Spoiler-free Alan Wake review
Game Review | June 6, 2010 12:02 pm
By Melissa Evol
Alan Wake
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
US Release date: May 18, 2010
For me, the buildup for the game Alan Wake began in the summer of 2005, when it was announced at that year's E3 convention. As the years went by, it faded from my radar, but my excitement picked up again at the beginning of this year, when I realized that the five year wait was nearly over. The problem with a five year wait from announcement to release for a game is that when it's finally released, it's been built up into something larger than life in your head. Sometimes games live up to the hype of your mind, more often, however, they do not.
Alan Wake is set up like a TV series. This game is the first season, with later seasons rumored to be sequels. The story of Alan Wake is its greatest strength. Between the actual story that you play through, and the back story from the manuscript pages you pick up, you get very familiar with the characters- not just the characters you play as, but the side characters you don't get much time with as well. The manuscript pages are a great addition (ugh, collectibles, right?) because they allow you to find out what's going on to the other characters when they aren't with you. They also serve as handy little plot spoilers, giving you glimpses into the future that don't actually help you figure out what's going on.
The plot itself starts out intense, and moves along at a fast pace, however I did feel like it began meandering and losing steam around chapter 4. It somewhat picked up toward the end, but it never shined again as much as the first 2 chapters did. As immersive as the story is, it's easy to lose track of time, and realize you've been playing all night. With a play through time of around 12 hours (that might actually be a high estimate) getting through the game in one sitting is completely possible. The ending... well, I know there are many discussions of it on the Internet, and you can find many many theories about just what the ending was, and what it meant, but for me it felt like the Lost finale. I was all excited thinking that it had come to a conclusion, until I realized that really nothing had been resolved acceptably. This does, however, leave the game open for sequels, part of which have already been written, according to Remedy.
Yes, I said it, the story will take you no more than 12 hours per run through, unless you die a LOT or use a walk-through to try to get every collectible in one play through (which actually can't be done anyway). There is already DLC out, however the DLC costs $10 each (if you bought the game new, you get the first DLC free) and according to Remedy, it doesn't lengthen the main storyline at all a'la Fallout 3. Now there are a few instances where a 12 hour game is acceptable- if the game is a $20 or $30 game, if the game has a strong multi-player and the story mode is really only half of the game, or if the game is a low budget rush game that becomes a surprise hit. Any of those three circumstances make the short story forgivable. Alan Wake, however, cost $60 (the same price that this year's 100+ hour Final Fantasy XIII cost), the only game mode is the single player story, and it has been in development for close to nine years. There really isn't any excuse for how short the story is. I do admit, however, that in chapter 5, I started to feel like the story should have ended in the last chapter, and that they had run out of plot and were just dragging it out to try to justify the $60 price tag.
The game play is enjoyable, without being truly innovative. There are really only three types of enemies- the Taken, who you have to deplete their "darkness shields" with your flashlight before your bullets work against them, poltergeists, who you destroy when you deplete their "darkness shields" with your flashlight, and ravens (who appear to just be Kryll from Gears of War and are just as susceptible to light) who you- you guessed it- kill with your flashlight. Fighting gets a bit repetitive and trying to explore can be frustrating, as the enemies will just keep re-spawning in places and they tend to be faster and more resilient than you are, even in the easiest difficulty. The controls are fairly well mapped. The flashlight aspect is easy to get used to, although I did find myself going through batteries because I kept boosting the flashlight while I was shooting, it's simple to go back and forth between shining and shooting, however Alan has absolutely no stamina, so running when you're overwhelmed isn't going to save you, and dodging is difficult (and can become downright impossible when you are surrounded by taken). The puzzles in the game are extremely straightforward and simple, more of an inconvenience that interrupts the flow of game play than an actual challenge.
Graphically, Alan Wake was mediocre. The visuals were decent, but not mind blowing. They definitely didn't push the capacity of the XBOX 360, and here is an area that I feel Alan Wake really would have benefited from being released a few years earlier. Graphically, it would fit in, and possibly surpass, games released in 2007, or even 2008. There's nothing particularly wrong with Alan Wake's graphics, but with the bumper crop of breathtaking graphics in games being released the past couple of years, the lack of polish is very obvious. The character models for the enemies are pretty much all the same, just with different clothes and weapons, the syncing between the characters lips and the voices were bad to the point of being distracting (which is a big deal following games like Dante's Inferno, where you can actually read the characters lips when your sound is off), Alan runs like he's got a full diaper, and there are times the frame rate suffers and the game almost freezes, even though there's never that much going on. As I said, none of these are game breaking issues, more like minor annoyances, but they're things that Remedy should have been aware of before releasing the game. And again, if you're developing a game for nine years, make sure you update your technology so the game doesn't look like a nine year old game when it's released!
