Alan Wake Review

Game:  Alan Wake
Year (s):  2010 (XBox 360), 2012 (PC release)
Company:  dev.  Remedy Entertainment
pub.  Microsoft Game Studios et al.
Engine:  MAX-FX 3.0 using Havok physics and Umbra occlustion
Type:  Survival Horror, Shooter
Viewpoint:  Third-Person
Metacritic Score: 83
My Score:  A refreshingly good game.

Price (as of April 8, 2013)

Regular list price on Steam:  $29.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay (new, with shipping):  $12.99

My Game Time:  23 hours, first time on easy, including both DLC

Obligatory Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF2ZdvBtp1k


Plot

Alan Wake, a successful author a la Stephen King, has writer's block.  His wife, Alice, takes him on a retreat.  After getting to their cabin on Cauldron Lake, the two get in an argument, and Alan goes down to the dock to cool off.  Some time later Alice screams.  Alan runs to help, and dives in to the lake.

The next thing you know, Alan's in a wrecked car with his head bleeding.  He fights shadowy figures that disappear when defeated.  He gets to a gas station to call for help, to find that a week has gone by.  The sheriff picks him up, and tells him that there is no cabin on Cauldron Lake.

It's a great start, and the plot really motivated me to keep playing.  This has more story than I've come to expect, with nods to Twilight Zone, Stephen King, and others.  The ending ties up most of the mystery, but leaves a couple of big questions unanswered that could be addressed in further games.

The plot is told in acts.  Each act ends with an song to sum up events.  This is a cool idea and they implemented it well.  Oh, by the way, the plot is by the Sam Lake, the same guy that wrote for Max Payne.

Engine

MAX-FX 3.0 is the newest engine from the developers that brought us Max Payne.  Graphics are significantly better than the last Max Payne title, while the third-person view, some of the sounds, level design, and the general look feel familiar.  As a port of a 2010 console game, it is not in the running for cutting-edge beautiful, but it works and I didn't snag on any bugs.

Save System

Manual Save? No
Quick Save?  No
Area Load Save?  Yes
Checkpoint Save?  Yes

Combat/Gameplay

Enemies are protected by The Dark Presence, so you'll have to burn their darkness away before you can hurt them.  Flashlights, floodlights, flares, flashbangs, anything will do.  Then a limited arsenal of firearms finishes the task.  This allows for the novelty of R to reload guns, and Q to replace flashlight batteries.

I tried playing the game on normal, but ran out of ammo.  There is no melee attack, so I started over on easy.  I'm not sure what I could have done on normal; I don't play a great deal of survival horror, limited-ammo games.


Expansions / DLC / Sequels

"The Signal," and, "The Writer," are two very short DLC.  These add a small amount of additional gameplay, but don't do anything to move the story forward..

Alan Wake's American Nightmare, "is not a sequel."  It take place after the first though, with the same gameplay and some of the same characters.  This came out in 2012.

Remedy has said that they are not done with Alan Wake yet, and there is a lot of speculation for Alan Wake 2, but no information yet.  There was a web-based miniseries prequel to Alan Wake created called, "Bright Falls."


Final Thoughts

This was a longer article because Alan Wake has more to offer than a lot of the cheap games I grab on sales.  While the DLC were pretty limp fare, I thoroughly enjoyed Alan Wake from start to finish.