Gripping Atmospheric Cinema
A dark presence has consumed the town of Bright Falls, a nightmare has risen from the shadows. When sun fades the peaceful Washington town is transformed by evil.
Alan Wake arrives in Bright Falls on vacation, a successful novelist struggling with a case of writers block, escaping to a remote wilderness cabin to relax and refresh his creativity.
His loving, beautiful wife vanishes and Alan finds himself missing a week. In his amnesia the world has changed, a darkness flooded in and cursed the land. Alan embarks on a journey through a nightmare, to save his wife and reveal mysteries of his lost days. A journey full of a sense of dread and heart stopping tension.
Alan Wake displays some of the most impressive wilderness and foliage even seen. The trees sway and shack in the twisting foggy nether of the night. Light paints the landscape in twisting shadows, and bright streaks. A wondrously creepy thing to explore. Blinding steams of light explode in awe-inspiring sights, sparks rolls and bounce, dazing flashes of light ignite the darkness. A truly impressive vivivd light show.
The dark beings that threaten Alan are invulnerable to damage, darkness clothes them in armour. Only light burns away the black, be it flashlight, flare or any source of luminescent. Blackness fades from the nightmare creatures, detonating in glorious slow motion spectacles of sparks and flailing limbs , bending and spewing light across the shade. A beautiful dark thing to behold.
A flashlight is Alan's greatest weapon, shedding a light on a cryptic land and protecting him from evil. A horrible feeling of vulnerability when it is lost, without a light to shine I became naked and unguarded against the dark presence.
Weaponry is refreshingly down to earth, no rail guns or grenade launchers, only reliable, solid feeling revolvers, shotguns and hunting rifles.
Alan moves with fluidity and speed, cinematically dodging and bending away from in coming projectiles and strikes, all in well animated, decelerated beauty.
A tale told in episodic terms, each instalment ending in a gigantic, wonderful cliff-hanger and a very well chosen song. Music is haunting and atmospheric, adding to the creepiness of the dark wilderness and forsaken town. And the licensed musical pieces are very well chosen and implemented.
The story is nothing short of ingenious, incredible well written and expertly paced. A narrative touching on the nature of storytelling itself; as Alan's own fiction merges with reality, as pages of his work are uncovered, a tightly woven suspenseful mystery is revealed. A nightmares thriller with plenty of twists and turns, a great cliff-hanger ending.
Alan's inner dialog is not only a cleaver way to keep the player on task but also a great glimpse into his mind. Along with the random pages of manuscript littering the land, it gives the game a great literary feeling, a book come to life.
Finding a page of Alan's novel is as if stumbling on a golden treasure, superbly written in the tone of Steven King. They appear out of context and in random order. Some explain events past, some speak of things to come. Others delve deeply into a characters emotions and motivations. They are a treat to absorb and worth the effort to hunt.
Smartly injected with humour, with characters such as Barry Walker; Alan's friend and literary agent, who's survival technique involves covering his body with christmas lights. As are the aging Viking rockers; Tor and Odin, whose bombastic stage show provides a great dazzling combat zone.
Alan Wake is nothing short of amazing, a tightly focused narrative surrounding fast solid combat and a great looking and feeing world. The set pieces are grand and explosive, one jaw drooping thrilling scene after another, the story becomes wonderfully surreal and metaphorical, and the visuals stun with spectacles of light.
A few driving areas dragged on, the car controls were clunky and rough. The openness of these levels is distracting and does the game a disservice. Beyond these driving sections the game stay fresh and exciting from start to finish.
A masterpiece of narrative, Alan Wake is something to remember; a smart psychological thriller with great cinematic gunplay and engaging atmosphere, all in a great looking, spectacularly lit world.
