Alan Wake

By Nick Cowen Published 18 February, 2010

Wake tree arena.

Remedy's Sam Lake wants us to understand that Alan Wake isn't a horror game. Alan Wake is "a psychological action thriller that contains elements of horror". I don't want to split hairs, but it takes a little time to get comfortable with Lake's definition, because initially at least the "elements of horror" are pretty dominant: an axe-wielding madman, a satanically creepy landlord, and a wife who disappears with a blood-curdling scream all feature during a white-knuckled hour at the controls.

And all of this is before you start firing your gun at shadowy figures who burn up when you shine a torch on them. But in fairness to Lake, the supernatural elements are aimed more at building tension than horrifying or shocking the player. There's the feeling, as Wake tries to deal with monsters calling out to him from the murky woodlands of Bright Falls, that a lot of his problems may be products of his imagination.

Even before novelist player-character Wake and his other half have picked up the keys to their holiday cabin by Cauldron Lake, the player has been terrorised in a pre-credit dream sequence by one of his literary creations. Wake then arrives in Bright Falls with a chronic case of writer's block; he's on the run from his publicist and wracked with doubt over whether his talent has dried up. He argues with his wife after she unveils her plan to help him by bringing a typewriter on their vacation, and he storms off into the woods.

Later, he finds himself regaining consciousness in car-wreck. He stumbles through the darkness, coming across pages of a manuscript for a thriller he doesn't remember writing. The next thing he knows he's set upon by figures wielding hatchets and knives. Their bodies are encased in shadows that have the consistency of ink dripped through water.

Somebody's bright idea.

If you were to tick off the influences, Stephen King and David Lynch would be near the top of the list. But Remedy keeps the game fresh with compelling level design and presentation. The way the developer toys with the player's emotions is impressively frightening; as Wake picks up the keys to his cabin from a diner, the entire mood of the scene spins on a dime from friendly and folksy to chilling.

It's also a testament to the storytelling that Alan Wake himself is a man of substance. He's a bruised, conflicted individual; intelligent but also prone to violent outbursts. What makes him compelling, however, is less that he's flawed, but more that he knows he is and that he's trying to resist the weaker side of his personality. He's already facing a fractured marriage and writer's block, but the game suggests his problems run a lot deeper. Wake's fallibility also enhances the gameplay, which puts a premium on light as a weapon.

Wake's night terrors are obvious foes, but the atmosphere can become tense at the best of times.

Remedy's sense of economy and level design craft also permeates the run-and-gun action. At one stage, the player has to navigate from a car crash through a darkened lumber yard to a well-lit petrol station in the distance. The structure is loose but linear, even though the gorgeous environment suggests the player isn't restricted at all. Between the car wreck and the petrol station Wake comes across a couple of useful items like a flare gun and a spotlight (read: gun turret). He also discovers batteries, flares and ammunition, which players will want to ration.

Aiming and firing is your standard left and right trigger setup, but unlike most everymen in videogames who turn into a crack shot the moment they pick up a weapon, Wake's not a natural gunman, and the gameplay has been tweaked to this effect. Switching from running to taking aim feels a little slow, and while a quick reload is available, a mistimed tap of the button can slow this down as well. Not every shot is on target, aiming skill only increases with familiarity, and sometimes the best option is to cut your losses and leg it.

To compound this, Wake's enemies understand self-preservation. If you're staring down multiple opponents, the moment you draw a bead on one of them the others fan out. There's a dodge move, but the quickness of Wake's opponents and their ability to blend in with the darkened woodland is disorientating. Since it only takes around three or four well-placed hits to be killed, you're advised to put as much distance between yourself and attackers as possible.

Alan Wake will never be mistaken for Max Payne, then, but it remains exhilarating and dramatic. You often find yourself running out of bullets, and the gap between Wake and a pack of enemies closes fast. At one point you turn and see a generator next to an unlit outside light, and charge towards it while shadowy attackers hiss and snarl behind you. But when you reach the generator and hit the requested face button, it merely sputters. It takes another attempt to get it going, bathing Wake in glorious yellow light and destroying an attacker only inches away.

Meanwhile the presentation is stunning, caught in a beautiful twilight between ethereal and realistic. The game's story, gameplay and atmosphere all creep into the player's periphery at an elegant pace, but the visuals win you over before you pick up the pad. Remedy's latest adventure is set in the Pacific North West and every item in the environment looks and feels authentic: there's not a vehicle model or a style of building or a piece of vegetation that looks out of place. The team also boasts that the weather, lighting and even the animals on the soundtrack are region-specific, as are the clothing styles and accents of the townsfolk.

With light more powerful than bullets, weapons often feel improvised, with a flare gun effectively a grenade launcher.

The game also has a trump card in the way its camera blends functionality with cinematic flare, because rather than being glued to every tiny movement the camera is staggered by a split second. This is hardly noticeable when the player is engaged in mundane activities like fiddling with a jukebox or investigating the interior of an unlit house, but when the action kicks into gear it becomes a little more pronounced.

The way Wake almost seems to duck out of shot as the player reacts to a rapid attack feels as though the action on-screen is being filmed by another person. The camera also occasionally unhooks from behind Wake's shoulder to hurtle forward for a reveal shot or a slow-motion close-up track on a hurled weapon. It then returns to its original position swiftly and intuitively with no break in the action.

Alan in the dark.

If a sporadically roaming third-person camera sounds like it might be a pain though, don't worry. Judging by the sections we've played, Remedy doesn't front-load its cinematic effects; if you die, you won't have to sit through a series of pre-programmed scenes before you get back into the action. Rather the game's camera responds to the player's sense of timing; ducking out of the way of a spinning axe at the last minute rewards the player with a slow-motion steady shot, for example.

Alan Wake still has a lot to prove, having gotten lost in the release date woods so frequently that it's impossible to approach it free of scepticism, but the small 45-strong team at Remedy's Helsinki HQ looks to be justifying the slow pace of development. Even after an hour in Wake's company, the game burrows into your head and stays with you long after you've stopped playing it. The more you think about it, the longer its list of accomplishments becomes, and the further away that May release date starts to feel. "A psychological action thriller that contains elements of horror"? It should be worth finding out.

Alan Wake is due out for Xbox 360 on 21st May in Europe.

Comments (96) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • koopahell #1 2 years ago

    I still find it hard to get excited about a main character called "Alan". Why not "Jeff Wake"?

  • DUFFMAN5 #2 2 years ago

    Sounds great. Still really looking forward to this game, more so than any other this year.

  • laharl80 #3 2 years ago

    Wake tree arena!Thats pretty funny!

  • BBIAJ #4 2 years ago

    @koopashell:

    Simple, because J. Wake doesn't work, silly! :oP

  • drumbaby #5 2 years ago

    How about Jake Wake?

  • lssl17 #6 2 years ago

    Being a nolan fan, for a second there I thought the description read like Inception's: "a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind"

  • ZuluHero #7 2 years ago

    "Jake Wake" sounds like a wrestler :p

  • Gecks #8 2 years ago

    I really wish the gaming press would drop the lynch comparisons, as it gives the game a level of credability that, on the evidence of the clips shown, it wouldn't seem to deserve. Twin peaks was an existentialist soap parody set in NW america; a subtle, multiple-layered affair that doesn't really translate to running around the woods killing ink monsters with light. Not that the latter doesn't sound like fun!
    Edited by Gecks at 18/02/10 @ 08:15

  • JaRoKi #9 2 years ago

    Hey, why not "Master Chief or Kermit the Frog?" Maybe because A Wake is better for a man who can't sleep...see, it's funny.

  • laharl80 #10 2 years ago

    Twin peaks was legendary!Bob was the first truly scary film/tv character i came across(i was 11 when it was on tv) and audrey horne was sooo fit.

  • Widge #11 2 years ago

    Looks great, but thanks to the "no PC" decision, a game I will probably never play.

  • laharl80 #12 2 years ago

    @squarejawhero
    Saying hows annie just reminds me of the horrible unsatisfactory conclusion to the last season.I want to know what bob made coop do!
    Edited by laharl80 at 18/02/10 @ 08:29

  • ParanoidZombie #13 2 years ago

    Looks more like john caprenter's "in the mouth of madness" to me, with bits of david lynch and silent hill innit. A very exciting mix IMO, because Sam Lake is a talented writer.

