Alan Wake Preview

By Keza MacDonald Published 28 September, 2009

Light-motif.

For all its cinematic and televisual influences - Hitchcock, Lost, Twin Peaks, The X-Files - Alan Wake isn't just another action game that wishes it were on the big screen. Light, its thematic motif, is woven inextricably into the gameplay itself; as well as a stylistic visual technique, it's a combat device, your means of progression, your guide through wide-open environments. Alan Wake tells its story like only a videogame can, deftly fashioning its narrative themes of light and darkness and subjective and objective reality into essential gameplay elements. Instead of feeling like the actual game is just getting in the way of the story, as is so often the case with such plot- and character-orientated videogames, Alan Wake's integration of an emotionally-engaging thriller narrative into a third-person action template feels entirely natural.

It's clearly not a happy accident that Alan Wake looks and feels so polished. It's been in development a long time now, and finding the correct balance of explorative gameplay and the linear structure necessary for effective storytelling has been a matter of trial and error. "The game is still built on openworld technology, but we consider ourselves storytellers, and in order to deliver that well it has to be a more linear experience," explains Remedy's ever-charismatic MD, Matias Myllyrinne. "We don't want the player to feel like they're being pulled by a string all the time - we want them to feel like he's making his own decisions and choices, even though we're delivering the story in a certain way."

'Alan Wake' Screenshot 1

This is the kind of screenshot image that's had people worried that Wake was vapourware. Believe us, though, it's looking much more like an actual videogame these days.

In short, then, Alan Wake drops you into tightly-scripted cinematic set-pieces, but it lets you determine your own way of making your way through them. You can see a lone, abandoned farmhouse in the distance with the light left on, and figure out how to get there yourself - it doesn't force you along an arbitrary path between lovingly-rendered cut-scenes. The game's environments are miles wide, encouraging you to dig further into the fiction and really explore Bright Falls rather than follow a set path.

Your guide in Wake's world is light, whether from a distant building or handheld flashlight. At E3 we saw Wake using generators, flares and his trusty torch to forge a safe path through the darkness and attack possessed villagers in the mountainside town of Bright Falls, and saw how the mysterious dark presence that's overtaken the town's inhabitants is also capable of possessing a digger truck and cutting swathes through the forest like a hellish tornado for cinematic effect. In a state of panic or fear, Wake can will his torch to burn brighter, which ties into the game's underlying theme of subjective reality - pulling the left trigger intensifies the light, which drains the battery but keeps you safe until you can make it to a generator or the sun begins to creep over the horizon. The flashlight is more important than a gun in Alan Wake, more effective protection from the powers of darkness.

Behind closed doors at TGS, Remedy unveils a scenario that completely turns the tables on Alan Wake, robbing him of his torch and sending him fleeing through the woods from searchlights. Convinced that Wake is behind all of the ugliness and sudden deaths in Bright Falls, police suddenly turn up in search of him - information that you glean from snatches of speech from police radios and overturned cars, running from the beams of light that pierce the morning fog. As Wake flees through the woods, diving between trees to hide from the light, things start to get distinctly supernatural again - crouching behind a rock on a clifftop, we see a police helicopter taken down by a swarm of blackbirds, and the trees below bend out of the path something vast and horrible that starts extinguishing police flashlights.

"For this scene in particular, our director took the photo from X-Files where you have the flashlights in the woods and used that iconic image as inspiration - that and the Harrison Ford in The Fugitive," says Myllyrinne. "Visually and emotionally, that's where we want to go with this sequence... We're all film buffs, we were brought up on that stuff, so for us it's really easy to communicate that way. We take inspiration more from other forms of entertainment than games, really - we try to take things that are familiar to a wider audience, but that haven't yet been done in games."

We've fled from police before in games, obviously, rather more than we care to remember, but the way that Alan Wake works its scripted thrills and scares into the gameplay is genuinely new, and impressive. Admittedly, what we've seen so far have been prepared presentations, but if Wake guides you cleverly and intuitively enough through its scenarios it will all flow just as smoothly in the final release.

'Alan Wake' Screenshot 2

Remedy absolutely refuses to be tempted to namedrop any other videogame influences at all, but surely there must be a bit of Alone in the Dark in here somewhere.

