Alan Wake - Review

[Kenzomatic]

Alan Wake 20,000 years in the making. Maybe not but we have been hearing about this game for far to long and it has finally arrived. This game is very hard to judge because it is so different, its basically Twin Peaks meets video games, and from that stand point it is a spectacular game. But if one compares to other games you can reach just about any conclusion you want.



The story is well written and very intriguing. For those who have not seen Twin Peaks the next closet is the show Lost. Outside that I won't go into any more detail. The game is set up in episodes and to me really felt like a mini series. I think had the Resident Evil franchise not shifted in focus with RE4 that this would have been the direction they would have went in. There are a few levels I could not help but think where today's version of Resident Evil 2 or 3.



I also think the voice acting was well done. Some have complained that there where characters that where to cheesy, but I found it made the game that much better and fun and added comic relief. Also these people need to go watch Twin Peaks there was a lot of cheese but it added to the charm as it does here. Unfortunately the lip syncs are god awful, like really bad. I feel pretty confident this has caused many reviews to dock it a few points.



The gameplay is awesome, with only a few complaints that for the most part are trivial. For some reason you lose all your weapons a lot I mean you get in a crash fall off a cliff hit your head whatever and then you have no weapons. Now everything scales around this which makes it so the game is still fun but the 10th time it happens you can't help but wonder if maybe just once you could hold onto your inventory. Then at some point in time you will think I'm tired of fighting I'm just going to run unfortunately the bad guys are significantly faster, though sometimes running did work out for me. Outside that using light to fight works out brilliantly.



The games atmosphere is off the charts there is not one second in this game that you will feel like you are not there. Graphically its on par with probably Resident Evil 5 (technically) but the way in which the graphics are used I think puts it in the very top class. That said the damn lip sync will almost ruin it. If that had been perfect then I would have said that technically they aren't the best but it would be hands down the best presentation. As far as the environment alone it is the most immersive I think I have ever seen. Uncharted 2 may be pretty to stare at and the technical pinnacle but with Alan Wake you are there.



Now a few warnings. Odds are if you don't like David Lynch you will hate this game. If you think Lost is a dumb show you might hate this game. If you don't think the pacific northwest in an interesting place to hang out or go hiking you might hate this game. If you don't like Stephen King you will hate this game. If the movie Inception looks dumb to you....... you get the point.



I think when you judge things like games you have to judge them against what it is, what it is trying to do, and what have other similar game accomplished. Alan Wake is a great game with a horrible lip sync unblended cut scenes and a lot of time in the woods. If your not into this genre or probably more correctly sub genre you will probably rank this game low. But I think just like a David Lynch film for those who get it, and for what it is its a 9.

9

[Xen]

Another fantastic effort from Remedy, as always.
Good and short review. Straight to the point.