Re: Alan Wake (360)
Shacknews Editorial Director, Garnett Lee:
...
GamingTrend Review - 95
Shacknews Editorial Director, Garnett Lee:
finished Alan Wake last night; drained, in a way that speaks to the raw power of the game
GamingTrend Review - 95
The folks at Remedy stated that they were inspired by Twin Peaks, Lost, The X-Files, and the works of Stephen King as their inspiration, but having completed Alan Wake, I can assure you that those inspirations are just scratching the surface. The game has heavy elements of The Twilight Zone, In The Mouth of Madness, and a very dark and twisted NeverEnding Story as well. Most survival horror games serve as a fine example of C-rated shoddy writing riddled with cheap scares and loud noises. Alan Wake will go down as a compelling story wrapped around a legitimate nightmare-inducing horror script. I will do my best to try to keep this review spoiler free as much as possible, and with good reason – Alan Wake may be the best written story you’ll play all year.
Graphically, Alan Wake was an absolute impossibility on any home console in 2005. With the Xbox 360, there is enough graphic power to bring Wake’s world to life. Much of the game is spent in the dark, but this isn’t a Resident Evil knockoff - the world looks like what you’d see in a forest illuminated by stars and the moon, and not just pitch black like Doom 3. There is a bluish hue to the world, and the forest is absolutely choked full of foliage. Full size trees, bushes, plants, leaves, signs, debris, and more sway in the wind, providing a shocking amount of ambush points for the creatures in this game. It isn't just black, it's darkness the way you and I would perceive it in the real world. You’ll spend a fair amount of time in the town of Bright Falls, and it is well populated, both with people and things to see. The town is excited about their annual Deerfest celebration, and it is decorated accordingly. Somehow the city feels alive, not just filled with pre-placed objects. While it isn't the sandbox city that was initially planned, it feels focused without ever putting your feet on rails.
The incredible lighting engine I mentioned above is the heart of the game. Day and night cycles cast absolutely perfect shadows. Most games do such a weak job with shadows, putting simple circles under the feet of the protagonist. Alan Wake was built around the concepts of light and dark, and it shows. Your flashlight has small concentric circle distortions from the lens, and the light realistically bends across objects. It pales, however, in comparison to when the real fireworks start.
Graphically, Alan Wake was an absolute impossibility on any home console in 2005. With the Xbox 360, there is enough graphic power to bring Wake’s world to life. Much of the game is spent in the dark, but this isn’t a Resident Evil knockoff - the world looks like what you’d see in a forest illuminated by stars and the moon, and not just pitch black like Doom 3. There is a bluish hue to the world, and the forest is absolutely choked full of foliage. Full size trees, bushes, plants, leaves, signs, debris, and more sway in the wind, providing a shocking amount of ambush points for the creatures in this game. It isn't just black, it's darkness the way you and I would perceive it in the real world. You’ll spend a fair amount of time in the town of Bright Falls, and it is well populated, both with people and things to see. The town is excited about their annual Deerfest celebration, and it is decorated accordingly. Somehow the city feels alive, not just filled with pre-placed objects. While it isn't the sandbox city that was initially planned, it feels focused without ever putting your feet on rails.
The incredible lighting engine I mentioned above is the heart of the game. Day and night cycles cast absolutely perfect shadows. Most games do such a weak job with shadows, putting simple circles under the feet of the protagonist. Alan Wake was built around the concepts of light and dark, and it shows. Your flashlight has small concentric circle distortions from the lens, and the light realistically bends across objects. It pales, however, in comparison to when the real fireworks start.
For the collectors amongst us, there are 100 Coffee Thermoses to find, 13 TV Shows to watch, 12 Radio Shows to listen to, and a smattering of hidden caches and signs to find. There are over 100 manuscript pages to find, some of which only discoverable on the highest difficulty levels, which provide a great deal of the compelling storyline. Not since Batman Arkham Asylum have I felt this compelled to find every single thing in the game. All told, you can complete all 6 of the Episodes of Alan Wake in roughly 10 to 12 hours, but it’ll take you far longer to discover everything in the game. Every copy of the game will ship with a token for the first DLC Episode, so expect more Alan Wake after you complete the content on the disc.
Alan Wake is definitely art, and is well written enough to keep my wife and I on the edge of our seats from beginning to end. If I can admit something, and give Alan Wake the biggest compliment I can bestow, I’d tell you that I had a nightmare about the game the night after I completed it. No horror game has ever managed that feat or even come close. It may have taken them five years to kick it out of the door, but Remedy has created a masterpiece. Alan Wake is a title that other companies will attempt to reproduce and emulate for a long time to come.
Come August/September, those forums might as well be roped off by 20-foot high electric, barbed wire fences. No way I'm going into that madness.
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