Remedy is committed to building its game's fiction. Adrenaline and fear, as both Myllyrinne and David Cage pointed out at their GDCE keynotes this year, are easy emotions to play with, but if you want to go deeper than that, there have to be peaks and troughs, time for character development and opportunities for players to ground themselves in the game's world, not just an endless sequence of explosions and fights. In Alan Wake, the daytime gives you the opportunity to get to know the locals of Bright Falls and develop more of an attachment to the setting. Remedy has already shown its prowess with pacing in the Max Payne games, and it looks like Alan Wake will be even more accomplished.

On the surface, it might not seem that Alan Wake and Heavy Rain have all that much in common, but though they differ wildly as actual games, there are concurrences in their respective creators' vision that makes them exciting for the same reasons. Both draw their influences from outside the gaming sphere, both are committed to the creation of a whole and believable fiction, and both value the characterisation of strong leads above all else. Everything that we've seen so far suggests Alan Wake is going to be a great videogame thriller - but there's a chance it could stand shoulder to shoulder with classics of the genre in other media, too.

Alan Wake is due out for Xbox 360 in March 2010.

Picture of Keza.

About Keza MacDonald

Read more articles from Keza by visiting the Keza MacDonald archive page.

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Comments (90) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • uglygamer #1 2 years ago

    Heavy Rain looks better.

    Is it because its on the PS3? I'll never ever understand fanboys. Anyways this looks great, reminds me a bit of the stunning Resident Evil 4.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 16:05

  • mingster #2 2 years ago

    Alan Partridge the video game would be better.

  • Dizzy #3 2 years ago

    The scary part is that Alan Wake is done... they now have 4 months to tweak and polish. Probably the Western Horror game to beat in 2010.

    The Stephen King / New England vibe from this is amazing.... can't wait.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 16:11

  • Metalfish #4 2 years ago

    Even though it sometimes feels like this game has been in development forever, it still piques my interest whenever it resurfaces. Is there any gameplay footage floating around?

  • captainrentboy #5 2 years ago

    God, after this amount of time and delays I hope this turns out friggin' awesome. The worrying thing is I remember being excited by the previews for the new AITD and that, for me anyway, was totally ruined by one of the most awful and unintuitive control schemes I've ever used.
    I have faith in Remedy though, I loved both Max Payne titles back in the day.

  • Ace_McCloud #6 2 years ago

    Svpamm1 has gotta be a sock. Every post is so heavily unashamedly biased it cannot be real!

  • miiiguel #7 2 years ago

    "What's Vapourware? "

    IT slang to describe a product that's anounced before it goes into development/production and it never gets released. It's used not only in games.

  • Lemming81 #8 2 years ago

    Thing is, I've never understood the hype around this game. I can't see for the life of me why this is so special.

  • actionfitz #9 2 years ago

    please please please dont be like Alone in the dark.
    which sucked king kongs balls.
    I want this to be good so much hehe.
    havent played a good horror game since Silent Hill 2 and Fatal Frame.

  • siro #10 2 years ago

    I don't own a PS3, but I do agree that Heavy Rain looks better... or in different words: seems to have more potential (sony fanboy) / more room to disappoint (xbot).

    In other news: Svpamm1 is a complete donk. Is there any post of his which is not concealed by any threshold?

  • phAge #11 2 years ago

    Easily my most anticipated game for 2010, this. Vids from E3 looed awesome, and if the story delivers as well...

    /happywanks

  • RedSparrows #12 2 years ago

    Glad EG seem impressed. Do want.

    p.s. stop comparing this to Heavy Rain, as if it's the next Forza/GT5 bullshit 'debate', unless you are able to with some intelligence, beyond OMG HEAVY RAIN IS CUT SCENEZ or ALAN WAKE IS SO DELAYED LOL

  • WinterSnowblind #13 2 years ago

    Honestly, I've not been paying much attention to this one. I thought it sounded neat back when it was first announced, but I've not been as super hyped about it as some people. I can see a lot of people being disappointede when it finally comes out because of that, but at least I'll be able to enjoy it without the ridiculous expectations.

