Alan Wake -Review

By Thomas O’Hara | 21st October 2011

Publisher Game Studios Developer Platform XBOX360 Released 14th May 2010

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t in 2009 the game that The visuals and the way the lighting Remedy Entertainment and is seen and rendered is probably one of A Microsoft Game Studios had the most outstanding features Alan been creating since 2005 was fully Wake uses to its advantage, and so revealed to the eyes of the public. This effectively which no other game has concept that Remedy Entertainment done or tired. The way they designed portrayed for this game was more of the the lighting so the player feels they scene that is not touched on within themselves are uncomfortable when game genre’s that much anymore. With they are in the darkness of the game Alan Wake’s genre being a psychological and the pressure to keep the light on. It action , it was really putting this brought a whole new aspect to how to game in a category that could either fail diverse a player into a console game or succeed depending on how well they without it being first person and drove designed the game. the player, especially me, as I found The initial concepts of the design, art myself wanting to find out more of this and visuals of the game sent out by the gripping story. The core mechanics developers where very promising for the really are intricate throughout this success of this seemingly unique idea. game, the way the story is told through This game intrigued me very much as I the eyes and feelings of the character like to see this type of psychological and the player is playing as and the way it different games released because they drives you on to know more. The story give the player a more in depth story itself is what got me totally into this and involvement to them. The game, it gave you that aspect of you development of the game from the initial wanted to know more, gave you announcement in 2005 went from questions and little answers unless you strength to strength; the gameplay of played on. This is what I love about this Alan Wake became much more intricate game that it isn’t just another of the and different to anything done before. standard games out on the market, its Although when the game was released uses a different idea and different ways on 14th May 2010 some people saw the to immerse the player into it and where gameplay and core mechanics tedious to it fails it makes up for because of that. what they expected, but it really made the game more interesting to play as the player. It gave a different aspect to think of and always made the player think on their feet to the situation put before them, be it to get away, stand and fight, slip around, investigating or to uncover more of the story. Developing the game this way made it unique and interactive to the player, although in some key aspects of the game it failed.

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The dream ends when the player playing as Alan Wake makes it to the light house the only source of light, but not before a tornado of darkness making the player run for their lives towards the light house to survive. The character Alan Wake then wakes up in a car with his wife next to him heading towards a remote town where their get-a-way location and the rest of the story is based. The intricate way the story draws the player in slowly, giving them little amounts of information and ultimately questions the player themselves ask, is what I think makes this such a success. The failures that Alan Wake did have were that the players who waited for this game where disappointed, they did not like the aspect of shinning a light and shooting the dark entities made them go away, they thought it made the game tedious and boring. But with that said Alan Wake doesn’t just draw you in with only a minute amount of people saw the its core mechanics, its narrative is game in that light, the rest saw what probably the back bone of how this unique properties this game held for game plays out to the player or the being one of the different games to be viewer with just how in depth it goes released that totally involved the players with its story telling. From the beginning imagination. you can tell the story along with its near Overall I enjoyed this game when I realistic visuals and graphics of the played it and I do think what Remedy surroundings and not to mention the Entertainment did to make it different is characters, that it would be different to what made the game so good. With the how other games develop the story in different aspects of the visually pleasing game. The start of the game puts you cut scenes, to the finding of clues, which into a dream the main character you made the ending of the game all that play as, Alan Wake a famous story much more dramatic and great to me as writer who has gotten writers block and the player. The sentence at the end of came to get away so he can write the the game defined how good the game rest of his book but finds something drew me in, “It’s not a lake, ...It’s an else. The dream is very much a ocean...” it was a brilliant way to end nightmare with Alan Wake running over the game. a person who then disappears and turns into some kind of darkness induced entity that is after Alan for reasons yet unknown.

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