So Alan Wake...

[Belvadier]

I really like the game's "Episode" presentation. Actually, the entire overall presentation of the game is absolutely outstanding. Also, the soundtrack is INCREDIBLE like probably the best videogame soundtrack ever just edging out Chrono Cross and Icewind Dale for my new favorite.

 

[Woodsey]

It was good and the story was great, but there were some issues.

Lip-sync was awful; the pacing was "off" throughout; the first half is spent almost entirely in the woods, which makes things drag quite a bit; that moment when Alan...

Spoiler

... locked Hartman (?) in the room with the dark presence so that he'd die, then walked away with a grin on his face. Obviously Hartman was a minor villain, but Alan had a hard enough time to begin with shooting black fog in the face, now he's locking people in who are still alive to die. It was just out of character.

I did really enjoy it though.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

It was good and the story was great, but there were some issues.

Lip-sync was awful; the pacing was "off" throughout; the first half is spent almost entirely in the woods, which makes things drag quite a bit; that moment when Alan...

Spoiler

... locked Hartman (?) in the room with the dark presence so that he'd die, then walked away with a grin on his face. Obviously Hartman was a minor villain, but Alan had a hard enough time to begin with shooting black fog in the face, now he's locking people in who are still alive to die. It was just out of character.

I did really enjoy it though.

I have to agree, bad lip syncing in games really puts me off and there's no excuse for it. So many games, and much older ones too, lip sync amazingly well and yet there are always a handful of games which LOOK amazing, until someone opens their mouth.

I would say that it's just sloppy and lazy game design/animation, but since I love this game so much and Remedy DID spend 5 years making it (so you'd think they could fix that at least...) then I shall let it slide!

As for...

Spoiler

Alan locking Hartman in the room... I just watched that scene again as I wasn't really sure what happened and it was a rather sinister act on Alan's part. Then again we don't actually have the full picture of Alan's character yet, I think the game has a lot more to tell us. Besides, Hartman was a complete douche and did try to trick Alan into thinking he was going insane. I did kinda smile like that too when he did it!

 

[TBR]

I thought it was boring.

The story wasn't anything to get you thinking or your heart pounding, and the fact that they're planning to sell the ending (sometime in July?) as DLC really wreaks of Microsoft BS.

Gameplay is kinda bad too, for me. You get everything you need about a third of the way through, and that's more than enough to plough through to the end of the game, with absolutely no new worthwhile gameplay elements introduced later. Oh, and there's only like 2 bad guys.


For me Alan Wake was like Borderlands, only 2 bad guys copy-pasted, no ending, but without the guns and set in a forest/lake/OCEAN.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

I thought it was boring.

The story wasn't anything to get you thinking or your heart pounding, and the fact that they're planning to sell the ending (sometime in July?) as DLC really wreaks of Microsoft BS.

Gameplay is kinda bad too, for me. You get everything you need about a third of the way through, and that's more than enough to plough through to the end of the game, with absolutely no new worthwhile gameplay elements introduced later. Oh, and there's only like 2 bad guys.


For me Alan Wake was like Borderlands, only 2 bad guys copy-pasted, no ending, but without the guns and set in a forest/lake/OCEAN.

I agree that the DLC is a little too much of a cheat. I'd rather have had a proper ending than have to wait and buy it later on.

But I thought there was plenty of story going on, the ending is left open so there is plety of speculation to be had, just check out some of the alan wake forums that are about.

As for gameplay, I thought it was quite original. If you don't find it challenging, try playing it on nightmare mode, that'll get your heart racing. As for the bad guys there are several kinds:

Stabby types
Throwy types
Fast moving types
Larger brute types
Chainsaw/Axe wielding types
Birds
Poltergeist objects

Ok so I admit there isn't much in the way of variation, but you can't say there are only two enemies!

 

[TBR]

I agree that the DLC is a little too much of a cheat. I'd rather have had a proper ending than have to wait and buy it later on.

But I thought there was plenty of story going on, the ending is left open so there is plety of speculation to be had, just check out some of the alan wake forums that are about.

As for gameplay, I thought it was quite original. If you don't find it challenging, try playing it on nightmare mode, that'll get your heart racing. As for the bad guys there are several kinds:

Stabby types
Throwy types
Fast moving types
Larger brute types
Chainsaw/Axe wielding types
Birds
Poltergeist objects

Ok so I admit there isn't much in the way of variation, but you can't say there are only two enemies!

Nightmare mode isn't what it should be. It's like saying that if I find CSS too easy I should play against some ninja'd bots with instant reaction time and perfect accuracy. That's just cheap rubbish, not good challenging game design.


As for the enemies, I say there's only two bad guys in Borderlands, of course there's minor variations (such as midgets and fat people), and that bloody 100-yard-long flying rape-powered moth,but those and the dogs are the overwhelming majority, if you get my point.

 

[Woodsey]

It was good and the story was great, but there were some issues.

Lip-sync was awful; the pacing was "off" throughout; the first half is spent almost entirely in the woods, which makes things drag quite a bit; that moment when Alan...

Spoiler

... locked Hartman (?) in the room with the dark presence so that he'd die, then walked away with a grin on his face. Obviously Hartman was a minor villain, but Alan had a hard enough time to begin with shooting black fog in the face, now he's locking people in who are still alive to die. It was just out of character.

I did really enjoy it though.

I have to agree, bad lip syncing in games really puts me off and there's no excuse for it. So many games, and much older ones too, lip sync amazingly well and yet there are always a handful of games which LOOK amazing, until someone opens their mouth.

I would say that it's just sloppy and lazy game design/animation, but since I love this game so much and Remedy DID spend 5 years making it (so you'd think they could fix that at least...) then I shall let it slide!

As for...

Spoiler

Alan locking Hartman in the room... I just watched that scene again as I wasn't really sure what happened and it was a rather sinister act on Alan's part. Then again we don't actually have the full picture of Alan's character yet, I think the game has a lot more to tell us. Besides, Hartman was a complete douche and did try to trick Alan into thinking he was going insane. I did kinda smile like that too when he did it!

I suppose that links into the rather ambiguous ending. Maybe we'll understand more about why he did it in the DLC.

 

[squid5580]

Glad someone else out there enjoyed it as much as I did. Not too thrilled about the ending ("we wrap it up nice and neat" my eye!), but hopefully that translates into another game. Wonder what co-op would be like in it...

It has already been confirmed there will be a sequel. And all the DLC will serve as a prequel for it.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Nightmare mode isn't what it should be. It's like saying that if I find CSS too easy I should play against some ninja'd bots with instant reaction time and perfect accuracy. That's just cheap rubbish, not good challenging game design.


As for the enemies, I say there's only two bad guys in Borderlands, of course there's minor variations (such as midgets and fat people), and that bloody 100-yard-long flying rape-powered moth,but those and the dogs are the overwhelming majority, if you get my point.

I know exactly what you mean, and I agree. I guess these things just don't bother me so much and I do rather love this game so I'm biased!

Like you say Nightmare could have been harder. Perhaps limit the amount of batteries you can carry or stop health from auto recharging unless in a safehaven. Instead they just increase the amount of damage a Taken ... umm takes. Also the achievements are pretty darn easy, I've got about 47 out of 50 of them on my own on three playthroughs of every difficulty, this from a person who rarely plays past normal difficulty and doesn't care for achievements.

Plus I was walking through one of the many forests earlier and noticed a "Beware: Bears" sign and thought how cool it would be to fight a bear Taken. So yeah some more enemies would have been fun.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Yes it's great... and now for another shamless self-plug, here's my Alan Wake review

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.196056-Miracles-Whip-ALAN-WAKE

 

[Belvadier]

Lip syncing was bad and that is such a minor thing that could have been easily fixed that I don't know why they didn't do it but it certainly didn't ruin it for me. The ending, while enigmatic, certainly satisfied me. And the final lines of the game were just simply chilling.

The ending was at least better than the ending to LOST =)