  • Ace_McCloud #14 2 years ago

    Heavy Rain and Alan Wake just aren't the same genre at all.

    This does look pretty decent. But I couldn't understand how it was getting any hype until the first footage of gameplay came out.

    All the hype seemed to be: "This game is next gen and story based it must be awesome!" which evolved to "This game has been in development forever it must be awesome!" But no one even knew what genre it was going to be, on top of which Alan Wake is the most uninteresting name EVER!

  • Xerx3s #15 2 years ago

    "Svpamm1 has gotta be a sock. Every post is so heavily unashamedly biased it cannot be real! "

    Ah but you forget, this is the internet. :p

  • wonton #16 2 years ago

    wow, I remember reading previews for this four years ago....

  • andijames #17 2 years ago

    With this and heavy rain coming out next year i think we'll have plenty to go at in the action/adventure genre. Good news for all concerned :)

  • bodypopper #18 2 years ago

    The gameplay looks great but the the characters seem unintentionally creepy and stilted in the daytime cut scenes. Hopefully the player can be made to made to warm to them a little more otherwise this story-focused title could come unstuck.

  • shotgun44 #19 2 years ago

    Ah the sweet feeling of having both consoles... Not having to defend my choice to a bunch of people I don't know makes my life that much easier to bear :p

    This does look fairly interesting too, I must say.

  • woodyrulesok #20 2 years ago

    If I had an xbox this would be a day 1 purchase for me.

  • andywilkie35 #21 2 years ago

    Sounds excellent, looking forward to it

  • Shadders #22 2 years ago

    I work for Sony and I think Heavy Rain looks better.

  • Yossarian #23 2 years ago

    One of the games I bought my 360 for, all those years ago. I have kept the faith. Please, please, please let me get what I want.

  • superdelphinus #24 2 years ago

    why do people negatively rate any negative comments on the article, no matter if they're sensible or not? Basically every comments section just ends up as a long list of people fawning about a game, with any other comment, whether sensible or not, greyed out

  • the_dudefather #25 2 years ago

    'On the surface, it might not seem that Alan Wake and Heavy Rain have all that much in common, but though they differ wildly as actual games, there are concurrences in their respective creators' vision that makes them exciting for the same reasons'

    Not good enough, I'm going to pick one based on my console of choice, then bash the other game as much as possible until release, proclaiming mine to be the better game at every opportunity

  • creepylizard #26 2 years ago

    The video reminded me of Alone in the dark...but then unlike most, I sort of liked that game..

  • Bulbatron #27 2 years ago

    I'm really looking forwards to this, but I hope it's not Alone in the Dark all over again.

  • Negotiator #28 2 years ago

    Alan Wake best game ever, quote me on that.

  • gabsta69 #29 2 years ago

    This looks tasty, glad its out in March, this means 6 months to ensure they don't cock it up

  • miiiguel #30 2 years ago

    @superdelphinus: why? Go to the Halo thread, and you will see the same people saying the very same thing about Halo. Some ppl are not here to have a honest discussion/opinion they just want the "system warz". It's so bloody old, that they don't even bother anymore to find new words to troll. Trolling lite.
    Edited by 2 at 28/09/09 @ 17:07

  • kangarootoo #31 2 years ago

    @shotgun44

    "Ah the sweet feeling of having both consoles... Not having to defend my choice to a bunch of people I don't know makes my life that much easier to bear :p "

    There is a 3rd option you know. That option is to own an undisclosed number of consoles, but not bother defending your choice to anyone either, because you don't really get involved in that sort of nonsense.

    That is the option I choose, and it works for me every single time.

  • Negotiator #32 2 years ago

    Why compare this to Heavy Rain, Alan Wake will blow that away, quote me on that.

  • MeBrains #33 2 years ago

    I believe this will be better than Heavy Rain... shame I will not buy the system and be part of it. :(

    but time will tell of course... color me intrigued.

  • MeBrains #34 2 years ago

    @miiguel: not true. some comments in the ODST sales thread are downgraded because of they are not entirely positive towards ODST. They are fairly balanced and still get negged.

