Alan Wake Vs Shutter Island
By Jeust 33 Comments
How to compare a movie and a video game? Surely they are impossible to ever be drawn into a close examination. But then again aren't both works of fiction over their particular form of entertainment, drawing from the strengths and weakness of each medium?
They are. In that base, it is possible to analyse them both. So a comparison in the realms of the surreal and horror is in order in this blog.
First things first, and what did you like more? Bear in mind that this is a subjective perspective, mine and can bare slim likeness to your own.
Then, lets the match begin!!!
Alan Wake Vs Shutter Island
Round 1: Story
Both stories are interesting, gripping and thrilling, being that both score in the genre of the thriller. Granted that Alan Wake is more on the supernatural side, and Shutter Island is more on the medical side of it, but both are very well done and succeed in what set out to do.
Verdict: So the (lightweight) average of 10 hours of Alan Wake settles for a draw with the 2 hour (heavyweight) of Shutter Island.
Round 2: Characters
Acting in video games is harder, since it depends not only on the voice actor, but in the team that does the animation of the given character, being more difficult to give him/her the natural feel of a living being, so this is a harder turf for Alan Wake, but lets see how it fares.
Both have memorable characters. Alan Wake has Thomas Zane, Barbara Jagger, Alan Wake himself, Dr. Emil Hartman, Clay Steward, among others. Shutter Island has Teddy Daniels, Chuck Aule, Dr. Cawley, Dolores Chanal, George Noyce, between several others.
Verdict: It is a close call, but the pitfalls of the gaming industry when it comes to animation and amplified by the interactivity of the medium, give the victory to Shutter Island.
Round 3: Sound
Both works have a good sonority, never having anything glaringly out of place, which helps and enforces the immersion. But Alan Wake goes beyond that, and makes music a core part to enhance the experience.
Verdict: To no surprise Alan Wake gains this round by a timely uppercut!
Round 4: Longevity
Movies generally are planned to present its intricacies in only one screening, having normally a limited longevity to the viewer. So this time, Shutter Island is more likely to face the ropes.
Alan Wake embodies the concerns of the medium with longevity, since it is a vital part of the desires of the consumers, and core factor when purchasing, and fills it with different kind of colectibles, and with a insane amount of detail, that takes multiple playthroughs to apprehend in all extent.
Verdict: The victory goes unsurprisingly to Alan Wake, with its preoccupation in occupying the mind of the gamers.
Round 5: Experience
Video games and movies provide different insights into the dreams of others. While video games presents the interactivity that fleshes out the experience, the movie provides a roller-coaster ride that leaves nothing to chance.
In that realm, i have to say that Alan Wake symbolizes the way games struggle to avoid cutting the immersion by presenting more gamey aspects. While most of the solutions implemented by the game where very cleaver and work really well, one was particularly bad. When the number of lines presented for each character runs out in conversation, generally they start and continue babbling something awkward to the situation, like "Tired... So tired." (when a minute before they were sooo chatty), or simply stay silent. That damages a bit the immersion. One clever implementation that could solve it, would be to have them say random general things, from time to time, just as it happen in real life, when someone talks longer than the other party wished, and they start saying random and uninteresting things.
Alan Wake is also a very coherent experience, with nothing out of place. I really felt running around solving a mistery in a country side town. Although it got a bit boring sometimes, like a trip with some stops overstaying its welcome.
Shutter Island, in another instance, delivers an experience much to the strenghts of movies, with strong pacing that delivers the excitement to be expect from a Thriller. Every scene's duration was timed with mastery, and the movie resembles a psychotic dream.
I felt both endings satisfying, despite being left more intrigued with Alan Wake and dazzled with Shutter Island, as both endings are well executed and memorable each in their own way.
Verdict: Shutter Island wins!
Overall Result: Shutter Island wins by a slight advantage.
Alan Wake feels a bit disappointed, but there is no reason for it, as it is a wonderful experience! It has a longer life span, and will be playing on my Xbox 360 longer than any movie in my dvd player.
Alan Wake and Shutter Island are each unique experiences, that justify seeing and playing them both, to every fan of thrillers, horror and creative stories. Interestingly enough, both, at some point, provide the two ways a certain twist could go.
While there are of course other strong, even stronger, contenders to match-up, these two were by themselves an interesting pair, that gave a hard fight all the way to the end.
"What would be worse? To live like a monster or die like a good man?"
Thanks all for reading!
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