alan wake

[mogzilla]

 wasnt too sure about this at first hence a rental last night.but it's turning out ok (sorry spartacus hughes btw my head set is awol so parties are a no no at present!)

its an old fashioned survival horror with the torch being more important than the gun so far. the darkness is a nice and more importantly scary baddie with no feckin clue whats going on ..it pays "homage" to silent hill and the psl alone in the dark with the torch ...the taken are a reasonably varied foe but the  dodge control isnt too clever especially when i am trying to sprint with no ammo as its the same button!

[Satanist]

aye I was just gonna ask what yer thoughts on this were as Ive just started. seemes good enough but my favourite thing is the tv show within a game thats like the twilight zone. The quantum suicide one had me in stitches.

Anyhoo I plan on finishing this quick smart and trading it in against red dead redemption next week.

[mogzilla]

alpha protocol is out the week after! goodbye sleep!

[PsychoGoatee]

I really enjoyed Alan Wake, while the gameplay was straight forward the atmosphere and story really pulled me in. Especially the Max Payne style narration, Remedy has still got it.

And hey, the first DLC add-on mission "The Signal" hits Xbox live on July 27th, and its free, which is good.

Then later on in 2010 a second episode, titled "The Writer" will be available for download, though that one's not free. And possibly more after that.

[Keef Monkey]

I loved this, the Max Payne games are up their with my all time favorites and it felt so good to be playing a Remedy game again. Their stuff just seems to ooze a certain quality, the way the atmosphere, character and narrative come together is just sublime. Thought Alan Wake was no exception, some of the best writing I've seen in a game and it had me gripped right through, despite the mechanics themselves being really simple. Some nice Payne references too, made this geek very happy.

[radiator]

The title of this game alone is enough to put me off it forever. Alan? Seriously, you called your game Alan? Worst game title I've ever heard.

[M.I.K.]

They needed his name to start with an A so they could have a rubbish sort-of-pun title like Max Payne.

Got off lightly, I think. It could have been called Andy Wake.

[Pete Wells]

Reckon it should have been called Fella Sleep.

Bah, this is £20 (new) on Game and Game Station Online but £40 in the actual stores. What's all that about?

[Richmond Clements]

I have just finished this- the credits are playing at the moment, in fact.
So- WTF..? Is the end seriously [spoiler]he woke up and it was all a dream[/spoiler]?
Oh I can see this is very clever given [spoiler]the name of the game and all[/spoiler], but come on!

[Keef Monkey]

I have just finished this- the credits are playing at the moment, in fact.
So- WTF..? Is the end seriously [spoiler]he woke up and it was all a dream[/spoiler]?
Oh I can see this is very clever given [spoiler]the name of the game and all[/spoiler], but come on!

Hmmmm, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!![spoiler]unless I've completely misunderstood the ending myself then it's not that at all! Not sure where you got that actually, you've made me think there might be alternate endings. From what I recall he sacrifices himself to save his wife. He stays at the typewriter to write an ending where his wife is free while he becomes absorbed by the dark forces. When it ends she's on the shore without him and he's in the cabin which exists within the evil in some sort of limbo, and the last line (it's an ocean) seems to be him realizing that the evil has spread wider than he's realized. The first piece of DLC is apparently an epilogue so will be interesting to see where it goes, because if I have interpreted it right Wake's no longer among the land of the living really.

That was my take anyway, but it was all a little metaphysical at the end there so it might be open to interpretation![/spoiler]

Man I love this game.

[Richmond Clements]

Aye, you could be right!
I thought the ending was a major disappointment because to me it didn't really make much sense. I found all the stuff about [spoiler]him writing himself into the story[/spoiler] to be horribly clichéd and it rather wore the influences on the sleeve too, with many nods to Stephen King in there- not least a horror story with a writer as a hero.

That said- I really did enjoy playing it and there were some superb set pieces in there, like [spoiler]fending the bad guys off from the stage[/spoiler].
For me though, the ending was very weak... but as you say, the epilogue might clear it up a bit.

[Pete Wells]

Sorry to go on about this but it's stoopid! I've gone ahead and ordered this off the Game website for 19.99 (brand new), however the site was offering it second hand £27.99 or, if I go to the shop, I can get it for £39.99! WTF?

[Jared Katooie]

The title of this game alone is enough to put me off it forever. Alan? Seriously, you called your game Alan? Worst game title I've ever heard.

Easily beaten by James Pond 2: Robocod or (ugh) Wargasm.

[Keef Monkey]

Aye, you could be right!
I thought the ending was a major disappointment because to me it didn't really make much sense. I found all the stuff about [spoiler]him writing himself into the story[/spoiler] to be horribly clichéd and it rather wore the influences on the sleeve too, with many nods to Stephen King in there- not least a horror story with a writer as a hero.

That said- I really did enjoy playing it and there were some superb set pieces in there, like [spoiler]fending the bad guys off from the stage[/spoiler].
For me though, the ending was very weak... but as you say, the epilogue might clear it up a bit.

Yeah, you're right about the Stephen King thing. It's so obviously inspired by him that if someone told you King had written it you'd believe them. Whether that's a good thing depends on how much you like Stephen King I guess, but I love him so I was just impressed they'd managed to match his tone so well, as it's a difficult thing to pin down. That set-piece you mentioned was brilliant! The lighting in the game is so amazingly gorgeous and at that point there's so much of it going around that my eyes were very happy.

[Something Fishy]

I really enjoyed this.  Felt it could have done witha tad more variety come the end but overall found it a gripping experience.

Very much looking forward to the dlc.