  • ps3owner #35 2 years ago

    I blame EG for starting a flame war, they've mentioned Heavy Rain first.

    Edit: We should be able to down/up rank the article in the same way that we can rank the comments. that would be something to think about introducing EG. go for it.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 17:20

  • Pac #36 2 years ago

    I own 2 Xbox 360s and 1 PS3 so I am a little biased towards the Xbox 360. Oh and 1 wii but it is gathering dust as I have left it at the bottom of a coal face.

    Seriously though, this and Heavy Rain look great. Let's hope that they are both better than Alone In The Dark!

  • JimmyT67 #37 2 years ago

    Heavy Rain only looks better with the characters due to the mocaps I've not seen a single daylight shot in heavy rain, what i can't stand is a whole game where it is constantly night time, looking at how time and lighting affects Alan Wake makes it look (to me) to be a far superior and better looking game.
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 17:24

  • aaronali #38 2 years ago

    good article. i'm excited for this game all over again.

  • RedSparrows #39 2 years ago

    '@miiguel: not true. some comments in the ODST sales thread are downgraded because of they are not entirely positive towards ODST. They are fairly balanced and still get negged.'

    The comments system is rubbish anyway. All the +s and -s are given from different people with different reasons, from fanboys to people merely downgrading a badly written post etc. It's not as if +/- are given solely by one group of people who look at every article, and judge its fanboy-worthiness. For instance, this post could be downrated for being pedantic, for disagreeing with you, for somehow defending ODST-by-proxy-by-virtue-of-defending-Halo-fanboys, whatever. It could be uprated for people agreeing with me, or for people loving ODST, and so on. Most likely, downgraded due to being utterly pointless ;p
    Edited by 1 at 28/09/09 @ 17:27

  • kangarootoo #40 2 years ago

    "I blame EG for starting a flame war, they've mentioned Heavy Rain first"

    We are all adults, responsible for our own actions. You don't have to pick up the torch you know.

  • Gecks #41 2 years ago

    'max payne', 'alan wake', what's next? 'driver p. raceman'?

    i think remedy are hacks.

  • HoriZon #42 2 years ago

    Go Wake i look forward to sampling your tasty goodness!!

  • thepiedpiper #43 2 years ago

    this game is one of the reasons i got a 360 so understandably, I'm tres tres excited about this. roll on march!!! (well i don't wanna miss Christmas so, er) roll on Christmas, then, roll on march !!!!

  • Nephirion #44 2 years ago

    Alan Wank

  • Xerx3s #45 2 years ago

    "We are all adults, responsible for our own actions. You don't have to pick up the torch you know. "

    I highly doubt that even 50% of the readers are adults. Of the other 50% - yours truly included - probably have the mental capacity of a 10yo. :p

  • persus-9 #46 2 years ago

    Wow, I don't remember ever reading a preview quite that positive. I've been looking forward to this since it's annoucement because the Max Payne games were wonderful. Sounds like Remedy have been developing the obvious talent for brilliant story telling they showed in the Max Payne games.

    I just hope it eventually comes to PC.

  • spatss #47 2 years ago

    Too little too late.

  • sirtacos #48 2 years ago

    I want this now. Again.

  • El-Dev #49 2 years ago

    This game looks pretty good, definately be picking it up.

    It likes addin two double negatives, that being a shit game, Alone in the Dark, and a shit film, The Lake House and hopefuly getting a good game!

  • Syrette #50 2 years ago

    The only game on any console that I could possibly look forward to more is Shenmue 3 (it will come!).

  • mkreku #51 2 years ago

    I remember seeing the (at the time, hugely impressive) videos from this about four years ago, with this tornado roaring through a village, sucking things up. It was being run on a brand new four core Intel CPU and it was supposed to be a showcase for multi cores on the PC.

    I bought one of those four core CPU:s in anticipation of this game and now it's not even coming out on the PC! :/

  • lolife.se #52 2 years ago

    Don't worry, it'll most likely come to PC a little later. Wouldn't surprise me if they were made to say that by Microsoft, to whip up some demand for the 360. And even then, they've only said they're prioritizing the console version (if I recall correctly) and not a definitive no.

