Alan Wake

So, how long ago was my last post? I don't remember. What I do know is that I am going to give my thoughts and musings on a game I recently played. It's about a year old now, but that doesn't mean I can't talk about it.

So, the game in question? Well, if you read, you'll see that the title gives that away. The X-Box 360 title of Alan Wake. It took me three days to beat it and get a gamescore of 830 out of 1500 (1500 due to DLC) on it. I haven't played the DLC and I don't know when I will either. I played on Normal.

I liked and disliked this game. The story of it was nothing special. It had a few nice moments, but overall, I felt it was bland and predictable. Comparable to a made for TV movie. No, wait, I take that back. More like a six-part episode of some show you may see on Syfy or Chiller (since it plays out like a TV Show).

To avoid spoilers, I won't really go into the story that much. But, I will say that you play title character, Alan Wake, a writer that is suffering from writer's block and is on vacation with his wife in the small town of Bright Falls, Washington. You rent a cabin, on a small island on a lake by the name of Cauldron Lake. Alice, your wife, goes missing, and Alan sets out to find her, along the way battling "the Darkness" and putting together pieces of the story. A story he is writing. Most of the game takes place at night.

The game play is mainly what I dislike about this game. It's very repetitive, with no change up at all. You point your flashlight at the Taken (people possessed by "the Darkness") and once their protection is gone, you can shoot them until they die. You at times get to operate a vehicle, which with the headlights, will weaken them, and then you can run them over. You get other means of light, flares for example will gave you breathing room if you need it. Sometimes the enemies will not stop coming and you need to make it to a safe haven, which is a well-lit area. The Taken won't enter the light and retreat back into the darkness. Alan can't take many hits, so you'll need to utilize the dodge feature implemented in the game. Which can sometimes work against you, dodge one guy and wind up right in the face of another. Not fun. Especially when the camera is your main enemy.

A big problem I have with the game is it's collectibles. I collected everything I could, I didn't have to, but I wanted to. The main thing that annoyed me was the manuscript pages, which give more to the story, and gave some characters a bit more development. So, why make those things optional and off the beaten path if they help the story? That one just doesn't make sense to me. The worst part of that, is if you play in Normal, you can't get them all, there are some only obtained in Nightmare difficulty, which only unlocks after you beat the game either on Normal or Hard. So, I guess I have one more play through to go. Not sure when I will do that though. Another good thing I can give the game though is it has a pretty awesome soundtrack to it.

Anyway, like I said, I both like and dislike this game, and I think my explanations here, vague as they may be, is enough of example of why. I am looking forward to more from the Finnish company who made the game though. If they make another Alan Wake game, I expect a lot more to it, I see this is a prototype if you will, much like Assassin's Creed was for Assassin's Creed 2.