Besides the plot, another area that really stands out in Alan Wake is the soundtrack. The ambiance in the game is sufficiently creepy, the sound effects are perfectly done, and the pre- and post-game music is well chosen and really adds to the feeling of playing through a TV show. I can't remember the last time I've wanted to keep the sound on while I was playing a game, but I definitely did with Alan Wake! The only issue I had with the sound was the voice acting. I found the actors unconvincing, and I believe they did the script injustice. The Taken more than made up for it, though, with their little gems like "Logging is a hazardous occupation," "Take care of your tools," "Stay away from my daughter," and "The graveyard shift may cause cancer."
Finally, we come to replay value. If replay value is wanting to play through another time to mop up the rest of the achievements, then Alan Wake has a moderate replay value. If you consider replay value the actual desire to play through a game again once you're done just for sheer enjoyment of the story, the value will only be there for hardcore fans.
I'd like to sit here and type that Alan Wake lived up to the high expectations I've built for it over the last five years. It certainly sounds good on paper. Alan Wake is a cinematic gaming experience, a psychological thriller, and the kind of game that most gamers will want to play, regardless of their typical genre preference. It borrows heavily from psychological thrillers of other mediums- you can find parallels to Lost, the X-files, and Twin Peaks; and Stephen King's influence is nearly tangible as you go through the game. Like Twin Peaks, The X-files, Lost and Stephen King, I have no doubt that Alan Wake will develop it's own cult following. But while the music is outstanding, and the plot has it's shining moments, there are a lot of areas I feel it could have improved, and a few that I feel absolutely SHOULD have been improved upon at some point in its lengthy development. There's no one problem with the game that is just awful, but altogether the problems really add up. I just can't recommend that anyone buy this game, especially given the fact it can be 1ked in a weekend, but I do think everyone should rent it and check it out.
BOTTOM LINE: Alan Wake is nothing original for fans of psychological thrillers in other genres, and after two or three chapters it forgoes the "psychological thriller" tag altogether, in favor of "survival horror." It's still a very enjoyable game to kill a weekend with, and would easily be an 8/10, but the short campaign, coupled with the lack of any true replay value (you'll play through again if you're a completionist, but unless you have no short term memory the game will have lost its spark on the second playthrough) takes away from the total experience.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10
Achievement Notes: There are 8 different kinds of collectibles in the game, but nothing difficult to collect. All achievements can be managed in 2 play throughs.
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
US Release date: May 18, 2010
For me, the buildup for the game Alan Wake began in the summer of 2005, when it was announced at that year's E3 convention. As the years went by, it faded from my radar, but my excitement picked up again at the beginning of this year, when I realized that the five year wait was nearly over. The problem with a five year wait from announcement to release for a game is that when it's finally released, it's been built up into something larger than life in your head. Sometimes games live up to the hype of your mind, more often, however, they do not.
Alan Wake is set up like a TV series. This game is the first season, with later seasons rumored to be sequels. The story of Alan Wake is its greatest strength. Between the actual story that you play through, and the back story from the manuscript pages you pick up, you get very familiar with the characters- not just the characters you play as, but the side characters you don't get much time with as well. The manuscript pages are a great addition (ugh, collectibles, right?) because they allow you to find out what's going on to the other characters when they aren't with you. They also serve as handy little plot spoilers, giving you glimpses into the future that don't actually help you figure out what's going on.
The plot itself starts out intense, and moves along at a fast pace, however I did feel like it began meandering and losing steam around chapter 4. It somewhat picked up toward the end, but it never shined again as much as the first 2 chapters did. As immersive as the story is, it's easy to lose track of time, and realize you've been playing all night. With a play through time of around 12 hours (that might actually be a high estimate) getting through the game in one sitting is completely possible. The ending... well, I know there are many discussions of it on the Internet, and you can find many many theories about just what the ending was, and what it meant, but for me it felt like the Lost finale. I was all excited thinking that it had come to a conclusion, until I realized that really nothing had been resolved acceptably. This does, however, leave the game open for sequels, part of which have already been written, according to Remedy.
Yes, I said it, the story will take you no more than 12 hours per run through, unless you die a LOT or use a walk-through to try to get every collectible in one play through (which actually can't be done anyway). There is already DLC out, however the DLC costs $10 each (if you bought the game new, you get the first DLC free) and according to Remedy, it doesn't lengthen the main storyline at all a'la Fallout 3. Now there are a few instances where a 12 hour game is acceptable- if the game is a $20 or $30 game, if the game has a strong multi-player and the story mode is really only half of the game, or if the game is a low budget rush game that becomes a surprise hit. Any of those three circumstances make the short story forgivable. Alan Wake, however, cost $60 (the same price that this year's 100+ hour Final Fantasy XIII cost), the only game mode is the single player story, and it has been in development for close to nine years. There really isn't any excuse for how short the story is. I do admit, however, that in chapter 5, I started to feel like the story should have ended in the last chapter, and that they had run out of plot and were just dragging it out to try to justify the $60 price tag.
