Alan Wake
Does Alan Wake live up to the massive hype it generated before release?
Yes and no.
Alan Wake is a game that frustrates me. It's not too difficult or anything, but there is a problem. For a game that has so much potential it has a few glaring flaws that rear their heads even when I'm thinking the rest of the game is wonderful.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
The basic premise of the game is simple. You play Alan Wake, a popular writer whose recent writer's block sends him to a small town called Bright Falls in the Pacific Northwest in order to get things back on track. Soon after arriving things start to go bad, and Alan soon wakes up at the wheel of a wrecked car, not knowing how he got there. He soon learns that he's missing a whole week in his memories and that all he knows is that something bad happened to his wife. In addition to that, he starts finding pages of a book he doesn't remember writing. The game's driving focus is to find out what happened to Alan and his wife, and to discover the source of the supernatural activity in Bright Falls.
That's a fairly simplified summary of the story. Alan Wake's biggest strength is in the writing and storytelling. The writers at Remedy managed to craft a compelling tale that's so well paced that you'll always be wanting to know what happens next. Not only that, but the characters and voice acting are excellent as well. Alan feels like a real person. He's flawed, and to be frank, a bit of an asshole. But his complete and utter dedication to finding his wife will draw you in. The supporting cast is great, too, with Alan's best friend/agent, Barry, being an unexpected joy. The only weak link in the cast is actually his wife, Alice, as she's really only there to be the macguffin.
The story is broken up into six chapters, and each functions like an episode of a TV show, compete with "Previously, on Alan Wake..." recaps at the beginning of each one. This is a really cool idea, and makes the game feel like more of an experience than just a game. It's also conducive to breaking the game up into multiple playthroughs, as you always have the helpful recaps there to remind you of previous events. I tore through the game in two sessions, however, because the story is entrancing.
It's a mystery story in the vein of Lost. You begin the game with tons of questions, and as you go deeper into the lore things start to become clearer. However, sometimes answered questions lead to more questions. Usually this style of storytelling ends up being a disappointment. Alan Wake doesn't. I left the game knowing just enough to be satisfied with the ending, and curious to know where the few loose ends would lead. And I will say that the main plot twist is genius, and will have you looking at everything you played up to that point in a different light.
Speaking of light, Alan Wake's gameplay is centered on the use of light to harm enemies. Your foes, called the Taken, are mainly humans who have been possessed by the Dark Presence inhabiting the town. They all have a shield of darkness around them that protects them from harm. So what do you do? You shine a flashlight on them to burn the shield off and expose them to damage from your firearms. It's a wonderfully simple system, and it works very well. You also get flares, which cause the Taken to back away from where you drop them, and flashbang grenades, which work as a near-instant kill on all but the strongest foes.
However, I did say the game frustrates me, and the combat is where that frustration lies. There's not nearly enough variety in the gameplay. There's only 4 or 5 types of humanoid Taken throughout the entire game, with the occasional Taken crow swarm or possessed inanimate object to break things up a bit. So the gameplay starts to wear thin after a bit. It boils down to the same basic action every encounter-shine light, shoot. If too many Taken, use flare or flashbang for breathing room. The tense atmosphere does serve to help fight this repetitiveness, but it's not enough. The lack of variety is also present in the game world. The scenery of the Pacific Northwest is beautiful in the game, but you spend so much time in the damn woods that you'll get sick of it. In fact, the fifth chapter of the game is my favorite next to the endgame due to it taking place within the town.
Those two problems also highlight and augment my final issue with the game. Each chapter drags on for about 20 minutes longer than it should. This may just be a symptom of the lack of variety combining with the need to find out what happens next, but I feel that the gameplay could have been paced better. Part of this is due to Alan's ridiculously slow walking/running speed, which I'll excuse since he is an out of shape writer. The game could have served to be broken up into one or two more chapters, but as it is, you'll sometimes start to wonder when the chapter will end.
Those problems would probably break most games for me. The frustration in Alan Wake comes from the fact that there are parts of it I absolutely love, but other things that drag it down. The story is amazing, the characters are lifelike and realistic, and the gameplay itself is well designed, if repetitive. The game does truly live up to it's horror pedigree, with an incredibly tense atmosphere that really sucks you in. The pacing of the gameplay is pretty bad, while the pacing of the story is amazing. See the problem I have with rating it? Overall, though, the game is very good, and hooked me enough that I'm pushing to 100% it. Despite the flaws that I've mentioned, I'm going to give Alan Wake a final score of 4/5.
Oh, and on a side note? The design for the Taken is genius. They appear as humans covered in blurry shadows, constantly shifting about. They can literally phase into existence anywhere in the dark, so there are some pretty good scares in the game. But I love the way they look.
