Official "Alan Wake" Thread

After 5 long years in development, Remedy’s Xbox 360 Exclusive, Alan Wake, finally reaches store shelves.
I was able to get hold of my copy today. Not often the UK gets a major release before the US, so i was very happy.
Even though i have been excited for this game for a long time, i was abit wary because it has been getting some mixed reviews. The majority of them really good but some have made me think twice.

Anyway, i got the game, played through the first couple of hours. Not gonna
give my full impressions of it yet. Will save it for this weeks podcast. I will mention a few things though. So……..

First. The graphics are really nice, for the most part anyway. The environments are quite stunning. Lighting is great. Character models look ok, but you can tell they are a few years old now.

The game is structured episodically and checkpoints every couple of minutes. Also every new episode begins with a recap of what happened on the previous one. A feature i thought would be good for you Brook, considering you don’t always get time to play games in long stretches.

The games atmosphere can be very unnerving. Already there has been some instances where i gave abit of a jump and was hesitant about proceeding along the path. Quick tip. Play this game in the dark and with your surround sound on (if you have it)

I did actually get caught off guard and have a “oh shit” moment at the end of the first episode. I have read in reviews about songs that play at the end of the episodes and i was very suprised to actually hear one of my favourite songs by Roy Orbison playing. It was actually very appropriate for what just happened.

I think the concept of using light as your only safe haven from the enemies is a really good one, and i hope they can switch the combat etc up throughout to avoid it getting tedious and repetitive.

Lastly, something i was very suprised about. I was originally going to get the Limited Edition version of the game, but i don’t actually get paid til next week so i loaned the money from a friend but he only had enough for the standard edition, so i got that. When i opened up the box, a little card fell out advertising Alan Wake DLC with a code on the back of it. I redeemed it and found that it’s to get the first of the episodic DLC free when it drops at the end of July. I was quite chuffed with that coz it didn’t say anything on the back of the box about it being included and i hadn’t heard anywhere about it being included in the standard edition either.

So ye, just a couple of thoughts. I’m happy with the game up to now.
I look forward to letting you guys know more about it during this weeks podcast and then discussing your thoughts on it when it drops in the US on Tuesday :^: