Released way back in 2010 and a game I kept my eye on when I first heard about it. I hyped myself up in what felt like a long wait. I did get it on the release date too.
We play as the title character, an author and best selling writer. Currently suffering from writers block, he takes a trip with his wife to Bright Falls. His wife Alice, mysteriously disappears and Alan finds the story of his latest novel is coming to life. The Darkness has shown its presence in Bright Falls and has taken Alice.
Bright Falls looks beautiful and a great place to live. It's full of friendly faces in a town where everyone knows each other. You will very likely get a Twin Peaks vibe when you start paying. A lot of locals play a part in the story, and the darkness even takes over some of them, when the darkness takes over, they become The Taken. The only way to kill the Taken is to shine your torch at them, destroy a shadow shield and then leave them open to your guns.
The Taken only appear in the night, you're pretty much safe in the daylight times. I loved the day tines, not only because I was safe, but I loved exploring the town and meeting all the quirky locals. As well as your flashlight, you're equipped with flashbangs which are an instant kill, flareguns, also an instant kill, and flares, you can drop or hold them to give yourself some breathing space. There is also a nice small arsenal for you to blast the Taken, revolvers, hunting rifles and shotguns. There's even flashlight upgrades, but you must use batteries, never over use them or you could leave yourself having to run for your life.
Along the story you meet a bunch of interesting characters, by far my favourite was Barry Wheeler, Alan's agent. He was funny, over dramatic and was a great sidekick. Dr Hartman, Sheriff Breaker and The Old Gods of Asgard are probably the stand out characters, some people you meet become Taken and a boss fight. As well, birds can attack you and do some damage, shine your light at them as they swarm at you to prevent their attacks
You can find manuscript pages from Wake's latest novel scattered around, these are a great collectable as they tell you what's going to happen, so you get a heads up. The voice actor for Alan is great, the way he speaks and narrates the story makes you want to listen. The graphics were fantastic for back in 2010, all the characters look like real people and they stand out. The downfall, is Alan Wake himself, he looks far less detailed than the secondary characters, which is a huge disappointment.
Ammo is scarce, batteries are much easier to manage. You have to be careful with ammo because I found myself with none at one point, and it wasn't fun to constantly run away. Safe spots are beams of lights, they also act as save points, will heal you and make enemies disappear. You can also dodge attacks in slow motion and reload your weapons faster, which helps when you're under pressure. There are some driving sections, the driving is ok and it's a fast way to travel. It also has a very powerful light with its headlights and you can also run down enemies. Inanimate objects could also come to life and attack you, it made you fear that anything could rise up to attack you.
The question I think is tricky is, is Alan Wake likeable? It's a yes and no, I'm nor really sure what I think either, he does come across quite douchy. Also, there wasn't much of Alice, seeing as the whole game was about saving her, I think she needed more time to develop so we could care about her. The radio and TV shows were a great little feature, so much effort went in to the fictional show "Night Springs", a Twilight Zone type show, and the radio shows gave more to the story and were well acted.
This was a fantastic game back in 2010, and to this day it's still a great game. Mechanics are good, story is intriguing and the graphics are still great. Besides roaming around in a forest more often than not, the daylight scenes make up for it. So, if you still haven't managed to play through this game, you should give it a try.
8.3/10
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