Zero Punctuation: Alan Wake

[RJ Dalton]

To be fair, not all of Stephen King's novels are about a writer with personal problems being haunted by an ancient, unknowable evil in small town America. Sometimes, the evil is knowable.
And his best novels weren't anything like that. At which point I take the opportunity to recommend the Dark Tower books to anyone bothering to read my post.

 

[SamElliot'sMustache]

I had heard before about the TV-style recaps at the start of levels, and that concept just couldn't help but make me go "Why?" It was annoying when it was done in Lost: Via Domus and it would certainly be annoying when done in a game not based in any way off of a TV show, thus having no reason to include them, especially when the plot seems to only follow one point-of-view the whole way through. Though, it could have worked if it was done like Yahtzee suggested (encouraging players to turn off the game and do something productive for a while, before coming back), or if it was an episodic release, or if they only implemented the recap after players loaded a save file.

With those recaps and the narration, and the fact that the plot sounds incredibly bad, I'd have probably avoided it, even if it came out for the PS3 or Wii (don't have a 360, I just like watching the reviews).

 

[Artemus_Cain]

I am surprised Yahtzee didn't mention Silent Hill once during this review. Same kind of foggy atmosphere, same kind of, "stuck in town by self" plot, same bad combat, isn't Alan Wake even made by some of the same people as Silent Hill?

No. I think it was the Max Payne people.

 

[SamStar42]

I agree with the characters faces looking creepy and Barry needing to STFU at times, but tbh I didn't find this review as good as others. Maybe it's because I liked the game, not sure. Just didn't really find it that funny.

 

[dreadedcandiru99]

I thought the game was pretty good, but I tend to agree with Yahtzee on at least a few bits. First of all, I thought it was much scarier when you're alone in the woods at night then when the bad guys show up, because bad guys you can deal with--point the light at them for a second or two, shoot them, poof, gone. (And what exactly does it mean to "boost" a flashlight, anyway? I've owned a number of flashlights in my time, and none of them have had an extra button that makes them super-bright by draining the batteries in seconds.)

And yeah, the characters' lip movements almost never match up with their dialogue; it's as if Remedy decided that as long as Alice's mouth is open when she's supposed to be talking, that was good enough. Other games don't seem to have a problem figuring out how to make faces work, so I don't see why this one should.

 

[Worgen]

looks like he made it tho the tutorial this week, thats something

 

[jamescorck]

I so knew he was going to rip off the guts of this game XD It was a lot of fun seeing him doing so, but I still find the game good in my own opinion.

 

[Artemus_Cain]

I had heard before about the TV-style recaps at the start of levels, and that concept just couldn't help but make me go "Why?" It was annoying when it was done in Lost: Via Domus and it would certainly be annoying when done in a game not based in any way off of a TV show, thus having no reason to include them, especially when the plot seems to only follow one point-of-view the whole way through. Though, it could have worked if it was done like Yahtzee suggested (encouraging players to turn off the game and do something productive for a while, before coming back), or if it was an episodic release, or if they only implemented the recap after players loaded a save file.

With those recaps and the narration, and the fact that the plot sounds incredibly bad, I'd have probably avoided it, even if it came out for the PS3 or Wii (don't have a 360, I just like watching the reviews).

Yeah, It sort of made me feel that gaming still has a self confidence problem. Videogames are an artform that needs to stay in its own medium. TV shows don't act like movies, and movies don't try to be TV shows, and when they try, they almsot always fail completly. That's why video game movies always fail (Prince of Persia doesn't count. see moviebob for more).

It's just... frustrating.

 

[cabutler03]

Funny review, though to be honest, I do like Alan Wake because it reminds of Silent Hill, and despite the long development time, it still came out well.

I do have some gripes, though, like the driving sections, the "jumping mechanics", and the FBI guy, but overall, it was an enjoyable game.

So yes, I must respectfully disagree with you, Yathzee.

Not really that good IMO.

Possibly because I really really want to play this game but M$ says no to us PC pricks.

You know, every time I see somebody post "M$", it makes me want to punch somebody, mostly because I'm sick of seeing it. Please stop doing that, okay/ It means absolutely nothing, even the supposed message of them being in it for the money.

Guess what? They're all in for the money. That doesn't make MS any different or special. So drop it already.

 

[Egitor]

I loved Alan Wake and loved this critique. It's funny because it's true.

I especially agree with mr Croshaw this game is too easy on normal. This chips away at how frightening it is, thus I restarted the game on a higher difficulty after the first bit of combat. It helps a lot and I recommend playing it on hard at least, I was still fully stocked with bullets, flashbangs and flares of all sorts at the end of the episodes.
Nightmare is a blast and makes the game properly spooky by making you feel really overwhelmed and under-equipped at times.

 

[Jonsbax]

Man am I glad Yahtzee bashed this game. I'm really into the horror games and there hasn't been any intresting releases in that genre for a while except for this, but I don't have an Xbox360. I was even more dissapointed because this game was developed by the only game company in my country that actually matters, but after seeing this I don't really have to worry anymore...

Shit, I'm not even fooling myself. The game looks great to me and I've disagreed with Yahtzee before, and I think I could stand the forced SK references, too... It's not like I've got anything against the guy (I freakin' love The Shining, screw the film!).

 

[Yassen]

Yeah the whole camera slow motion zoom on enemies prevented the game from being scary in the slightest. The only time I was even slightly scared was when enemies showed up and they DIDN'T do the zoom. Throughout the entire game, that was just once.

Bizarrely enough I found the game funny rather than scary. Make of that what you will.

 

[Jonci]

People shouldn't focus too much on the combat. Alan Wake is 80% about the story and 20% about combat. It is there to add challenge, and even on Normal difficulty can present you with some panic moments. Sure, most enemies will die after 2 shots, once you have destroyed their darkness with a few seconds beaming your flashlight at them. But you usually have, at least, two guys on common encounters so your attention gets split. The bigger fights can have 3-5+ guys, some that are much more powerful. There is a fair number of different enemies to put variety into your danger.

The combat system itself is very simple and I liked that. It didn't bog you down like some filler between cutscenes, but it didn't feel useless either. There was enough purpose and had a point within the story. Alan is just a simple writer afterall and not some elite soldier, so simple combat seems right on the money.

Alan's narrations come off a bit weird in the usual gaming sense, but considering you are living through a story he already wrote, it helps put into context that Alan is experiencing that story. Overall the story and the environment of the game put this into a must-play for anyone that finds a great story being more rewarding than jerking it to your latest Halo headshot. I'm looking forward to the DLCs that add new episodes.

Just about everything Yahtzee had to critize are also reasons to try the game. It's different and worth exploring.

 

[Casual Shinji]

It seems a lot of games these days have the "camera pan-in" program for the sake of stupids who don't know their ass from their elbows. God of War 3 had this to; showing you were to go and what to operate the second you enterd a new area. I fucking hate this, just allow me to figure things out for myself, please.

Maybe I'll check Alan Wake out when it's a little cheaper.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

I am surprised Yahtzee didn't mention Silent Hill once during this review. Same kind of foggy atmosphere, same kind of, "stuck in town by self" plot, same bad combat, isn't Alan Wake even made by some of the same people as Silent Hill?

No. I think it was the Max Payne people.

Yeah and judging by the end joke I imagine he's a Max Payne fan. Can't wait for the Max Payne 3 review. Then he won't have to pretend he didn't enjoy it so much. And seriously are people STILL using these videos for to decide on if to buy a game? I really enjoyed the game it had the same sense of it's own cool/cheesyness Max Payne had and getting the guy from the Blade Runner game to narrate it was the icing on the carrot cake for me.

 

[dmcc85]

die zahl 5 schreibt man mit "Ü" 5=fünf oder fuenf.
just in case you want to write german language propperly.

 

[cornmancer]

damn my internet connection for being too awful so that I can't watch Yahtzee.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

After the Monster Hunter Tri review you should've done another Mail Bag Showdown. That would've been funny.
Anyway, good review. A little repetitive, but good. I love the little scenes during the end credits.

 

[Hendzis]

Well the game is good with the atmosphere but the talking really yust gets on the nervs .

 

[Naminator236]

The bear made me LOL real hard.

Great episode.