    EDIT: Bob was great, of course, but I think Leland Palmer was a better character.
    Edited by ParanoidZombie at 18/02/10 @ 08:39

  • thewool #14 2 years ago

    How about Arthur Wake who is a cockney geezer - read 'halfa' ?

  • laharl80 #15 2 years ago

    @thewool
    Yeah and he could randomly break out renditions of any old iron and chim chimney cheroo.

  • Gecks #16 2 years ago

    @squarejawhero
    "inspiration from lynch" well what bit? that it's set in rural nw america? that it's "psychological" (still don't quite see this in the clips and words written about it so far)? Twin peaks was only co-written by lynch, for a start!

    Now the first silent hill - lynch heavy. Soundtrack straight out of eraserhead, and a level of mystery and ambiguity to the plot that would suit mulholland drive. But even then, lynch was one of many influences (jacob's ladder being the primary one), with the game itself happy to cut its own path for the most part. Lynch gets dropped so many times in previews for alan wake that it's making my head spin.

  • thewool #17 2 years ago

    @laharl80 - yeah!

    you could even be able download a 'pearly king' outfit as DLC!

  • Widge #18 2 years ago

    I want to know what Leona Lewis thinks about this game

  • laharl80 #19 2 years ago

    @thewoolsquarejawhero
    I don't know but considering that cooper in the black lodge was aged anyway he could still go back and use the same actors.The second series was definitely inferior.In the first series you never really knew if bob was a supernatural being or just a manifestation of lelands abusive relationship with laura or the evil in all of us.Thats part of what made it scary for me.

  • laharl80 #20 2 years ago

    @drumbaby
    jake the wake roberts?

  • ParanoidZombie #21 2 years ago

    TBH, I'm more a fan of the Fire Walk With Me movie. I think the series kind of died as soon as the laura palmer case was closed, and the movie is essentially about laura and leland, which are my 2 favorite characters... And Bob, of course, lurking in the shadows.

  • The-Bodybuilder #22 2 years ago

    You want a red poofter jacket?

  • AnsemsApprentice #23 2 years ago

    It's looking brilliant in my opinion. I can't wait to run around Bright Falls doing errands for the quirky locals. They fixed A.Wake's gay running aswell, rejoice! I wonder what Remedy think about MP3?

  • Deckard1 #24 2 years ago

    the graphics in those videos are probably the best I've ever seen on a console. The lightning and fog affects are amazing. Been looking forward to this for a long time.

  • FogHeart #25 2 years ago

    I tend to differentiate thriller from horror if there's an element of the supernatural or science fiction in it. If everything in the game/film is possible without leaps of faith (such as 'We could make a T Virus' or 'Ghosts do exist') then its thriller. So if there are violent, unnatural deaths, fear/tension/fright, and supernatural agents involved, this is surely horror. Slasher films are thrillers.
    Edited by FogHeart at 18/02/10 @ 09:46

  • DiamondIce #26 2 years ago

    I was interested in this game when I got back into gaming when I bought an Xbox 360 in November 2006. Wow, that has been a long time to wait. It sounds promising so I keep my fingers crossed.

  • AnsemsApprentice #27 2 years ago

    @FogHeart, the movie "SEVEN" has all of those things except there is nothing supernatural, that is more thriller than horror. I see what you mean. I think Alan Wake looks as if it balances the genres very well but horror is the most discernible definitely.
    Edited by AnsemsApprentice at 18/02/10 @ 09:56

  • Gecks #28 2 years ago

    @squarejawhero
    the quote in question is "If you were to tick off the influences, Stephen King and David Lynch would be near the top of the list." - i'm asking WHY lynch (i'm not really familiar with stephen king aside from film adaptations) is near the top of that list? according to who? for what reason? inspiration/influence doesn't have to/shouldn't be a direct rip, but please, show your working!

    ico was influenced by italian surrealist painter giorgio de chiroco (sp), okami was essentially a playable version of a hokosai painting; those are what i would call obvious influences to be "ticked off".

    there seems to be fair few lynch/twin peaks fans here, and i'm sure we'd all love to see a game that takes 'inspiration' from its key tenets of ambiguity, metaphor and cherry pie, but at the same time i think it deserves more than being name-dropped every time something weird happens in NW america!
    Edited by Gecks at 18/02/10 @ 09:55

  • Goodfella #29 2 years ago

    This is the one and only game I'm looking forward to playing on what I refer to as my Rock Band machine. (it's the only game I play on it). ;)

  • metalangel #30 2 years ago

    Any sympathy for Leo? He was a no good creep but didn't deserve that shock collar.

  • Tonka #31 2 years ago

    I liked it better when it was a straight up platformer....

  • thewool #32 2 years ago

    so is this eventually going to come out on the PC?

    I've got loads of games lined up so can wait up to 1.5 years to play this properly...

  • spekkeh #33 2 years ago

    He stumbles through the darkness, coming across pages of a manuscript for a thriller he doesn't remember writing.

    The whole 'scattered pages' thing still sounds like a dumb copout.

  • laudy #34 2 years ago


    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPepCVepCg
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPepCVepCg
    [/link]

    sorry...

  • seanthejackal #35 2 years ago

    "psychological" eh...yeah it looks about as psychological as a prawn sandwich.

  • paul.doh! #36 2 years ago

    @Laudy - LMAO, that is epic, reminds me of the Alan Partridge scene when he shouts "Dan" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2D3-FkoXNU)

  • thewool #37 2 years ago

    lmao @ Laudy...

    as per the 'I can't un-see Bomberman' issue with Bioshock2 - now I can't un-hear the marmot when I read 'Alan'...
    Edited by thewool at 18/02/10 @ 10:39

  • Goodfella #38 2 years ago

    @thewool.

    They announced they had scrapped the PC version a week or 2 ago.

  • miiiguel #39 2 years ago

    I realy wish forum posters stoped trying to lecture other errr... forum posters, about a game that haven't played. Nowdays to lecture everyone, you just need to see a couple of videos and 4 screen shots.
    Is getting so ridicule is not even funny anymore.

  • mingster #40 2 years ago

    I was reminded of Alan Partridge too!

  • thewool #41 2 years ago

    ... yeah I read the article, but they seemed to emphasise they were 'concentrating' on the 360 version - possibly to meet the release date and the obvious exclusivity.

    The optimist in me hopes this mean the PC version will still surface, but maybe 6-12 months after the 360 version? You would think the bulk of the PC code must be there already.

  • Widge #42 2 years ago

    Too many occasions of titles "never" appearing on another platform, only for them to appear a year or so later.

  • phAge #43 2 years ago

    Hello GOTY.

  • miiiguel #44 2 years ago

    Too many occasions of titles "never" appearing on another platform, only for them to appear a year or so later.

    That's an easy one, you just have to wait a year or so and check for yourself, it either appears or not. Time flies when you're having fun anyway. So they say.

  • cianchristopher #45 2 years ago

    Can't believe they didn't call it "Alan Wank"....

  • laudy #46 2 years ago

    "as per the 'I can't un-see Bomberman' issue with Bioshock2 - now I can't un-hear the marmot when I read 'Alan'... "

    Too true! every time Alan Wake has been mentioned on various forums, I've started chuckling. Just had to share it with folk...

  • Widge #47 2 years ago

    Indeed, as the other person mentioned, there is plenty of other things to play in the interim, still bloody catching up with last years stuff. Plus another Fallout? That'll ruin me.

  • miiiguel #48 2 years ago

    See, and if it doesn't show up you can buy the other persons RB box plus a 2nd hand Alan Wake copy and you can both have a laugh at Remedy!


    Just be sure to post it at the forums, because you know... we need to know about that.
    Edited by miiiguel at 18/02/10 @ 11:12

  • Zerobob #49 2 years ago

    Killing the enemies with the torch looks sweet when they go up in a fireball! I thought this would be the naff element of the game. Suddenly I've moved the game up in my estimations since the previews released a few months ago.

