Nightmares can be interpreted as many things; warnings about the future, reflections of the past, visions from another life. The causes of them are many: Stress, a life changing event, simply little fears that trigger something in the back of our minds and when we go to sleep, they creep up and take hold of the dream world.
Now what if that nightmare, that twisted little dream, became real? Everything you feared lurked in the smallest shadows, and possibly in your own. Corrupting everything it touches, the darkness is its breeding ground, and your only salvation is small patches of light and the flashlight you clutch in your hand.
Welcome to Alan Wake's world.
A bestselling author with writers' block for two years and running, Alan's sleep has been plagued with nightmares, causing his wife Alice to worry about him. Convincing him all he needs is a vacation in the middle of nowhere, the couple makes their way to a small town named Bright Falls. It doesn't take long before things go haywire. The man they're renting a cabin from is nowhere to be found, instead a woman dressed in black meets them in the back of the local dinner, the lights there busted in the small hallway. Crows flock in large numbers around their place of rest once they get there, and soon his wife goes missing in the lake nearby. Diving into the water, he attempts to save her, only to lose consciousness.
He awakens at the wheel of his car, crashed over the edge of the road, his head bleeding and feeling extremely weak, ignorant to how he arrived there. Staggering away from the accident and into the woods, he finds the coversheet to a manuscript of a novel authored by himself with the title of the book he was once working on. At this point, completely dazed and confused, he continues on only to find more pages, each playing out as a sick prophet, forewarning him of dangers ahead, of the darkness that is slowly engulfing the town. Armed with the pages of the novel and a flashlight, Alan tumbles into a situation straight out of a horror movie.
Most games give you control over someone who is has abilities that a normal human don't have, but Alan Wake is just that, human. He can't run forever, has no special powers to fight the darkness, and a few hits with an axe will kill him. All of these, coupled with the human psyche, causes a sense of urgency and fear when playing, especially when you are forced to go long times without any source of light save for your flashlight.
As a third person shooter, combat, while simple, can become quite hectic with multiple enemies. The basic formula is to expose the enemy to light until the darkness breaks away from them then shoot them until dead. Easy, if you're simply fighting one of them, even two tends not to be a problem. There are parts, though, where you have a handful of enemies along with objects that have been possessed by the darkness flying around your head, determined to kill you. With Alan unable to run more than a hundred yards before nearly doubling over, trying to catch his breath, you're forced to pick which enemies to take out and which ones to run from, ducking incoming axes flung at your skull. Sometimes running isn't an option and the pistol and flashlight aren't enough. This is where flare guns, flares, and even more powerful weaponry comes into play, decimating the Taken, the victims controlled by the darkness, en mass.
Along with combat, the controls are, for the most part, smooth. Going from a fighting stance with gun and flashlight in hand, to needing to break away and run to the next safepoint, there's very little hitching or problems going from one to the other. When controlling a vehicle, each handles differently; the large SUV is poor at turning but has amazing ramming power while the station wagon is slow to pick up speed and is easily decimated on things like stumps and logs.
Alan comes in contact with a wide variety of characters, from the local radio voice to a pair of brothers who have taken on the names of the Norse gods, each person unique, standing out in the story when it's needed, and falling back when other characters are presented, or the story just doesn't call for them to be a focus at the time. Even when the character doesn't seem like an important person at that moment, they each play their part in the story, bringing something to the overall picture.
The game is presented in episodes, each ending with a cliffhanger, a preview of the next chapter, plus a song that goes along with the feel of that installment, and the following one recapping what happened. With this, the game takes on the feel of a short TV series and the player is driven to continue on, just to see what will happen next.
While the story overall is interesting and catches the player in its dark, sharp claws, pieces fall together a little quick about half way through the game before most of the plot twists and mysteries have been fully revealed. Though this might seem like a major problem, there are a few last minute turns that could not have been foreseen until they actually happen. Because of that, the game is worth completing, and with more manuscript pages able to be found on Nightmare mode, the story demands more attention than normal for those who wish to fill in those tiny gaps. Along with two more downloadable content episodes to go though, and an amazing soundtrack, the five year wait for the game is more than forgiven.
The Rundown:
Good: Thrilling story, diverse characters, and mood setting music
Bad: Attempting to duck a flying weapon at your head while Alan's exhausted from running does not work
And the "Not Your Smartest Move" Award goes to: Alan and his friend Barry for getting completely plastered on moonshine while the forest surround the house they're in is CRAWLING with Taken.
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