Alan Wake Review
Alan Wake is a game that has been in development for quite a while, and finally we are able to get our hands on it. In the game you play as Alan Wake, a struggling author trying to find some relief in the little town of Bright Falls. You and your wife plan on staying in a cabin on a lake, but there's something wrong. The first night you're there she gets pulled into the lake and you try to save her, only to wake up in a crashed car. This is where the real story starts as you'll have to walk through your own story, a story that you have no recollection of writing, but that you definitely had a hand in.
Graphically this game is pretty impressive. You're going to spend a lot of time in the dark, and you won't be disappointed with how well the flashlight works with your surrounding environment. The character designs for all the inhabitants of Bright Falls look pretty good, my one qualm is about the mouths that don't really move naturally. You're going to get to see a lot of forest, some bits of the small town, an old mining shaft, and more. All of them done in a creepy enough way that it will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The sounds are probably what puts this game over the top for me. With the intense increase in the music when you're about to be attacked from behind or when something is about to happen in the environment. I have to say that the creepiest sound is the sound made by shining your flashlight on the black goo and listening to it crescendo and the pop.
The controls aren't too difficult to master. You're going to be utilizing the d-pad for weapon selection, X to reload weapon, Y to replace the flashlight battery, and B to interact with objects.
In this game the dark is never your friend, you're going to live and die by the flashlight, so make sure that you get the max batteries in your inventory at all times. You'll have the chance to use a shotgun, hunting rifle, handgun, flare gun, flash bangs, and flares. All of these weapons can inflict damage on those who walk in the dark. Now something that you'll have to learn fast is that you're going to have to hit your opponent with the beam of your flashlight to make them vulnerable to your attack. You will have to solve the mystery of what happened to the island that you were vacationing at, and you'll have to find your wife. You'll be joined by your publicist at some point and you'll get some very interesting interactions with him. Any time you see a piece of white paper on the group pick it up and find out a little more about the story.
This game has mystery, suspense, a sense of urgency, and the element of surprise. I have to admit at first that I thought it was just a cool game, but as I continued to play the story caught me off guard and it became my mission to save the wife, and find out where the story would lead me. This is a game that you're going to want to check out, this game gets a 9.1 out of 10.
