Creepy atmospheres, an excellent storyline, and fun gameplay makes Alan Wake the best thriller in the past decade.
PROS (+)
+ A fantastic story that keeps you guessing and interested.
+ The darkness in each level is excellent. The creepy atmosphere never ceases to scare the gamers.
+ Great gameplay that never becomes repetitive.
+ Voice acting is top-notch.
+ You flashlight works perfectly as a weapon and to light the way.
CONS (-)
- Alan can be hard to move sometimes.
- The camera sometimes gets in the way.
- Some secret messages are hard to read when your flashlight shines upon it.
Alan Wake took a long time to finish but many will be pleased what this game brings to the table. Not only is it very good but it is one the best thrillers ever made. Alan Wake starts off with Alan and his wife Alice going on a vacation in Bright Falls. They are given keys by a weird lady to an old cabin in the middle of a lake where they would stay for the rest of their vacation. But when Alan and Alice have an argument and Alan goes outside to clam down, the lights go out in the cabin and Alice falls into the lake. Alan jumps into the lake and suddenly wakes up in a car crash and lost a week. When he walks around the forest he runs into the Taken, enemies of the night that try to kill Alan. This begins an incredible storyline that thankfully never looses the gamers interests.
The campaign is split up into six episodes that give off the impression that the story is a TV show. After every episode, there would be a "previously on Alan Wake" where you are brought up to speed on what has just happened.
The presentation for Alan Wake is tremendous. The game splits into day and night levels where during the day you are speaking to the people of the town trying to figure what is going on and during the night you are trying to survive and kill the Taken while trying to find out what happened to Alice. The graphics in each of the two times of the day are great. During the day you see some lighting affects and great cloud cover. During the night the only way to get light is through your flashlight. The lighting affects for the flashlight are fantastic. Not only do they do a great job at lighting your way, it is also a weapon which I will explain soon. However when you are trying to read secret messages, they can be a little hard to read on bright colored surfaces but that's a minor flaw. Flares are also used brilliantly. They look so realistic that its unbelievable and so do the flash bangs.
Alan Wake has excellent gameplay. You carry a revolver, a shotgun, a hunting rifle, a flare gun, flares and flash bangs to take on the Taken and each of them are very useful. The Taken are dangerous enemies because you can't just fire your guns at them at first. They have a protective shield of darkness that makes them invincible. By using your flashlight and other weapons of light, you can destroy their shields and then fire upon them. But the bigger the enemy the more light (and batteries) it will take to make them vulnerable. The enemy AI is actually quite impressive. They will not all attack you at once but they will do some heavy damage if you are not paying attention. Alan Wake also has a dodge button that works quite well. While the dodge may take too long to complete, it does work to get out of stick situations. However for some reason Alan can be a little clumsy at times. He may sometimes be hard to control especially when he is driving. The brakes work too well and sometimes might make you swerve off the road when you don't want too. The camera can also be stuck behind bushes that could be devastating during big fights with the Taken. The game also leaves behind manuscript pages of Alan Wake's work. Without giving too much away, these manuscripts help the gamer what is going on and even gives a moment of relief and allows the adrenaline to slow.
Alan Wake is fantastic. The creepy atmosphere, excellent gameplay, one of the most interesting story plots I have ever played through, and excellent voice acting makes Alan Wake on the best thrillers out there. It truly plays like a TV show with its sudden shocks and episodic campaign. While there is no multliplayer and nothing else to do except collect all the manuscript pages, Alan Wake is definitely worth the money and time. Alan Wake will keep you scared, keep you on your toes and, more importantly, keep you interested every step of the way.