Alan Wake

[Orgun]

I received this yesterday from Boomerang, I finished the first three episodes then proceeded to buy the game and send the rental back to Boomerang.

Love it.

[kernow]

I traded this in yesterday having not really played it as much as I'd of liked to.

I think I was through the 2nd or 3rd chapter but I just found it boring and frustrating, running through woods with not enough ammo and unable to outrun the enemies.

This is how I feel about it, started last night, I was pretty gripped after playing chapters 2 and 3 all the way through , but I can't wait for it to end.

It's alright, not bad at all I guess, I really like the tv show layout, but its pretty repetitive, some bits look great! some .. not so much. And usually I find theres simply not enough ammo, 6 of them on you, they can run and hit you 3 times in quick succession, yeah awesome.

[Uli]

what's wrong with the 5.1 sound mix? volume and channel focus of the dialogue and sound FX are frequently changing, Alan's in-game voice is barely audible. how this game passed QA is beyond me

[Rossco]

Don't think I had any problems with the sound on this to be honest.

[Uli]

strange, are you outputting to a 5.1 speaker setup?

at least i am not the only one with this annoying sound issue...

Xanoptic0n

Re: Sound volume
This is my biggest problem about Alan Wake, whoever did the sound volumes should be fired. I had to turn my TV way up and turn everything but voice down, just so I could hear what people were saying.... ended up puting subtitles on anyway because people wisper so much.

At first I either had to not hear what they were saying or have my room shake from the incredibly loud sound effects.

Re: Sound volume
I had the same issue. Sound Fx was excellent, but voices were very quiet.
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[eastyy]

dunno if this is just me but i was not keen on the night time bits when you started fighting the enemies....when the fog and wind started everything seems to go a bit pixelly particulary the fog effect

[Guts]

And usually I find theres simply not enough ammo, 6 of them on you, they can run and hit you 3 times in quick succession, yeah awesome.

Maybe you guys should have played it on "easy" then, as I finished it on "hard" and there was only one time when I had to run away because I didn't have a single round left. Alan Wake is pretty easy game if you ration your flare guns and flashbang grenades, at the later parts of the game I was stacked with the things, 5 villagers jump out, wait until they get close, kill 'em all with a single flare/flashbang.

[rmoxon]

Maybe you guys should have played it on "easy" then, as I finished it on "hard" and there was only one time when I had to run away because I didn't have a single round left. Alan Wake is pretty easy game if you ration your flare guns and flashbang grenades, at the later parts of the game I was stacked with the things, 5 villagers jump out, wait until they get close, kill 'em all with a single flare/flashbang.

It is an easy game, While enemies do spawn directly behind you and throw axes in your back, they don't usually kill you, they are just annoying as hell, the combat is rubbish really.

[Guts]

In my opinion the combat was ok. Using the light to destroy the enemy "shields" was quite cool idea, but it could have used a lot more variety in enemies and situations.

[JazzFunk]

Spent a fair bit of time over the last couple of nights, fell totally in love with it upon the

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ferry venture into Bright Falls

and the subsequent

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bit in the diner

, THEN onto the

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lakeside cottage

(I was amazed at how well-created and 'alive' this gameworld was) BUT I kind of backtracked on my initial opinion when I realised the bulk of the game would be centred around, inescapable, anxiety-inducing jumpy nighttime shooty bits, like the real Silent Hill bits in Silent Hill, the stressy bits that aren't really that fun. At least in this case, Remedy are at the helm, they know how to do 3rd person combat good, the combat in this is satisfyingly smooth, bar weapon selection, which can be a pain as the game doesn't auto-pause and you'll be in some pretty stressful situations which NEED you to change weapons quickly. Despite a few fights where I've been frustratingly damaged by enemies spawning behind me, I've found that temporarily blinding enemies with the torch seems to work out best, buys you some time.

I'm up to episode 3, feel like I'm quite deep into it but might not be, I've been OCD about collecting the Thermos flasks but on this episode I've been a bit quicker, given how ammo has been very limited so far, what with the flashbangs and whatnot (I'm about ten minutes after the

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radio station bit, which was a bit of a letdown as I was really looking forward to spending some quality interview time with Pat Maine!

)

Main prob I have is, the moment I entered Bright Falls, the

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diner

bit, it reminded me of Shenmue, how I'd so love to explore the place for a bit, rather than me be forced into a game that seems to be primarily a repetitive, twilit Resi 4-style shooter at its heart. The atmosphere is so *rich* in this game, it feels such a shame, it would've been more fun if they'd attempted a little more with this game because they've put loads of effort into embellishing the place, the talk radio station, the various TV shows, the history ,they work like they did in Max Payne 2's TV/radio broadcasts that elevated its lushly noirish feel, yet like that game you feel mercilessly propelled through the game, rather than having a chance to sit back and savour the incredible atmosphere.