    When the 360 version has been in the wild for some time, I bet there will be a PC version.

  • spudsbuckley #53 2 years ago

    Alan Wank

    I'm ashamed to admit i actually laughed at that and i've been looking forward to this game since i first heard about it :D

  • Bremenacht #54 2 years ago

    I hope they're not dumbing this game down to open it up to a wider audience, trying to fit in more action. HL2 had many 'quiet' sections which improved the story-telling and set-up action sequences - it would be crap without them, and so would Alan Wake.

    Silly detail: why change his clothes? Does he have to wear a hoodie to connect with the target audience!

  • mrmonkey1980 #55 2 years ago

    No matte rhow good it is it can never live up to expectations now this game has been in development for so long. Its doomed to be a disappointment, but it might be an enjoyable one.

  • Paukl #56 2 years ago

    It's a little difficult to take Eurogamer previews seriously, there have been too many glowing articles that end up as 6/10 reviews.
    Edited by 1 at 29/09/09 @ 00:07

  • smelly #57 2 years ago

    I was *REALLY* looking forwards to this until i saw it being played at E3, and the controls seemed terribly "jerky".

    Now it's on my "meh - i'll wait and see what the demo plays like" scale

  • jambo74 #58 2 years ago

    Woooooh - ANOTHER Preview.

    Sorry WAKE - I've moved on now - too late for my £'s

  • smelly #59 2 years ago

    "It's a little difficult to take Eurogamer previews seriously, there have been too many glowing articles that end up as 6/10 reviews."


    A preview isnt a review. Previews are usually paid for by the publisher. A preview isnt to tell you if the game is any good or not, just to give you some more information about the game.

    No preview will ever tell you a game plays like toss.*


    EDIT * : Unless it's from some independent source who somehow managed to get hold of preview code and isnt reliant on making money/advertising/etc.

    Edited by 1 at 29/09/09 @ 00:09

  • Paukl #60 2 years ago

    @smelly I think to imply people are being paid off to write glowing previews is a bit below the belt. I'd assume the issue is more that a developer is only going to show the best parts of a game for a preview article, and why wouldn't they?

    I got burned by pre-ordering Alone In The Dark based on previews. Lesson learned!

  • The-Bodybuilder #61 2 years ago

    as both Myllyrinne and David Cage pointed out at their GDCE keynotes this year, are easy emotions to play with, but if you want to go deeper than that, there have to be peaks and troughs, time for character development and opportunities for players to ground themselves in the game's world, not just an endless sequence of explosions and fights. In Alan Wake, the daytime gives you the opportunity to get to know the locals of Pride Falls and develop more of an attachment to the setting.
    Random point here, but this is one of the biggest failures all terminator movies post-T2 failed to understand; cameron's use of the daily cycle. Both T1 & T2 both used the day for character development and to give a strong sense of hope with the early morning/afternoon sun (except the opening scenes), and the night for action. This carried over into the future war scenes (always at night). It always annoys me as to how both mostow and McG overlooked this obvious point.

    As for AW, this article pretty much sold it to me. I was concerned as to whether it was a game for me (not a fan of horror games), but that police search setting really makes me want this game.

  • jaguarwong #62 2 years ago

    I had absolutely no interest in this game before reading that.
    I know the games media isn't really allowed to do negative previews but there's enough info in there to pique my interest.

    I didn't want to join in the Heavy Rain/Alan Wake shenanigans but with the 'tits-out-gunpoint-lap-dance' scene seriously denting my enthusiasm for Heavy Rain it's nice to hear that Alan Wake seems to know wh at 'mature' really means.

  • The-Bodybuilder #63 2 years ago

    @ Paulk

    Ignore smelly, he's a well known nintendo fanboy, that tries to masquerade himself as a stand-up member.

  • frankfurter209 #64 2 years ago

    I want to play this game so bad; Max Payne 1 and 2 are two of the best action games ever. 2 also had a terrifically ballsy noir love story that shames anything FF ever did.

  • cobaltfram #65 2 years ago

    Honestly, does nobody think the E3 videos looked way too much like RE4 to be comfortable? We had RE4, and then RE5, which succesfully killed my hopes for the future of that series. But we don't need ANOTHER survival horror about just running around killing things; it doesn't take long before that stops being "scary" and starts just being thrilling, which is fine, but not like, say, the best moments in the Silent Hills or Fatal Frames when the game is flat-out messing with your head, both in terms of story and atmosphere.

    I was really pumped for Alan Wake, but now.... I don't, it looks less like God-incarnate (as it was hyped) and more like "Steven King, Get Your Gun." I hope it turns around, and I'll definitely rent it, but I think it was much more interesting when we knew nothing about it.

  • Keza #66 2 years ago

    "A preview isnt a review. Previews are usually paid for by the publisher."

    This should, helpfully, already be self-evident, but that's certainly not the case. Publishers pay for advertising, sure, but never for content, not on any games publication I have ever worked for (and that's most of them).

    Previews are positive if a game looks like it has something exciting about it. There's no way to know whether it'll work out as well in the final product as it does in presentations and early code, but that's what reviews are for. Previews are there to tell you whether a game's worth being interested in, not whether it's going to be worth buying in the end.

  • timberwolf #67 2 years ago

    ... but is it an accomplished game, with enough to unlock and see that i want to play it through for more than a few hours. i'm guessing no. is there even enough here to it to call it a game? a little bit of shooting in between set pieces sounds like AITD. i remember the journalist's fawning over that train wreck until they had to review it.
    Edited by 1 at 29/09/09 @ 03:51

  • freakzilla #68 2 years ago

    This and heavy rain are very different, please don't compare them. I'm sure both Remedy and Quantic would complement each other rather than have a silly e-penis battle.

  • freakzilla #69 2 years ago

    I hope this will be on PC too, it would be a great incentive to build a monster rig.

  • man.the.king #70 2 years ago

    @The Bodybuilder

    "all terminator movies post-T2 failed to understand; cameron's use of the daily cycle. Both T1 & T2 both used the day for character development and to give a strong sense of hope with the early morning/afternoon sun (except the opening scenes), and the night for action."

    Not all the time. Do you remember the first major action sequence in T2, with Connor on his moped, Arnie on his Harley and the T1000 in the truck. That took place in the daytime. You are right about the character development part though. Cameron is exceptionally good at making the audience care about the characters, which lends tension to the action-oriented portions.

    On-topic: This is looking more and more like a day-one purchase for me. Hopefully there will also be a demo.
    Edited by 1 at 29/09/09 @ 06:00

  • ps3owner #71 2 years ago

    what's wrong with scoring the article?

  • finexi #72 2 years ago

    Along with Halo Reach and MGS Rising, this is one of the 2010 most aniticipated titles for me! I love psi-thrillers! Can't wait.

  • kangarootoo #73 2 years ago

    "Sorry WAKE - I've moved on now - too late for my £'s"

    I simply can't understand comments like this. Too late for what? Is it like you've spent all your gaming money for the rest of your life already?

    When a game come out, I find out if I like it, and if I like it I maybe buy or rent it.

    Until a games comes out, I do something else.

    Is that not always the way? You don't have to decide in advance you know, and then stick to that decision come hell or high water. If Alan Wake turns out to be very good, anyone who decides not to buy it on some "too late" type principal seems to be denying themselves a fun experience for no real tangible reason.

  • space_ace #74 2 years ago

    the delay is not to be taken lightly?

  • The-Bodybuilder #75 2 years ago

    @ man..the.king

    That's why I said "bar the opening scene". In both T1 & T2, The first action scenes where set in the sun to show the peace and calmness, which was then instantly broken by the terminators (in the first one, during the day, arnie was going around killing sarahs). But after the mood is set, it sticks to that template of day=character development & hope, night= fear and action.

  • telboy007 #76 2 years ago

    Looks like everything Alone in the Dark should have been, that series seems to have gone backwards rather than forwards. Hopefully this will bring the awesome like Eternal Darkness did to the Gamecube! :)

  • BigE0n #77 2 years ago

    Really Want this to be good, really in the mood for some good Interactive fiction.