    I like horror games like this (or psychological thriller, whatever) but unfortunately there haven't been many (if any)good ones around for a while. I hated Alone In The Dark.

    This is the direction I would have liked Resi Evil 5 to take, rather than the Gears Of War style angle it took.

  • polar #50 2 years ago

    Article was a little bit spoilery I thought, so I skipped most of it. It's peaked me interest in the game again after a long time in the wilderness though.

  • cianchristopher #51 2 years ago

    Personally, I would hope that Resident Evil 6 follows the Dead Or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball route of inspration...

  • darren1976 #52 2 years ago

    This is definately moving up my most wanted list. Graphically it looks very very good. When we getting a demo? ;-)

  • The-Bodybuilder #53 2 years ago

    @Fogheart
    Would you class the 6th sense as a horror movie?

  • Widge #54 2 years ago

    Psychological thriller for 6th Sense I'd say.

  • RedSparrows #55 2 years ago

    Do want, so very much.

  • penhalion #56 2 years ago

    The only thing that puzzles me about such games is how everyone aside from the hero, get's taken over by the darkness or killed in rediculously idiotic ways. Surely they didn't all simply embrace evil. Logic dictates you'd find the entire village holed up in the church screaming and crying out of fear.

    Still, at least you can shoot and walk at the same time unlike another well know survival horror title.

  • jag10 #57 2 years ago

    Graphics FTW! about time they stopped with the last gen type shit.

  • Darren #58 2 years ago

    Kind of ironic that Remedy cancelled the PC version of Alan Wake because they reckon a controller and large screen HDTV are the only way to experience the game when it looks from the videos I've seen so far like the PC is the only format that can run the game without ugly technical issues like screen tearing (which, IMO, is far more noticeable on said large screen TVs than smaller PC monitors)!!! ;)

    Before I sound too negative, the game sounds intriguing and graphically the game looks terrific but, sadly, I won't be buying it because of the tearing as the issue annoys me. It's why I decided against buying Heavy Rain too. Hopefully, Remedy will see sense and release a PC version at some point though.

  • FogHeart #59 2 years ago

    @The BodyBuilder

    Good point. Maybe the supernatural/science fiction elements need to be bearing malice towards the protagonists? Although the hanged bodies felt pretty horrific rather than, er, thrillific...

  • The-Bodybuilder #60 2 years ago

    >"Psychological thriller for 6th Sense I'd say."

    Yep, my point exactly.

  • The-Bodybuilder #61 2 years ago

    >"The only thing that puzzles me about such games is how everyone aside from the hero, get's taken over by the darkness or killed in rediculously idiotic ways. Surely they didn't all simply embrace evil. Logic dictates you'd find the entire village holed up in the church screaming and crying out of fear."

    Not trying to be rude here penhalion but.....you don't know anything about the game.
    You don't know if they've all been taken over by this "evil", you don't know if they embraced it, you don't know whether they ran into a church, you don't whether may be alan's the evil one, heck you don't even know whether its all a figment of his imagination.

    It's a bit illogical to start applying "logic" to the story of a game of which all you know of the story is a few video clips and what the developers have told you.

  • Rubarack #62 2 years ago

    It looks ambitious but I really don't think I can trust Remedy to pull this off. Unfortunately I don't see this getting anywhere near what they are shooting for.

  • The-Bodybuilder #63 2 years ago

    Good point. Maybe the supernatural/science fiction elements need to be bearing malice towards the protagonists? Although the hanged bodies felt pretty horrific rather than, er, thrillific...

    Yeah, no doubt certain scenes were definately horrific, but it seems initially at first that the supernatural elements were bearing malice to boy (whether he's the protagonist or not, I'm not sure. But it doesn't change it much though. :)

  • HoriZon #64 2 years ago

    Looks great and i'm happy to get it on the 360, all you PC players 'cry me a river' :p
    Edited by HoriZon at 18/02/10 @ 13:12

  • octavedoctor #65 2 years ago

    wook ook!

  • superdelphinus #66 2 years ago

    piqued not peaked. you cunt

  • EmiliasHorse #67 2 years ago

    Always wanted this because I have huge respect for the dev. This preview has made me want it more, too old to start wishing my life away so wont say I can't wait but you get the gist.
    Edited by EmiliasHorse at 18/02/10 @ 13:34

  • memeroot #68 2 years ago

    most exciting game release in years.... god I hope they've got it right!!!

    btw we need more inteligent games (I fear this and slinter cell are dumbed down by marketing) most gamers are not kids.

    heck stephen king is a kids author and were (i'm) looking at this thinking this is an adult game.. .where the heck are the rest?

  • bodypopper #69 2 years ago

    Looks like a neat cross between Resi 4 and Max Payne.

    On the negative side -
    Enemies that basically shout I'm going to keeel you aren't as scary as moaners.

    For a game made in Finland the dialogue and acting somehow have that stilted Japanese survival horror sound to them. Chopping it up in the vids isn't doing much to help this even if they do want to protect the story.
    Edited by bodypopper at 18/02/10 @ 15:36

  • muscleblade #70 2 years ago

    This looks better than Uncharted 2 tbh.
    Superb atmophere.

  • muscleblade #71 2 years ago

    @thewool

    Console games can only be played properly with a 360 pad. ;-).

  • bruuge #72 2 years ago

    Predicting 9 out of 10 and will be brilliant.

    Screen tearing, vehicle controls and some linear action sequences the only downsides

  • feistycheese #73 2 years ago

    Definetely sounds like my cup of tea, theres not been enough psychological horror games on the consoles recently.

    The only thing I can compare this to recently would be the PS3 Japanese horror game Siren Blood Curse, which was one of the only recent horror games to at least stay true to the genre.

    I just hope Alan Wake doesn't go the way of Resi 5 and most other recent 'horror' games and turn into an action shooter with lots of blood.

  • thewool #74 2 years ago

    @muscleblade

    touche mon ami ;0)

    although I do actually use a 360 pad for the consoley type games I play on my pc :0)

    edit: I should point out that tearing and poor frame rate wrench me out of a game and completely wreck the immersion so many devs spend millions to achieve, that's why I play what I can on the pc.
    Edited by thewool at 18/02/10 @ 15:25

  • MakyoDetector #75 2 years ago

    Cauldron Lake? Bwahaha. Only a Finnish writer could select that name :).

  • MakyoDetector #76 2 years ago

    I agree, bodypopper, many Finnish writers have this quality that their text is basically correct but sounds a bit awkward when spoken. It's something they could work on, try to adapt a more natural cadence.

    Hehe I'm a Finn too.

    "Sam Lake"? WTF!??!?! Bwahahahahaha.

  • monkeywithnoeyes #77 2 years ago

    @thewool, funny i find the opposite, i generally find that more care has been given to getting the framerate more consistant with console versions (a benefit of having a limited platform). Where as PC games are constantly hit or miss.. varying wildly with framerate...and offered with other technical issues.

    I can undertsand the distraction of screen tearing though if it's very noticable.. which i've not found with the majority of console games i play..other than saints row 2 anyway.

    http://www.gameblog.fr/news_13854_alan-w... - more gameplay footage of Alan Wake

  • Daymare #78 2 years ago

    @FogHeart

    Slasher films are thrillers.

    Slasher films firmly belong to the horror genre - even by your "natural/supernatural" distinction, since the most famous film "slashers" are basically supernatural in, erm, nature. The distinction between "thriller" and "horror" genre classification is rather hard to pinpoint without a couple of thousand words but I agree that films/books billed as thrillers usually don't contain elements of supernatural.

    Which probably means that Lake's Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller that contains elements of horror insistence is actually a bit of a spoiler (especially if coupled with the name-dropping, the setting, protagonist being a writer and so on). You don't even have to be a seasoned genre aficionado to know where this is probably going:)

  • Rizob #79 2 years ago

    I was already hyped for this game, but those video clips looked absolutely stunning! Someone please tell me the horrible tearing was just due to the way the clips were captured though, because it looked really bad. I already have the Collector's Edition pre-ordered though and can't wait for the summer now.

  • Syrette #80 2 years ago

    @Darren

    Why don't you, you know, wait for the game to come out instead of moaning as usual about some small graphical defects?

    And we get it... it's not coming out on PC, unlucky for you PC gamers. We get it already.

  • MakyoDetector #81 2 years ago

    Sam Table

  • secombe #82 2 years ago

    "Cauldron Lake", "Alan WAKE", "Bright Falls"

    Jeez, no wonder games don't share equal footing with other forms of entertainment. A "psychological action thriller" with all the subtlety of a shlock 1980s straight to VHS slasher flick.
    Edited by secombe at 18/02/10 @ 19:42

  • GamesConnoisseur #83 2 years ago

    Between now and May, I would predict there ll be fair amount of tweakings, and so here certain that the fugly screen tearings going to be tamed at least, and so we cannot say for certain what the game is actually like!

    Still if it's like RE5 1080p tearings but 720p smooth.... That I ll be chugged with!

    Looked forward to this SINCE before launch and a goddamn long time waiting for this.

  • man.the.king #84 2 years ago

    Stephen King = good

    David Lynch = really good

    SK + DL as inspirations = Great! (hopefully)

  • MakyoDetector #85 2 years ago

    Stephen King = crap

    David Lynch = crap

    SK + DL as inspirations = hmm actually sounds like a ballin idea

  • Widge #86 2 years ago

    @feistycheese

    The Kotaku hands on refers to " Enemies are numerous and relentless." This is going to be an action game foremost. Less Siren, more Uncharted.

  • RedSparrows #87 2 years ago

    I don't think it will be, from what I've seen. Sure, plenty of action, but they seem to want the quieter interludes just as much.

  • ph101 #88 2 years ago

    colour me disappointed.
    All the things that seemed intersting about this game seem to have been stripped out. I thought this was meant to open world. Pushing boundries with narrative. Instead it is a linear action romp. Sure it looks graphically excellent and no doubt atmospheric but this is not the groundbreaker I was hoping for. Couldn't mistake it for Max payne says the previewer. Are you sure? Sounds very similar in structure and gameplay to me.

    Plus Gecks is completely correct - so far, so not Lynchian at all. Rarely do we see creatures attacking character with axes etc and straight combat in Lynch's films. They are far more about toying with narrative expectations and wierdness, which Alan Wake seems to have rather forgon in favour for 3rd person action romp. It wil no doubt be good in what it does, but .. not what it could have been... I reckon..

    edit. incase no one said this already - A. Wake or A. Sleep? We shall see.
    Edited by ph101 at 18/02/10 @ 23:28

  • MakyoDetector #89 2 years ago

    Mario: Alan Awake-a is kiiling us! {shrugs shoulders}

    P.S. I regret nothing!

  • MakyoDetector #90 2 years ago

    Remedy's next project is called Wizard The Blacksmith. It's set in the Middle Ages

  • MakyoDetector #91 2 years ago

    Also they're planning another project called Abd Ubd

  • MakyoDetector #92 2 years ago

    And, I heard directly from Sam Cake that they are in the design stages of a game set in the Winter War. It's tentatively called Molotov Faceplant.

  • muscleblade #93 2 years ago

    @Darren

    Stop whining will you please. If you seen tearing in videos its not from the final build. The game isnt due until end of May. Come on. I bet there wont be any tearing in the final game. Wait and see. You can start whining if there should be tearing issues when the game is relased. OK?

  • MORZTAN #94 2 years ago

    My specialized and incredibly accurate spider-gaming-sense senses this to be a big 7 / small 8 from EG.

    I will eat my cat in a hat if that is not the case.

  • Sn@ke #95 2 years ago

    THIS GAME WILL HAVE BEST GRAPHICS. IT USES 4X AA. THIS IS FIRST CONSOLE GAME TO USE 4x AA. AND ALL OF YOU WHO SAY THE SCREEN IS TEARING IT'S CAMERA'S FAULT NOT THE GAME.

  • SaberEdge #96 2 years ago

    Looks absolutely stunning. That bit on the boat had some of the best graphics I have ever seen in a console game. Actually, all the graphics are amazing. I have a strong feeling this is going to be an excellent game. I can't wait.