Whether Alan Wake took five years or six, nine years or ten, it's still a superb action game that shouldn't be missed.
It's rare that a writer gets the spotlight in a videogame. More often that not you take the reins of a beefed-up soldier, but in Alan Wake, as the titular character, you're a writer of Stephen King pedigree and fame, more used to the keys of your typewriter than the trigger of a gun. As one character even alludes: 'he's wearing a tweed jacket for God's sake!' All of this changes when Alan, accompanied by his wife Alice, arrive at Bright Falls, a lush part of the American northwest. A slow start notwithstanding, it's not long before you're in possession of both a gun and a flashlight, and it's clear early on -- as it was in all the promotional material -- that light is the order of the day. Killing denizens of the dark is a two-part process, for it first requires the flashlight to burn away their 'darkness', and finally the services of a gun. The constant need to juggle between a gun and a flashlight heightens the tension, but unlike Resident Evil 5, you're never forced to grapple with the controls. Interestingly, the most effective weapon is not the standard shotgun, but a flare gun instead. Something which would have been relegated to a bit-part item in other games constitutes one of the most effective tools in your arsenal.
Elsewhere the gameplay also sparkles. The story, though overly cut-scene heavy at first, is an interesting horror tale that pulls you into the macabre, but there are enough light touches to keep it from feeling overly serious. Alan's agent, Barry, is a source of comic relief, and reminded me a bit of the bumbling Dennis Nedry from Jurrasic Park (though Barry is a good guy through and through). FBI agent Nightingale also provides some laughs, though perhaps not in the intended sense, for his endless use of author's names to describe Wake -- Hemingway and King, to name a few -- feels contrived at first, and utterly ridiculous later.
For a game heavy on the story, Alan Wake does have its share of mishaps in this regard. The writing, at times, is of the 'tell not show' school of thought, with some lines seeming obviously forced. Manuscript pages that litter the world -- and which form one of the many collectible items in the game -- are also over-written and a little flowery for contemporary tastes. Still, the obvious amount of effort put into the experience is commendable, and this is no more evident than in the presentation.
Bright Falls is an evocative, beautiful place, and heavily inspired by David Lynch's Twin Peaks. It's the perfect setting and though you'll spend a great deal of time in the forest, there are enough flashbacks and changes in scenery to keep things fresh. Graphically, it looks absolutely stellar and it's a small wonder that the Xbox 360 can run it at all, let alone at a solid, unwavering framerate. There's the odd ugly texture, but since much of the game is played in darkness, you won't be any the wiser. Key to the presentation, of course, is the lighting, and here Remedy falters not once. It makes a strong case for other light-focused games in the future, and the atmosphere is thick and unsettling, only serving to immerse you further into Alan's toils.
The game lasts about ten hours on Normal difficulty, longer if you stray off the main track and search for collectibles, and it's a good thing there are thermos flasks and manuscript pages to find, for the game is devoid of a multiplayer component. Gamers inclined towards online play first and foremost will doubtlessly be put off by this, but deathmatch aficionados were never the intended audience in the first place.
Alan Wake may have been in development for more than half a decade, but the result is a highly engaging -- and often tense -- third-person shooter. It might be true that it's a scaled down game from the one Remedy first envisioned, but there are still traces of its heritage to be found, from vehicular travel to the famous shots of the town itself, shots we've been seeing in demo clips for years, and which look beautiful to boot. And whether it took five years or six, nine years or ten, the end product is still a polished, fantastic action game that shouldn't be missed.