Alan Wake (360) Review

Did I mention that it's an Xbox exclusive? Ha! Take that, Heavy Rain!

Every now and then you might stumble upon a unknown gem, a game that is so friggin' awesome, but yet you never hear of. Alan Wake is...kind of like that. I say that because it is actually very well received, most websites rating it almost 5 stars. For some reason though, I never hear about anyone talking about it. You hear about Halo 4, or The Last of Us, and heck, even Fire Emblem: Awakening. But only recently did I even  know that this game existed. My friend and I were wearing a hole in the floor of our local Gamestop, when he stumbled upon Alan Wake. He excitedly begged me to try this game out, and I finally gave in. I'm not really a fan of any type of horror game (see my Ellie review), but I decided to give this game a shot. And boy, did it deliver. 

Premise

Think Mario with shadow zombies and guns.

Here it is: Alan Wake, a famous writer with writer's block, goes to Bright Falls, Washington for a vacation with his wife. His wife gets captured by a mysterious dark force, and Alan must use literal light to save her. Along the way he encounters the Taken, people whose minds and bodies are being controlled by the darkness. He finds pages of a manuscript seemingly foretelling the future, and finds evidence of another writer from the past.

Yeah, kind of sounds more like a bad sci-fi movie, doesn't it? Actually, it's executed quite well. You can walk around while characters are talking, and the atmosphere is very convincing, but more on that later. I will admit, I did need to use Wikipedia more than once to figure out what was going on, but for the most part it was pretty clear. The ending was very open ended, leaving room for a sequel (not the DLC, which I haven't played. An actual sequel is in the making), and it left me wanting more. I will admit, it is kind of short, with no kind of multiplayer implemented, but with a huge amount of collectibles, you'll have your hands full. It is also kind of weird when you're killing all of these Taken and yet no one notices that fifty or so people have disappeared in one night.

GamePlay

ALAN! BATTERIES IN FLASHLIGHT! NOW!

(WARNING! WALL OF TEXT AHEAD)

Alan Wake is a third-person shooter game...with flashlights. Wait, wait, come back, it's not as idiotic as it sounds. Actually, the light system is fantastic. The Taken have a protective covering of darkness around them, which can only be broken by a light source. Once the darkness is gone, feel free to shoot away. Let's go over the types of guns. You have your standard six-shot revolver, of course, and you have your heavy weapons, the double barreled shotgun, the pump action shotgun, and the hunting rifle. The hunting rifle is the second best gun in the game, next to the flare gun. Hunting rifle ammo is hard to find, so use it sparingly (I won't even question the amount of unlocked emergency boxes with loaded guns in them. I thought this game took place in Texas). Also keep in mind that you can only hold one heavy weapon at any one time. Finally, we have the most powerful gun in the game: the flare gun. It can only hold one shot, and when you find one, you know that you're about to get swarmed. It's pretty much a rocket launcher in pistol form. Next we have the light sources. There's the flashlight, the heavy-duty flashlight, the lantern, yadda yadda. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, but the point is, you need batteries. Why? Because you'll be holding down LT throughout the entire game. The left trigger turns on the boost (I have no idea how you can "boost" a flashlight, but...), which burns away the darkness faster. Without the boost, the Taken will almost always reach you before the darkness burns away, so you'll be using it a lot. The boost recharges on its own,  though slowly, so you'll need a healthy supply of batteries, which are about as common as pistol ammo, it seems. Batteries instantly fill up the boost meter somewhat, and when you run out of them, you start panicking. There are also some other light sources, like generators, spotlights, and the such, which help you out, if you can keep them on. Also in the game are two kinds of light-based weapons. The flare, which can help you hold the Taken at bay while you either hold it and walk or drop it, and the flashbang grenade (again, don't ask me how the these are realistically find-able , which is pretty much a flare gun without the distance or accuracy. My personal favorite weapon is the car. From time to time you'll be able to drive a car. It's just a heck of a lot of fun boosting the headlights and ramming into Taken. As for the Taken, you have the normal Taken, the big Taken, the super speedy Taken, etc. There's also the poltergeists, which are a big pain to fight, since you're constantly getting hammered with barrels. Oh, and the ravens that swarm you are pretty hard to hit, so you'll have a good amount of difficulty (I haven't even tried Nightmare mode). And for all of you collectible junkies, you'll have your hand full in this game. You collect coffee thermoses scattered around the game, as well as manuscript pages, which give you a bit of insight into the story (and some can only be found in Nightmare mode). There are also TVs and radios, which provide a bit of info about Bright Fall. All in all, the gameplay is excellent.

 Presentation

THE CLEARANCE SECTION?! ARE YOU MAD?!

I'll say it now: Alan Wake is not really that scary. Is it exciting? Yes. Will you grip the controller when the camera swipes behind you to a Taken rushing at you with an axe? All the time. But it's not really Slender scary. Which is good, because I probably wouldn't be able to finish it if it was. No, this game is more along of the lines of "threateningly creepy". At it does that very well. The lighting is appropriately off-putting, the graphics are pretty good, the voice acting is decent, and there's always a threatening feel to the game. This game takes heavy influence from Stephen King and his works, and it pays off. Every time you find a working streetlight you have a brief repose from the fight in the darkness, but you always know that you have to go back in. There are some daytime sequences, in which you don't actually fight, but they're mostly just used as a way to move the story forward, and the light never lasts for long. I can't say much about the music, because I don't really remember much about it (I was too busy sprinting for my life). You can kind of shake or push over objects by walking into them, which has absolutely no purpose than for pure cheap thrills. Heck, they have stacked cans at some places that you can shoot. I have no idea why it's in there, I'm just glad it is. I suppose the only gripe I have with the presentation is that the face models don't move very well;they seem very unnatural. But that's just a small thing.

Final Score (out of 30)

Pros:

• Story is interesting (+7)
• Graphics are attractive (+5)
• Overall gameplay is excellent (+10)
• Little bits like manuscript pages and push-able items are great (+6)
• Atmosphere matches the tone of the game (+6)
• Difficulty is great, and can be adjusted (+4)
• Pretty cheap for such a well-received game (+7)

Cons:

• Story can be kind of confusing, especially near the end (-3)
• Short length (-6)
• No multiplayer (-3)
• Music is unremarkable (-3)
• Not very frighting (-2)

Tally: 

28/30