And I'd love any helpful advice/hints from any of you who may have beaten the game already, especially in terms of achievements and what I should try to do to get the most out of the game. I'd hate to go look up this stuff online and fall prey to spoilers (it's happened before). Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTz0ligj2xY

I think you will have a lot of fun, a few points I recommend keeping in mind is that from my recollection there are quite a few easily missed collectibles in this game, I wouldn't anticipate grabbing all of them on your first play without the assistance of a guide of some sort. The good news is there are many guides available that provide details of the collectibles without indicating story spoilers.

On the topic of spoilers I would recommend in your hunt for manuscript pages that you peraphs pick these up but refrain from reading them. Many of the pages provide advance notice on some of the more exciting story moments of Alan Wake. With these things in mind I think you will really enjoy playing through Alan Wake.

I'm not too worried about collecting every single collectible this time around, that's something I can work towards if I really fall in love with the game and play it a couple times more after the first play through. And I haven't really read any of the manuscript pages yet, so I guess that's good! I was saving them for around the end of the game anyways.

Thanks for your input!

Well, I found the game more enjoyable on the hard difficulty. Also for the combat a lot of the time it is quicker and more entertaining to just be evasive and spin to flash the flashlight across the enemies persuing you (boosting it when you shine it at them makes them cover their face and slow down) which gives you chance to run onward to the safety of a light source. Or drop a flare between you and them and get away. Etc. Rather than just killing everything.

There are plenty of encounters where combat is mandatory but a lot of the time you can run from point a to b while dodging attacks and keeping the enemies at bay without actually fighting.

As for the manuscripts i'd actually say reading them is a good thing. They are spoilers, but they are deliberate spoilers. Some scenes in the game just don't have the same impact if you skip the manuscripts. Hell, there are even some scenes that you will not understand or get anything out of at all unless you have read the foreshadowing of the manuscripts.

Plus there are some pretty funny ones which if read outside of the context/time frame in which you find them will not really have the same impact.

Some are spoilers, but they are deliberate both in placement and in how they mostly foreshadow or add extra meaning to scenes. I'd say definitely read them as you get them.