If you like horror novels, believe me when i say this game is not something you'll regret spending money on.
but be warned, this is not similar to most games, in the sense that most of the story is left up to the player to discover, and if you're not ready to spend time deciphering the clues, then the game (the ending in particular) will only serve to annoy you.
in short 10/10 easily, much more deep compared to other games in the genre, doesn't rely on cheap thrills.
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The Good: Graphical upgrade looks great, memorable story and characters, great pacing, interesting gun play mechanics, included DLC is a bonusThe Bad: Gun play gets repetitive after awhile, can be tough in spots, driving isn't any fun, a little on the short side
Even after 2 years Alan Wake is still an excellent game. With updated visuals for PC, and the inclusion of both DLC, the PC version is worth the buy. Even 360 players should come back for another shot just to see the sweet new looks. Alan Wake was my favorite story of 2010 and is still great today. You play as Alan Wake, a famous New York author who takes a vacation to the Northwest in Bright Falls. He ends up renting a cabin, and before you know it his wife jumps into the lake. He then wakes up from a car accident and so your adventure begins. I can't give away anything except he is writing what is happening to him. The story is very novel like and has a great pace. The narrative is delivered with likeable characters and great voice acting.
You walk around collecting manuscript pages that will tell you kind of what's going to happen in the next scene. You can also find coffee thermoses as collectibles, but I wonder why thermoses? Is this a jab at the hot coffee mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, or a little sign that the guys at Remedy were up long nights trying to complete this? Who knows, but it is an interesting thing. There is also a strange phone barcode tag that has a strange stab at Max Payne. I think back when Alan Wake was released it was a hint at Max Payne 3.
The whole game is wrapped around light and dark gameplay, literally. You use your flashlight to burn away darkness from The Taken and then shoot them until they disappear. The gunplay is challenging and can be fun. There are various tools for burning away darkness like the flare gun, which does major area damage, flashbangs, and flares give you distance from enemies. You can also get bigger flashlights later on which burn away darkness faster. Most enemies will throw weapons at you or attack you directly with scythes, axes, and bats. The whole game is set in the countryside so The Taken look like farmers, sheriffs, loggers, and various other occupations in those areas. The Taken are pretty creepy because they spurt out lines about their occupation in mixed normal talk and deep creepy voices.
There are some environmental light sources you can use like giant spotlights, and some smaller ones to help you fight the darkness. The combat overall is fun and challenging, but never changes which means repetition sets in quickly. Thankfully the game is paced nicely so you aren't constantly fighting. A lot of the time you are running from the darkness and it can possess objects and throw them at you. Of course you have to burn it away so that stops. Large vehicles like tractors, bulldozers, and trucks act as bosses. A lot of the fighting is also broken up with cut scenes and in-game dialog.
This is pretty much all there is to it except the lame attempts at puzzles. There are a few spread out, but they really aren't puzzles at all. I think the game could have used some better ones, but what is here works well enough. There are some fun set pieces that are memorable, but there is one issue I don't understand. Why do survival horrors have crappy driving mechanics? First it was Alone in the Dark, then Deadly Premonition, and now Alan Wake. The cars drive like you're on ice, and despite boosting the lights to run Taken over, they damage the car real quick.
Anyways, the game looks gorgeous with nice DirectX 10 effects that are actually noticeable. The lighting is better, the effects are better, and the higher resolution textures are a sight for sore eyes. The Xbox 360 version, even when it was released, didn't look too hot with blurry textures which made it look ugly in spots. If you have the rig to run this game you are in for a visual treat. The nice effects like lens flare from the flares that blind your vision, and overall lighting effects look fantastic here.
Overall, for the $30 Alan Wake is a steal for PC gamers and a nice price for 360 owners so maybe traded in their game long ago and want another go. This game is memorable and so is the story. This is a game you will talk about amongst friends. From the Night Springs mini-shows you can watch, to the radio station commentary, there is a lot of ambiance and atmosphere that horror games need to learn from.
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First I would like to say thank you to who ever made the decision to bring alan wake to the PC in the end.This was an awesome game and I had a lot of fun playing it. Gameplay was hella fun. Using the light to unmask the creatures of darkness yielding them to gun fire for final obliteration is plain simple fun. Besides the manuscripts the other collectables are pointless and I felt they didn't add anything to the game. I felt the urge to collect the coffee therms when I saw them but dreaded it every time. Must be an OCD thing. Interesting and dark storyline help motivate you to continue the game and adds to the overall gameplay. I found the story to drag a little bit towards the end but overall was still a fun "read". The graphics were very good. I played on high with my PC and only noticed a few slow downs during scenes with companions that also had light sources moving around the environment.
I would highly recommend this game in the $15-$20 price range. I played comfortably through the game (on normal mode) without rushing and had about 12 hours game time.
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I have a new HP envy dv6, which if I recall is perfectly capable to handle this game. I installed it which took over 10 hours total wirelessly and the game image and cut scenes were distorted. Sorta of like a black and white display. I would not recommend due to that fact that it did not work on my laptop which could preform this game. On the bright side though I emailed Amazon, show some pictures of what I am experiencing, and was able to get a refund. Just wish the game could've worked, oh well... money saved right?Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Alan Wake
I liked the game, it has interesting story, but ending was a little bit weak, and the main problem that it was short. I wouldn't recommend paying more than 20$ for this game
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