Alan Wake review (Xbox 360)
Has Remedy's psycholigical thriller been worth the long five year wait? Well, sort of.
Alan Wake has been a long time coming, rumored even during the age of the original Xbox which means a large number of gamers are interested to see what Remedy have made of their latest offering.
The game follows our eponymous hero, a successful writer who has travelled out to Maine, sorry I mean Bright Falls, along with his wife in order to overcome his creative block.
Soon enough, his wife Alice is snatched by an unseen force and Wake begins his quest to uncover the secrets of the mysterious community and rescue his wife from the clutches of an evil presence.
So far, so Stephen King.
The setting is obviously influenced by the great works of the New England based writer, with long sweeping mountain ranges and great swathes of swaying pine trees.
Alan Wake never tries to hide that it has been influenced by writers such as King and Lovecraft, it referred to them by name almost as soon as I began playing.
Even in these early stages, however, we see what a graphical mixed bag Wake is.
The scenery is undeniably breathtaking, with some impressive draw distances and beautiful vistas.
The lighting, both when exploring and in combat is smimilarly impressive and watching the burst of light as you banish the darkness-infested townsfolk never fails to be anything less than a joy to watch.
Another highlight is the arrival of The Taken, which is normally heralded by the sudden enveloping dark mist which races through the trees and immediately puts you on edge and sets a palpable sense of dread.
Unfortunately the facial animation and lip synching seen during dialogue and within cut scenes is not something which should be expected of a current release, but more of a game which would have been seen in the later stages of the last generation of consoles.
There is also some slight problems with screen tearing, which after five years, is something that should have been thoroughly ironed out.
The combat in the game takes place mostly against The Taken, people of the town and surrounding woodlands who have been possessed by the Dark Presence taking over Bright Falls.
The main mechanic is to use your torch to weaken the Taken, then use conventional weapons to finish the job.
You start with a basic revolver and move on to shotguns and the more powerful hunting rifles.
As well as traditional firearms, you also get access to flash-bang grenades and the hugely satisfying flare gun.
Torches get bigger as you go through the game which proved to be a let down for me as bigger enemies with stronger 'shields' posed less of a threat once I had my heavy duty latern to burn through them, which led to combat remaining fairly similar throughout the course of the game.
There is a also a level of repetition with enemy character models and the AI of these enemies leaves something to be desired, as does the 'dodge' ability.
Despite these flaws combat remains enjoyable, but it's certainly not on par with other combat games such as Resident Evil 5.
The other major let down for me was watching my character attempting to climb on any raised platform.
He looked, quite frankly, ridiculous and it was another thing which should have been buttoned down after 5 years of production.
Finally we have the main focus of Wake, that which Remedy has been working so hard to get perfect.
The story.
The format of how the game is played, as an episodic TV show, is interesting and certainly shows a developer looking to try something a bit different.
The story itself is nothing particularly special but it is well paced and does keep you interested enough to keep playing.
It doesn't have any major scares, which I suppose is to be expected as Remedy billed it as a psychological thriller, but it doesn't seem to provide much bite on this front either.
Having to find Wake's lost manuscript pages in order to fully understand what is happening will not appeal to all (especially as you only get some during Nightmare difficulty).
I also found myself caring little about the characters, especially Wake himself, who we learn next to nothing about other than he writes crime books and he loves his wife.
The supporting cast are a bit more interesting but they are still just a group of satellites orbiting Wake, rather than interacting with him and thereby showing more sides to him as a character.
In summary, Alan Wake is an interesting effort with some excellent ideas, that unfortunately just wasn't as polished as it should be.
With Rockstar's epic Red Dead Redemption just days away, however, you may want to hold onto your cash
Console Corner rating: 7/10
Version reviewed: Xbox 360
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