The game play is enjoyable, without being truly innovative. There are really only three types of enemies- the Taken, who you have to deplete their "darkness shields" with your flashlight before your bullets work against them, poltergeists, who you destroy when you deplete their "darkness shields" with your flashlight, and ravens (who appear to just be Kryll from Gears of War and are just as susceptible to light) who you- you guessed it- kill with your flashlight. Fighting gets a bit repetitive and trying to explore can be frustrating, as the enemies will just keep re-spawning in places and they tend to be faster and more resilient than you are, even in the easiest difficulty. The controls are fairly well mapped. The flashlight aspect is easy to get used to, although I did find myself going through batteries because I kept boosting the flashlight while I was shooting, it's simple to go back and forth between shining and shooting, however Alan has absolutely no stamina, so running when you're overwhelmed isn't going to save you, and dodging is difficult (and can become downright impossible when you are surrounded by taken). The puzzles in the game are extremely straightforward and simple, more of an inconvenience that interrupts the flow of game play than an actual challenge.
Graphically, Alan Wake was mediocre. The visuals were decent, but not mind blowing. They definitely didn't push the capacity of the XBOX 360, and here is an area that I feel Alan Wake really would have benefited from being released a few years earlier. Graphically, it would fit in, and possibly surpass, games released in 2007, or even 2008. There's nothing particularly wrong with Alan Wake's graphics, but with the bumper crop of breathtaking graphics in games being released the past couple of years, the lack of polish is very obvious. The character models for the enemies are pretty much all the same, just with different clothes and weapons, the syncing between the characters lips and the voices were bad to the point of being distracting (which is a big deal following games like Dante's Inferno, where you can actually read the characters lips when your sound is off), Alan runs like he's got a full diaper, and there are times the frame rate suffers and the game almost freezes, even though there's never that much going on. As I said, none of these are game breaking issues, more like minor annoyances, but they're things that Remedy should have been aware of before releasing the game. And again, if you're developing a game for nine years, make sure you update your technology so the game doesn't look like a nine year old game when it's released!
Besides the plot, another area that really stands out in Alan Wake is the soundtrack. The ambiance in the game is sufficiently creepy, the sound effects are perfectly done, and the pre- and post-game music is well chosen and really adds to the feeling of playing through a TV show. I can't remember the last time I've wanted to keep the sound on while I was playing a game, but I definitely did with Alan Wake! The only issue I had with the sound was the voice acting. I found the actors unconvincing, and I believe they did the script injustice. The Taken more than made up for it, though, with their little gems like "Logging is a hazardous occupation," "Take care of your tools," "Stay away from my daughter," and "The graveyard shift may cause cancer."
Finally, we come to replay value. If replay value is wanting to play through another time to mop up the rest of the achievements, then Alan Wake has a moderate replay value. If you consider replay value the actual desire to play through a game again once you're done just for sheer enjoyment of the story, the value will only be there for hardcore fans.
I'd like to sit here and type that Alan Wake lived up to the high expectations I've built for it over the last five years. It certainly sounds good on paper. Alan Wake is a cinematic gaming experience, a psychological thriller, and the kind of game that most gamers will want to play, regardless of their typical genre preference. It borrows heavily from psychological thrillers of other mediums- you can find parallels to Lost, the X-files, and Twin Peaks; and Stephen King's influence is nearly tangible as you go through the game. Like Twin Peaks, The X-files, Lost and Stephen King, I have no doubt that Alan Wake will develop it's own cult following. But while the music is outstanding, and the plot has it's shining moments, there are a lot of areas I feel it could have improved, and a few that I feel absolutely SHOULD have been improved upon at some point in its lengthy development. There's no one problem with the game that is just awful, but altogether the problems really add up. I just can't recommend that anyone buy this game, especially given the fact it can be 1ked in a weekend, but I do think everyone should rent it and check it out.
BOTTOM LINE: Alan Wake is nothing original for fans of psychological thrillers in other genres, and after two or three chapters it forgoes the "psychological thriller" tag altogether, in favor of "survival horror." It's still a very enjoyable game to kill a weekend with, and would easily be an 8/10, but the short campaign, coupled with the lack of any true replay value (you'll play through again if you're a completionist, but unless you have no short term memory the game will have lost its spark on the second playthrough) takes away from the total experience.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10
Achievement Notes: There are 8 different kinds of collectibles in the game, but nothing difficult to collect. All achievements can be managed in 2 play throughs.
Rating: 7.5 of 10
Reviewed: Alan Wake™
Keywords: Alan Wake, reviews
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