At any rate, on to the game itself. I had no idea what this game was about when I decided that I wanted it. I had simply heard really good things, among them that the studio had had five years to get this thing right. Then I heard what it was actually about. Though I was initially confused, a state with has persisted even now that I've finished the game, I was even more excited to play this game. Alan Wake centers around a guy, named, well, Alan Wake. He's a best-selling writer of thriller novels, though writer's block has prevented him from writing anything in some time. Cue vacation with the attractive blonde wife. They go out and stay in a cabin on a lake in a mysterious Northwest U.S. town secluded in the woods and then, bam, his wife falls out of the cabin into the lake. He jumps in to save her and wakes up a week later in his wrecked car.
Now, for any other thriller game, this would be enough to go on. The game would consist of finding out where you were that past week while searching for your wife. But this isn't just any old thriller/action game. As soon as you step out of the car, you see a piece of paper on the ground. What's on the paper, you say? It's a manuscript that you don't remember writing. And it's describing what's happening to you. I'm betting you can see where the story goes from there. Well, you're wrong. It doesn't end there. There's bad guys after you, of course. But not just any normal enemies. They're infected with some form of shadowy darkness, and the only way to weaken them enough to kill them is to hit them with some light, be it from your flashlight, flare gun or even by hiding under a streetlight. Now you know the game.
The story itself is great, though it does have its flaws. The idea that you're a bestselling author of thriller novels trying to track down your wife in a real-life thriller (quickly turning horror) story that you wrote but don't remember writing is pretty amusing. The dialogue and narration really dwells into the nature of paranoia and helplessless common in this type of story and also the struggles of the creative mind - and how's there's often a darkness that comes with it (though it's not as literal as it is in this game). But the story isn't perfect. There's a lot of literary references to great authors that I'm sure the game designers would love to be compared to, but it ends up coming off as high-school-pretentious. The narration can be kind of ridiculous because it's so omnipresent. I think I can handle working my way up those stairs without your help, Alan. Originally I wanted to harp on the B-Movie style dialogue and narration, but then I realized that this may have been more or less intentional. It may be that the game is simply emulating the style of the thriller novels that it's bringing to life.
I found the game play to be simultaneously innovative and infuriating. I like the idea of weakening the enemies with flashlights/flares/spotlights before they can be killed. It's an interesting way to differentiate the game from just being a plain old shooter, and the idea of destroying darkness with light is also thematically resonant. This dynamic also has some other amusing consequences. Items that, in other games, might be considered non-lethal become the heavy hitters of Alan Wake. Flares can hold enemies at bay indefinitely, flash-bangs become frag grenades and the flare gun becomes a rocket launcher. There's a lot that I didn't like about the game play, though. I understand that you're a writer and not an action hero packing a full arsenal and military training. I even like the idea - it worked in Silent Hill. But only being able to sprint for about ten yards before you start to wheeze? Come on. If a bunch of axe-wielding supernatural psychopaths are chasing me through the woods and the streetlight that can save my life is only twenty feet away, you can damn well bet that my adrenaline and self-preservation are going to get me there. I mean, how out of shape is this guy?
On that note, why did this game include a jump mechanic at all? Climbing, maybe, but jumping? The jumping in this game is so flawed that it's atrocious. I hit the jump button and ten minutes later Alan flails himself about the level, possibly off of a cliff. Jumping wasn't necessary and if it couldn't have been implemented correctly it should have been left out altogether. Also, what's the point of having me kick old planks of wood to make myself a ramp? It's not fun to watch, it takes no skill greater than pressing the B button and I'd just as soon not have to do it at all. The level design also gets to be a bit repetitive. The typical level finds Alan trekking through some dark woods trying to get back to his car because he fell off a cliff, of trying to get through town or some industrial yard trying to turn on some generator. It's all well and good but it was getting kind of boring by the end. I mean, it's the Pacific northwest. Has the entire small town been infected by darkness except for me and two other people? I'm practically a mass murderer! Get some new enemy design.
All in all, though, I highly recommend this game if not simply for the atmosphere that it creates. You feel that as though at any moment in the game, you can be attacked out of nowhere. Even if you're in a cut scene, even if it's daylight out. And when you're walking through the woods, which you will do plenty of, and the dark mist rolls in and turns itself into a hurricane of horror, your heart will be pounding, especially if you're playing by yourself after dark with the lights turned out.
Grade: B+
The story itself is great, though it does have its flaws. The idea that you're a bestselling author of thriller novels trying to track down your wife in a real-life thriller (quickly turning horror) story that you wrote but don't remember writing is pretty amusing. The dialogue and narration really dwells into the nature of paranoia and helplessless common in this type of story and also the struggles of the creative mind - and how's there's often a darkness that comes with it (though it's not as literal as it is in this game). But the story isn't perfect. There's a lot of literary references to great authors that I'm sure the game designers would love to be compared to, but it ends up coming off as high-school-pretentious. The narration can be kind of ridiculous because it's so omnipresent. I think I can handle working my way up those stairs without your help, Alan. Originally I wanted to harp on the B-Movie style dialogue and narration, but then I realized that this may have been more or less intentional. It may be that the game is simply emulating the style of the thriller novels that it's bringing to life.
I found the game play to be simultaneously innovative and infuriating. I like the idea of weakening the enemies with flashlights/flares/spotlights before they can be killed. It's an interesting way to differentiate the game from just being a plain old shooter, and the idea of destroying darkness with light is also thematically resonant. This dynamic also has some other amusing consequences. Items that, in other games, might be considered non-lethal become the heavy hitters of Alan Wake. Flares can hold enemies at bay indefinitely, flash-bangs become frag grenades and the flare gun becomes a rocket launcher. There's a lot that I didn't like about the game play, though. I understand that you're a writer and not an action hero packing a full arsenal and military training. I even like the idea - it worked in Silent Hill. But only being able to sprint for about ten yards before you start to wheeze? Come on. If a bunch of axe-wielding supernatural psychopaths are chasing me through the woods and the streetlight that can save my life is only twenty feet away, you can damn well bet that my adrenaline and self-preservation are going to get me there. I mean, how out of shape is this guy?
On that note, why did this game include a jump mechanic at all? Climbing, maybe, but jumping? The jumping in this game is so flawed that it's atrocious. I hit the jump button and ten minutes later Alan flails himself about the level, possibly off of a cliff. Jumping wasn't necessary and if it couldn't have been implemented correctly it should have been left out altogether. Also, what's the point of having me kick old planks of wood to make myself a ramp? It's not fun to watch, it takes no skill greater than pressing the B button and I'd just as soon not have to do it at all. The level design also gets to be a bit repetitive. The typical level finds Alan trekking through some dark woods trying to get back to his car because he fell off a cliff, of trying to get through town or some industrial yard trying to turn on some generator. It's all well and good but it was getting kind of boring by the end. I mean, it's the Pacific northwest. Has the entire small town been infected by darkness except for me and two other people? I'm practically a mass murderer! Get some new enemy design.
All in all, though, I highly recommend this game if not simply for the atmosphere that it creates. You feel that as though at any moment in the game, you can be attacked out of nowhere. Even if you're in a cut scene, even if it's daylight out. And when you're walking through the woods, which you will do plenty of, and the dark mist rolls in and turns itself into a hurricane of horror, your heart will be pounding, especially if you're playing by yourself after dark with the lights turned out.
Grade: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment