Alan Wake has been in the works for five years and is the latest game by Remedy (the guys that did Max Payne). After having finished playing the game, I can see that a lot of care went into making the story very compelling and engaging. The one gripe I have with the game is that the visuals aren’t quite up to par as I would hope, but Remedy has made up for it by making the dark atmosphere come to life. This game does answer the question about what would happen if Max Payne was stuck inside Silent Hill.

Alan Wake starts with a narration by Alan himself as he describes a nightmare where he accidentally hits a hitchhiker. It continues with the hitchhiker turning into a shadowy figure and chasing Alan through the woods where he tries to seek haven inside a lighthouse. The lighthouse turns dark and a creepy figure comes down towards him. That’s when the nightmare ends and Alan’s wife says, “Alan, wake up.” Get it? Alan Wake? A. Wake? Ah forget it.

Alan Wake, a famous author, and his wife Alice goes on a vacation to a little town called Bright Falls (another name with a double meaning). Alan goes to get the keys from the owner of where they’re staying at, but he’s confronted by a creepy old lady with a veil instead. She gives him the key and directions to the place they’re staying at, and at the moment, you know that Alan is screwed.

The main element of Alan Wake is the darkness that surrounds Bright Falls. Somehow the darkness comes to life thanks to Alan’s manuscripts. He doesn’t remember writing it, but each manuscript that he finds throughout the game comes true. It’s not the plethora of the Taken, shadowy figures, that haunt you, but the mystery behind the darkness. You can’t see it and it gives you an unsettling feeling.

Your main trusted weapons are the flashlight and revolver against the horde of the Taken. They’re protected by the darkness, but using the flashlight will rid them of the darkness, leaving them vulnerable to bullets. You’re constantly managing your batteries and bullets as it creates tension and keeps you on your toes.

Alan Wake has the pacing of Max Payne, but with the weapon scarcity and environment of Silent Hill. It mixes the best of both worlds and keeps the story flowing while the keeping the atmosphere spooky. Just think of the darkness as its own living attraction, like Silent Hill’s fog.

The cool thing about the story is that it is told through a series of episodes as if you’re watching an episode of X-Files. Most of the episodes end with a twist and the game’s logo zooms out while an “end credit” song plays. When you start with the next episode, Alan does a recap of the previous episode, “Previously…on Alan Wake.”

The many movie and book reference are also a nice addition, such as an FBI agent calling Alan Wake by different author names with lines like, “Nowhere to run now Dan Brown!” And there are more funny moments like this in the game.

The audio presentation is top notch whether it’s the voice acting, sound effects, songs or original score. The sound effects of the darkness engulfing the town give me willies. Thanks to this game, I’m addicted to the song by Poe called Haunted.

The main issue I had with the game was the camera shifting from right to left shoulder, since I was used to shifting the camera manually. In Alan Wake, the shifting is automatic depending on where your character is. Once I got used to that idea I didn’t have any problems afterward.

The game can get repetitive at times when dealing with the Taken, since it’s pretty much the same formula of focusing the flashlight, changing batteries, shooting, reloading bullets, repeat. With the addition of the flares, it makes things a little easier.

As for glitches, there was a funny one where I fell down into the river while Alan Wake was still narrating. Sometimes dialogue with NPC characters would overlap each other, as if they’re trying to hurry to the next conversational piece as I’m moving about the area.

The game play does its job of moving the story forward, but it can get tiresome because you are running in the woods most of the time, which the last time I check, consisted of trees and dirt. I’d have to say that the story and atmosphere is the main draw for this game. Definitely check out the game, but be cautious of the replay value since this is a single player game with little incentive to actually replay the game, other than to collect a few more manuscripts that you can only obtain under a higher difficulty setting.

Grade: B+

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