarily to be a psychological thriller and never leaves once you invite the narrative into your mind. This type of game holds a general archetype, which is a story hitting close to home. For this story, it plays on the primal fear of most children?the dark. Here Alan is a writer having writers block, upon arriving with his wife in the vacation town of Bright Falls, he meets a mysterious women who gives him the keys to her cabin. After an argument between him and his wife, Alice, the cabin's power goes out. Alan hears Alice scream, due to her Achluophobia or fear of darkness. He runs back to the cabin and finds Alice gone. Upon looking at the broken back door, he realizes the kidnapper brought her to the lake behind the cabin. After he sees a silhouette that appears to be Alice in the lake, he dives in. The next moment he is at the wheel of his car, which has crashed and he cannot remember the past week. Perhaps what is more important is that darkness has fallen.
Alice described darkness as something palpable, something that could reach out and hurt you. Ironically, this theory is now Alan's reality. You face enemies shrouded in shadow; to hurt them you must break their shield of darkness with your unconventional weapon, the flashlight. This presents multiple elements to gameplay; first, you have a gun that follows standard aim and shoot mechanics. The shooting mechanic is solid, but nothing special. You have multiple guns to work with, although shooting is only one part of gameplay Alan Wake. Next is the flashlight, which you aim at the shadow creatures and lower their shield without costing battery life. Alternatively, you can turn the flashlight to high beams and drain your batteries and their shields quickly. The final gameplay element is running, something most gamers see as the equivalent to giving up. Here running to the streetlights can save you, as streetlights stand as safe havens against these shadows. You have the ability to mix gameplay up; the survival horror aspect will vary greatly upon your play style. Someone who tries killing every creature will run out of bullets and will need to use the flares and flash grenades to run for light or munitions causing tension. The player that floats like a butterfly and runs like Usain Bolt may have stockpiles of munitions when required, but it will be much harder and more intense an experience attempting to dodge and time flare runs against groups of enemies. Finally, a balanced gameplay style will leave you with munitions if you need but will also leave tension high. These gameplay styles help allow all types of players enjoy the game.
In a game with such a depth of immersion, nothing breaks the illusion like control issues. The running is the biggest flaw. You will often overshoot your target while running or run into an enemy while trying to avoid them. In some games an issue like this may have a lesser effect, but when running is a core game mechanic a slight flaw shines through all the good. Many games have issues with the tightness of controls, but it is a fair criticism in a game that took over five years to complete and tweak. In addition, the driving controls can feel loose at points and given that some missions can realistically only be completed by using a car, that is a glaring flaw. The narrative comes in chapters or episodes recapped by Alan after each episode completes. This is a novel idea, but it can shatter the flow by repeating what you likely just completed. Just like the recaps, Alan narrates entire game; this narration begins to grate as he states everything you do. Even though the immersion, atmosphere and story tear you from your bedroom, living room, or office the controls throw you right back no matter how hard you give yourself to the game.
Survival horror in games is fading away, with the announcement of only one survival horror game at E3 this year. Alan Wake tries so hard to be the revival to this genre. With such perfection, both aesthetically and atmospherically, immersion comes immediately. The story follows suit with the controls, good but not fantastic. The main issue with the game is the polish, be it in the controls or issues with repetition in the story. Polish being the biggest issue is ironic as the game took nearly five years to develop and polish. Overall Alan Wake rates along with most of the games components, good maybe even great but not fantastic.
Thanks for the compliment as well.
