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Tag Archives: Alan Wake

Too many sequels

You know what’s sad? That most of the games that raise any interest in me at all anymore are all sequels. OK, I’m exaggerating a bit. After all, I enjoyed Alan Wake and even Alpha Protocol, two of the best original, non-sequel IPs offered in 2010. And I’m still waiting for a price break on Heavy Rain.

But be that as it may, most of the games I’m looking forward to, or have any interest in, are primarily sequels. Take Dragon Age 2, for instance, Or Fable 3. Or whatever Final Fantasy title comes out next that is NOT an MMO with high monthly fees. Or the final chapter of the Mass Effect trilogy.

These are the games that will actually motivate me to spend some money, as some point; but even with those, I’m not super-motivated enough to not wait for the price to drop from $60. I’m sure no one hiring for customer service representative work would want to hear this coming from an applicant – but I’m not looking for that kind of work, so I can just speak my mind: much like Hollywood, it feels like game companies are running out of ideas.

Am I alone in this perception?

Alan Wake impressions

For our anniversary, my wife bought us the long-awaited Xbox 360 game, Alan Wake. It’s a great suspense game with a healthy dose of survival horror tossed into the mix. And so far, from what I’ve played of it, it’s the finest example of the genre since Silent Hill 2 on PlayStation 2. Yes, I like it that much! And what a great personalized gift for my wife to think of!

Alan Wake focuses on a writer of popular suspense novels who goes with his wife to Bright Falls, a town in the Pacific Northwest that looks just beautiful and gorgeous on the 360! Well, during the day it does. At night is a different story as the locals tend to go mad and try to kill you.

Instead of standard weaponry alone, your most important weapon in Alan Wake is one’s flashlight, since only light can drive the possessing spirits away long enough to make them vulnerable to physical attack.

It’s a chiller of a title, yet offers a great narrative over the course of the game. We waited until the game dropped in price, but Alan Wake was certainly worth the wait.

Alan Wake intrigues

There are a lot of intriguing games out on the market right now, and most people can’t afford them all. This makes choosing the right handful of games more important than ever. Enter the new Xbox 360 title, Alan Wake.

Wake was first announced six years ago by the team that brought us the Max Payne titles; however, those crime noir shooters bear little resemblance to what is billed as a “psychological thriller.” In point of fact, Alan Wake draws more from videogames like Silent Hill and Heavy Rain, as well as TV shows like Lost and Twin Peaks, that it does Max Payne.

Now, sometimes this genre can trigger click here nightmares of poorly executed games of a bygone, point-and-click era. Fortunately, Alan Wake appears to be nothing like that; it works with a solid “light versus dark” theme that is simultaneously basic and effective.

The game features a novelist, Wake, who is trying to track down his missing wife in the Pacific Northwest, with pages from a novel he doesn’t remember writing as his only clues … pages that seem to reflect the reality unfolding with each passing moment.

It’s a primal concept that reminds me of Silent Hill at its best, which for me was Silent Hill 2, the first appearance of the franchise on PS2, and by far the one with the more basic and visceral premise: a grieving husband being beckoned by his dead wife to “meet her” in Silent Hill.

Similarly, Wake offers up core, primal fears and motives that make this 360 title one of the more intriguing options on the market right now; it’s on my “seriously consider getting this” list, along with Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, White Knight Chronicles, and Cross Edge.

In fact, it’s likely to stay near the top of my want list right up until Fable 3 is released near the end of the year (if it stays on schedule).