Review: Alan Wake

[Bat Vader]

Thus far, not impressed. The lip syncing is horrible, and the dialogue is... laughable... really.

"I looked at the water; it was deep."

We waited 5 years for Alan Wake to tell us that the water, of a giant lake, was deep...?

Also whenever an achievement pops up it takes away from the game experience.


Yeah... it's not impressive for me...

Really? Are we gamers really THAT shallow?

Gears of War has better voice acting and script than Alan Wake...

The lip syncing was also something I would have been quite pleased with. Back in 2003.

There was nothing in Alan Wake that really wowed me.

The acting is pretty good and the game-play is nice. Although, I think it would have been better as a crime and thriller game instead of a horror game.

One of the biggest issues I have with Alan Wake is not being able to pick up weapons. If I run out of bullets and there are three of the taken coming after me than why can't I pick up an axe or something? It would make things so much easier when Alan runs out of ammo.

Spoiler

In episode 2 the whole back tracking to the cottage thing was annoying as well. A cinematic would have been nice instead of making gamers go back the way thay had just came.

 

[irequirefood]

I had heard things about this game, but now that I see it's 360 exclusive I feel kinda sad

 

[lomylithruldor]

I'm purposely playing this game slowly and only doing 1 chapter a night partly to extend the experience and partly because each chapter has a nice and clear beginning, middle and end and so it feels wrong quitting 1/2 way through. Played the second chapter and there are 2 things I really like so far.

Spoiler

1) The TV show. Can't remember its name now (DAMN IT!) but its very reminicent of what Remedy did in Max Payne. They are also very entertaining to watch.
2) The manuscript pages. Twice these have filled me with glee. The 1st time was at the beginning of chapter 2 when you pick one up and it reads like a sequal to Max Payne (with Max doing the VO work on it) The second was when you pick one up and at the end it says "Then I heard the sound of a chainsaw" I then spent the rest of the chapter on the edge of my seat desperately trying to save ammo waiting for the guy to show up. Brilliant way of building the tension with very little effort.

Just finished the game yesterday and I loved it.

Spoiler

1) When you can't remember a show's name, that's when you know you're in... Night Spring. In chapter 2, I really freaked out when I barely saw a Taken roaming around the little cabin I was in watching Night Spring.
2) I love the pages. Checking them out gives you info about the game you'll never know if you don't. Also, the first page in episode 5 about someone reading the page about him reading the page is pretty cool.

Spoiler

In episode 2 the whole back tracking to the cottage thing was annoying as well. A cinematic would have been nice instead of making gamers go back the way thay had just came.

Spoiler

IIRC, when you go back to the cottage, you take a car to speed the process and there's more things to see, so it's not backtracking since you don't go the same way except for like a minute after the roadblock.

 

[Kojiro ftt]

Just my 2 cents:

1. Alan Wake is one of the best games I've ever played.

2. Yes, the lip syncing sucks. But it certainly doesn't ruin the game.

3. Everyone should play this game on Hard to start with. In fact that goes for every game. Games today are too simple on normal difficulty. If I had my way, we would all play Alan Wake on Nightmare difficulty first. I didn't play normal, but watching the video on this review showed me it is stupid easy, and I imagine that would really take the wind out of the fear sails here when your enemies go down so quickly. Heck, even the poltergeist hit barely did any damage! In nightmare, a square hit like that would be 60% of your health. You'd be running like a scared rabbit after that hit.

4. Complaining about backtracking? Really? Did you miss the car? You drive most of the way back. Even once you get out on foot, it's just a straight run. You don't even get attacked, it's a race to get to Barry. The whole single backtrack section is a total of about 3 minutes of game play. Get over it.

 

[Aptspire]

Fyi: there is a small 'Max Payne' easter egg in this game, courtesy of Remedy.
I wonder if anyone else found it
EDIT: apart from the Night Springs stuff :O

 

[Ben Jackson]

My big brother got this game for his birthday as well as a 360. He's on episode 6. I've been playing with him and the games scary as hell...or I'm just a wuss...

Serious though. I remember in episode 3 when I went into the gents bathroom and I checked every stall, other than one which was locked. I then got the supplys and the lights blew...then suddenly one of the taken leaped behind me with a axe...

Yeah. I get to paranoid in games...serious though, I shitted myself

 

[Roughgalaxy]

So I was over on Metacritic and noticed this game got a 100/100 score. Really? It's not the only one either... so you are saying that this game is perfect in every way and has no flaws at all? Huh... interesting... Maybe you should put a little more thought into the score you give games... pay attention to what regular gamer folk score it versus what you do. In fact... lets see your record... of 100/100 scores.

Alan wake
Splinter cell conviction
Red dead redemption
super street fighter IV
God of war 3
Dragon age origins: awakening
Limbo
Super mario galaxy 2
Starcraft 2
Madden nfl 11
Halo reach
Cid Meiers Civ: 5
Plants vs zombies
Professor layton and the unwound future
NBA 2k11
Kirby's epic yarn
Wolrd of warcraft: Cataclysm
Assassin's creed: Brotherhood
Donkey kong country returns
Goldeneye 007
Pokemon white
Pokemon black
Dragon age 2

That's a long list of "Perfect" games... I find the last particularly interesting considering the abysmal user reviews it's getting.

I don't mean to get nasty, but I want to make a point. I like The Escapist... I just think you may be a little out of touch with your audience.