    It kinda reminds me of Lost and Evil Dead mixed together with a pinch of Salams Lot! Certainly the day night cycle as in the Evil Dead movies, (obviously there's no boom stick and chain saw hand mechanic ;-)), And the evil unknown darkness as in Lost, plus the Eerie townsfolk of Salams Lot. I'm sure there are many more comparisons to other equally fine movies / tv series, but these are what it reminds me of (which puts a big smile on my face as I remember seeing these except lost at a very young age)

  • Roland_D11 #78 2 years ago

    @kangarootoo

    That is the way I see it, too.

    I don't get why people say 'I won't buy it because it was delayed' . What is the reasoning behind that? A good game is a good game and I make that decision for myself when the game comes out.

    And the comparisons to Heavy Rain are nonsensical to me, the two games seem to be very different. Alan Wake appears to be way more action-oriented while Heavy Rain is an experimental game and more about the experience of living the life of the protagonists. I am looking forward to both games.
    Edited by 1 at 29/09/09 @ 12:48

  • Goodfella #79 2 years ago

    This is the one game I have really been looking forward to on the 360 and to be honest I am still just as interested. Roll on release day.

  • jambo74 #80 2 years ago

    @ kangarootoo

    Too late as in there are now many more titles to buy and now I also have a PS3 (which I did not at the time WAKE was 'going' to be released).

    So long WAKE - Sleep Tight.

  • sneetch #81 2 years ago

    @jambo74
    Too late as in there are now many more titles to buy and now I also have a PS3 (which I did not at the time WAKE was 'going' to be released).

    So long WAKE - Sleep Tight.

    So if Alan Wake came out and it was (for the sake of argument) the best game ever made in the history of gaming then you still wouldn't buy it because " there are now many more titles to buy and now I also have a PS3"?
    Edited by 1 at 29/09/09 @ 17:15

  • Dizzy #82 2 years ago

    Big lol at jambo74. You need to be MORE emo dude.... your bitter tears don't flow fast enough.

  • madjim #83 2 years ago

    This one and Mafia II, will make my 360 go RROD from overuse.

  • jambo74 #84 2 years ago

    @ sneetch

    WAKE will be, meh, so-so.

    Been in development too long so the actual game will be circa 2008 technology released in 2010. If it ended up geing the 'Best Game Ever' then I'll eat my hat. Besides, how woulkd you define a game as being the 'Best Game Ever' anyway?

    10/10 - been done. Is that the best game ever then?

    Predict a cool 8 /10 - with the exact comments I said above regarding technology. You heard it here first.

  • sneetch #85 2 years ago

    @jambo74

    You obviously don't know what "for the sake of argument" means. Or you're just a fan of strawmen.

    Arguments about whether or not it actually is the best game ever or how you might decide it is the best game ever or your predictions about the review scores are all irrelevant to the question being asked here.

    The question is if it were an absolutely amazing game would you still refuse to buy it because "there are now many more titles to buy and now I also have a PS3"?

    Basically have you been so hurt by these delays (for whatever reason) that you could never buy the game regardless of how excellent it is?

  • man.the.king #86 2 years ago

    @The Bodybuilder

    That's why I said "bar the opening scene"

    Oh sorry; guess I missed that :)
    Edited by 1 at 30/09/09 @ 20:33

  • jambo74 #87 2 years ago

    @ sneetch

    "if it were an absolutely amazing game" - that would be a prediction then, mate!

    Case closed.

  • nedgip #88 2 years ago

    ha he looks identical the guy out drakes fortune doesnt he?!

  • swissorc #89 2 years ago

    Could not care less about this game. If this was released in a different quarter to mass effect I might have given it a go. Note everyone that complained in the past how I am making an extra special effort to use full stops now so I'd better get credit for it god damn it.
    Additionally,when I get my ps3 in the spring (or when ever we get a gt5 launch bundle), heavy rain will be way way down my list of games to get. Japanese giant doing western story telling not for me thank you. If you want western based story telling sitck with xbox and ds (for professor layton alone awsome under used continental european flavour). If you want eastern orientated story telling get a ps3. obviously there are exceptions to this rule but it is a good indicator/gauge of which console to purchase to get your specific genre fix.

  • seanthejackal #90 2 years ago

    Alans Wake lol