I have no problems with the graphics in the game, in fact it's one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played, they did good "supernatural twilight American forest + maniacs with hatchets" with this, the atmosphere of being alone in the wild at night is both stunning and kinda terrifying, the lighting is more than bang-on, it's really, really organic and completely delivers the atmosphere the designers were going for (yeah, some might find gripes in 'facial detail' and whatnot but one has to compensate for certain things when playing games, this game looks stunning...)

It's clear that Remedy are a vastly talented developer, it's just this seems to suffer the same problems both Max Paynes did, ie. it's aesthetically brilliant, offers tightly-honed, focused gameplay but feels limited when played over a period of hours, like its creators are constant underachievers, though very, very classy ones.

Anyway, I really like it, I'm gonna finish it, I hope I'm wrong, that it has more depth than I currently feel it has, it's still a quality game.

[JazzFunk]

Finished this about half an hour ago on 'normal' difficulty.

79&#37; enjoyed it as a whole, rising to 91% for the great bits (episode 5's

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journey through Bright Falls

was truly jizzmatastic, evoking the conjoined spirit of both Silent Hill 1, Silent Hill 2 and Scarborough seafront in one effortless bung.)

Bar the atmos, the wondrously designed, mixed bag graphics, the fantastic sound design, the best thing about this is the splatchy, super-fluid, Resi4-feeling gunplay, it really is satisfying and gets better the more you play, the anxiety-inducing bits become much less threatening once you master its guns. Even when you're not actually blasting a gun, the torchy stuff feels superb, there are several *frankly preposterous* sections where you have to

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burn away possessed inanimate objects (ie. rusted cars, tires, boxes, sections of floor) with the torch and these bits are really f*ckin' fun! (There're also a few mid-level baddies that also happen to be possess&#233;d inanimated objects).

In fact, one of the most satisfying bits in this (at least for me) was when you find the black, shiny darkness **** on the roads/attached to cars/crashed planes/whatever, you don't even have to jazz your torch at it and waste batteries, you can just burn it away from a distance, simply by 'looking' at it with the joystick, I really liked that.

In conclusion, I think this is an excellent '1 player experience' type of game, it's super-playable, looks really good though has patchy elements, is totally absorbing, longish but not too long, *IS* really rather repetitive at points, *IS* pretty un-hard once mastered, but the plot is nicely incomprehensible and there's some

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Bowie, Barry Adamson and Nick Cave

in there, it does try with its Lynchian-type tuneage, the soundtrack could've been released in 1990.

Given how expansive the landscapes can be, I doubt I'll be revisiting episodes to spend hours searching for the six thermos flasks I failed to find (exploration greatly lengthens the game, yet exploring really only is about collecting items to raise one's collection stats and therefore get 'cheevz'). Really, don't bother.

Anyway, mediumly highly recommended. I'll download the DLC when they do a 'Sale' on Live, or they release a Game Of The Year Edition, whereby I'll borrow it off someone, install it, play that.


79.5778/100.Maybe 81%/82%(???)

(EDIT PS: News of a sequel would move my loins in some manner, I guess that symbolises a semblance of goodness in whatever naked form, despite the misgivings I may have.)

PPS: Absolutely *loved* 'The Anderson Brothers', would love a something, DLC or XBLA, whatever, that focused on them.

[stainboy]

Sorry have kinda just skimmed through the comments in here but this was one of the games that turned me towards the 360 back in 2006. I only saw daytime shots then and it looked far too Twin Peaks to not have.

But then it started evolving. I enjoyed playing it but it was far too shooty in the dark and not enough eerie in the day. I loved the part when you're in the hospital and the doc is trying to trick you, I likes walking around in the day. I'd have liked the night had there been a lot fewer enemies. Stand out scenes with Barry on the stage were fun but I think they should have been one offs. At points I felt I might as well be playing Resident Evil.

I did like it though and I'm gonna get round to playing the extra content that came with it (I think that gives your avatar a scarf, yeah I'm sad) but it had changed, obviously over all these years from what I was hoping for.

[Uli]

i think it's fair to say that after more than 5 years in development and all the hype the final product is a mild disappointment. for a game that deals about story writing its own story and dialogue just alternates between silly and laughable. characters are underdeveloped or simply fit in a stereotype - like Alan's annoying and stupid girlfriend.

combat initially felt fresh and exciting but got boring too quickly. i mostly enjoyed the game for its great atmosphere when played at night and the gorgeous Twin Peaks-like settings.

['Press Start']

I have been playing this and can't say I enjoy it. I can only echo what other have said about the combat. It's boring and repetitive.

The graphics are a mixed bag. Amazing scenery of the mountains and surrounding forests but the characters look quite poor. I only paid ?10 but I don't think I will get my ?10 worth, it will be traded in very soon.

Get on with Max Payne!!!!!

[NecronomiconUK]

Get on with Max Payne!!!!!

Remedy aren't at all involved in Max Payne 3. Which based on the info that was shown last (a while back) looks like garbage.