Alan Wake

 

After its showing at E3 2005, Alan Wake   has consistently been near the top of my most wanted games every year.  And now that it has finally arrived, it's hard not to be a little disappointment with the apparent transformation the title has undergone in its lengthy development process.  Originally touted as an open-structured horror game with a persistent day/night cycle in which you would seek clues during the day and fend off the denizens of darkness at night, Wake has devolved into a very linear 3rd person shooter with an exceptionally moody atmosphere.  The transition to the game we now have is probably to blame for the incessant delays and rough edges present but also leaves a streamlined experience that is much preferable to a clunky open-world game.
 
The game does an excellent job setting the scene for the gripping story to follow. Alan Wake, a famous crime novelist in the midst of a crippling spell of writer's block, travels with his wife to the sleepy town of Bright Falls to get away from it all and relax.  Little does he know that things are not what they seem in this idyllic forest setting, and soon Wake must stave off an increasingly menacing dark presence while trying to uncover the whereabouts of his now-missing wife.  Alan Wake lays the story on thick, and for good reason.  Perhaps the greatest draw of the game is experiencing the twists and turns in the mysterious narrative.  The game makes an interesting presentation choice, breaking the main sections of the game into television-esque episodes which almost always end on some sort of cliff-hanger and a selection from a quite excellent pool of licensed music - particularly from Poets of the Fall who contribute three songs to the game's soundtrack.  The narrative of Alan Wake doesn't have the same emotional punch of something like Heavy Rain and may not necessarily deserve the prominently displayed "Psychological Action Thriller" on its box but it contains enough twists and turns to definitely warrant a look.
 

The gameplay of Alan Wake is, as mentioned above, incredibly streamlined.  Over the course of the game, you will obtain only four or five guns and a few other projectiles to battle the forces of darkness.  The interplay between light and dark lies at the heart of the combat system as well as the story.  Using a variety of methods (but usually with your trusty flashlight) enemies must be robbed of their darkness before conventional weaponry can put them down.  This two pronged assault provides the vast majority of tension of the game, as enemies continue to advance towards you despite your constant light assault.  This becomes particularly jarring on the harder difficulties as the darkness depletes slower and enemies also take many more shots to dispatch.  Aside from a few stand-out moments set in the disorienting woods surrounding the town, the game places you on a fairly straight path with a clear objective always provided.  The hand-holding can become a little excessive at times and, as a result, there is never any moment in the game where you don't know what you're doing.  This is a blessing for those of us who dislike the tedium of attempting to navigate a complicated area filled to the brim with enemies but its surprising from a game that was originally intended to be an open-world game.  Though, if the driving mechanics they managed in the final version is the best they could muster, I'm truly grateful the open-world concept was left by the wayside.  
 

What Alan Wake lost in its transition between game types is more than made up for with what it retained and (presumably) added.  The story and atmosphere of the game is top-notch, despite a few extremely jarring facial animations which seem very last generation.  Otherwise, the visuals of the game do an excellent job of playing off the light/dark mechanics with brilliant flashes from flareguns and blinding explosions of flash grenades.  The town of Bright Falls and the surrounding countryside are depicted in startling detail, and the inclusion of an absurd amount of collectibles (which pad the length of the quasi-short experience) ensure that see some of the best parts of the local scenery.  The setting consistently bleeds atmosphere and the extra additional story content in the form of radio shows, Alan Wake's mysterious new novel manuscript and especially a Twilight Zone inspired live-action TV show do so much to transport you to this eerily well realized world.  The gameplay tries to meet these hold-overs halfway, relying heavily on a light/dark twist of combat to distinguish itself.  In the end, the combat is decent but nothing to rave about.  In many cases it seems to be there only because you have to shoot something in a video game.  But it is easily put up with in order to experience the fully realized world and narrative that is presented to you.  While the game may not have been what was originally promised, and while five years is a long time to wait, the final product here may just have been worth the wait.