Put the lime in the coconut, you drink 'em both together. Put the lime in the coconut, then you feel better.
Graphics: 9 (some screen tearing / lousy facial expressions however the vistas...whoa!!!)
Sounds: 10 (voice acting / musical scores primo; and those dreaded sounds from the ravens will bring chills down your spine)
Value: 9 (gaming length is ten hours long however add on the limited edition novel and the six part mini series you have the complete package – otherwise a seven).
Tilt: 10 (the game is truly addictive with a compelling story)
Actual score: 9.1
Throughout life mistakes can happen. Yet sometimes it's a good thing as that's how we grow up and mature. Yet in other times those mistakes can be classed as stupidity resulting dire consequences. Another way of looking at it is that it can be avoided if thinking a little rationally. These types of stupidity will dictate a large portion of your life just correcting the issue.
The protagonist Alan Wake fits into this stupidity mistake. A famous writer with everything going for him suffered a case of the writer's block. Because of this he snaps at his wife, fans and practically everyone else that crosses his path. Yet to correct his issue his wife suggests getting away from it all and visiting Bright Falls for a bit of R&R. Alan agrees however soon after visiting the lodge his wife gone missing.
Alan Wake can be classified as a survival horror where Alan is literally fighting with himself to save his missing wife. The entire game is in a form of episodes like watching a mini T.V. series where every episodes starts off with 'previously in Alan Wake…'. On top of that the game relies heavily on the customary survival horror themes of deep dark woods, toying with shadows and things that goes bump in the night. Too cliché for my standards however once delved further into the storyline these clichés actually serve a purpose (and cleverly so).
Calling them the 'taken' these chaps are the foes of the game. Shrouded in darkness they are totally immune to all sorts of physical attack. In addition there will be poltergeists hurtling equipment and those dreaded, eerie ravens that attack in the hundreds. Naturally to defend yourself you have your pistol, shotgun and rifle however the most powerful weapon is light.
Light plays an integral part in the game as not only burns off the darkness thus making them venerable, it's the only weapon that kills of poltergeist and raven attacks. Also light plays as a safe haven if you are getting swarmed. Usually in the form of street lights and powered generators the taken will not enter otherwise instant obliteration.
Safe havens will replenish your life extremely quickly however take heed that the street light globes tends to pop and at times generators will fail. Failing generators can start up again by pressing 'A' on the right moment (represents by a flywheel – a mini game of sorts) however easy said than done when you are surrounded by the taken.
So playing with light is certainly a refreshing approach as it forces you to engage tactically. I guess it's synonymous with any survival horrors however using light to defend, heal and kill your enemies is certainly engaging. There will be times that you are low in ammo and health and seeing a street light up ahead making you hold your breath and sprint. Other times dropping a flare makes them scatter and you to recuperate…only for a moment. Yet the flash bangs and flares are like your heavy weapons and can kill a pack if aimed correctly.
As mentioned before the main game consists of six episodes and each episode can take approximately 2hrs to complete. Of course this depends upon what you'll do in each episode as there are radio stations to listen to, a TV. Series called 'Night Springs' for which is in the vain of The Twilight Zone, bill boards / posters to read and so forth. This is a brilliant way to immerse you into the world, well in this case the national park as it further enriches the atmosphere. And as an added bonus, all of these extra activities grant you achievements. Yet the most important achievement is collecting manuscripts. These manuscripts explain the story in a different light (excuse the pun) and it's highly recommended to get the complete picture.
Traversing through Bright Falls even though it's a fictitious National Park, the environments seem all real. In addition to those typical abandoned cabins and dwellings, you'll get to see the imposing Mirror Peak mountain way into the distance (and get to climb it at one point), old mining caves, dams, a gas station (surrounded by mists of course), a trailer park and so forth. All of these locations are not placed there for the sake of it however creates a genuine site. Yet and sadly though it fell short later on the game as it moves towards an 'action' thriller than a survival horror as some of the locations got a little too silly.
Whilst the overall sound quality is generally impressive (especially the screeching sounds from those dreaded ravens) the voice acting is outstanding. So good in fact that even though the facial expressions on all the character's faces are like plastic mannequins, the voice acting actually brought out (the lack of) emotions from these characters. Even so, somehow my eyes seems to visualise a new look to their ever-so-emotionless faces.
Yet with all these fantastic features the game does have its low points. The more obvious one is the duration as it took me ten hours to complete and that's including going off the beaten track. Yet I cannot imagine how fast the game will end if you decide to speed run. Granted that there are three levels of difficulty and to get that perfect score for collecting manuscripts, you need to complete the game in the nightmare mode.
All the characters in the game are believable people with absolutely no 'super powers'. Ranging from the cop to the FBI agent to the girl at the diner they all produce life-like qualities. Yet the downside is that their facial expressions are like plastic mannequins and later on your side kick Barry gets too annoying. Barry is suppose to be your agent and early in the game actually showed true fear to the unnatural events yet later on he becomes the 'comedy relief'; a total paradox in my eyes that also diminishes the fear.
The original concept of this game was to be a sandbox. Yet the developers thought this may lessen the horror (so they introduce that idiot Barry) therefore you see from time to time cars lying about. Yes you can drive them however like a road to nowhere these trips are only good for two purposes; one is that Alan runs like a smoker having an asthma attack therefore driving maybe a better option and two they are good to run over the taken.
Lastly and this is my pet hate is that there are events that the taken spawns constantly until you reach the next safe haven. This irks me as it takes alway the realism (thus the horror factor) as at times I'm trying to explore the area only to realise that the taken are just keep on coming. Of course my ammo count starts to run low only then to realise that it's an unlimited spawning area. Strangely enough once reached to the safe haven the spawning stops therefore the area is open at your disposal…well for the majority of the time.
Over five years in the making and the PC version got canned (grrr) Alan Wake was almost regarded as vapour ware. Yet playing the final copy and not a patch to speak off (except for the fugly facial expressions) this game is truly polished from start to finish. And will an outstanding story to boot you already have two examples that are extremely rare to see in any video games. Yes there are some short comings (e.g. ten hours campaign / annoying sidekick) yet those short comings are nothing comparing to the grand scale of things. It's like saying if it's less than 1% of the total experience then it's really not worth mentioning…well I did anyways. And if you happen to grab the limited edition there's a novel that can be treated as an extra adventure and of course the six part mini series that acts like a prequel. So you can say Alan Wake is the light of the video gaming industry.