True, hell i remeber when Mass Effect scored a 7/10 and that is one of the best games i've played in the last 10yrs.

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/...

What like that..

Awesome game.

Yes! One of my favs this gen...

Don't know if this was already posted.

Giantbomb Quicklook:

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-alan-wake/17-2...

Eh, that was apparent when they dropped the open world for the run of the mill "hold your hand" linear approach. Game is tracking as expected for a good, not great, game. Sure the wait has been long, but it does at least seem to be worth the wait, somehwhat. It can't be a bigger disappointed than FFXIII, that's for sure. Scores aside, they all seem to have enjoyed the game and that's all that really matters in the end. Oh well, I'll see sometime over the summer. Red Dead Redemption is getting my money this month.

Open world does not equal great game either, the game is getting loads of 9's also, next week cant come soon enough for me.

Open World is over rated in single player games, if you want open world play an MMO you can't get more open than that.

Just when I tought you were right all the time you come and post something like this.

I disagree completly.

The scores don't matter to me, but those are very solid scores indeed.

For example, while Splinter Cell Conviction reviewed strongly, I sure as hell didn't need those to know that I'd love the game.

What's more, I always thought from the very beginning that not everybody would take to the style of game that Alan Wake was looking to be. I myself even initially had trouble deciding whether or not I'd actually end up buying it.

This is a game that some will probably either love, or hate. I think the scores basically reflect that. It will perhaps have an even more difficult time finding the kind of sales success that certain other exclusives are accustomed to because of this fact.

Eurogamer hasn't had very nice things to say about Max Payne, Splinter Cell Conviction, and now Alan Wake. I loved Max Payne, and I loved Splinter Cell Conviction, so I'd say it's safe for me to not entirely go with what they have to say about Alan Wake, either. Reviews are basically for one purpose, and one purpose only, to get a feel for the range of opinions about a game you're interested in. Some you'll disagree with, some you'll agree with, some you'll agree or disagree with without even being in a position to actually speak from the experience of actually trying the game yourself.

Max Payne wasn't a perfect game either. I knew this as I was playing it for the first time. It also wasn't without its own bit of story related cheesiness or overthetop narrative, but despite that, it's still one of the most enjoyable games I've ever played. I have confidence in Remedy's ability to make a solid game, and the reviews basically help drive that fact home.

The first Max Payne has a metacritic of 89 based on, like, 30 or so reviews. Max Payne 2 has a metacritic of 86 based on like 45 reviews? Alan Wake is currently sitting at a metacritic of 84 with 22 reviews already in the books, and not every known review, many of which are 9.1 or higher, are on that list as of yet. I'd consider that highly impressive for Remedy considering that this isn't as hardcore a shooter as Max Payne was. Max Payne, to me, was a more mainstream type of game.

There's plenty of action in Alan Wake, it seems, but it's surely not on the level of what was in something like Max Payne and Max Payne 2, so I'm very pleased to see it getting reviewed as well as it is, considering how much further away from mainstream it is compared to not just most titles these days, but Remedy's own past titles.

Wait, are you new here ?!!

Yes,sorry I dont know much about forums.

Forgive my noobness!!

I mean, some reviews, the most critical ones anyway, mention cheesy or overthetop dialogue. Tell me something I don't already know and expect from playing Max Payne.

Some mention animations not being the best, or wonky. Yea, I can certainly see things aren't perfect based on watching gameplay videos.

Some mention lip sync issues. Yet again, something I already know based on videos I've seen. That'll be annoying I'm sure, but not game killing, and I understand reviewers taking off .5, .9, or even a full point, possibly more, for something like that.

Either way, I won't be missing out on this one :D

Imo there's nothing wrong with linear games. Quite the contrary actually. If done properly a la Half Life, Gears, condemned etc. I think it's the better trade off for most single player adventures...

Kotaku seems to have a pretty positive experience.

http://kotaku.com/5527633/alan-wake-review-transce...Music to my ears.

I like the way kotaku does its reviews, which is just Pros and Cons. No points. Scaling a game from 1-10 seems stupid because if a game is an "average" game its a 5-7 and thats considered awful in this business. However, i really dislike kotaku other than that.

Yea, I like their setup. Although, a good deal of their review sounds like things, as excited as I am for this game, the game may not be able to actually live up to because it sounds like such crazy praise.

With that said, though, I just love Gametrailer's review of the game, except the part where it actually sounds to me like they penalized the game for not having any multiplayer :P (Seriously, it really does)

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-hd-alan-w...

Gametrailer's review makes it clear that it's a great title (the footage chosen also helps a great deal as well), but then they don't appear to allow too much of the hype to cloud their judgment, and you definitely sense that from some of the things said. In some cases, however, I may even think they are being overly harsh on some of the characters they say take you out of the experience, especially seeing as how one of those characters, for them, appears to Barry, Wake's Agent, who appears as if he's going to be one of the big highlights of this game for me. Either way, they've played the game, I haven't, so I suppose I'll get to find out how much I like or dislike some of the characters myself.

Personally, there's only one major spoiler for me here, and it really isn't all that major at all, if you think about it. Well, it's basically with regards to one of the cool ways that light ends up being used during gameplay. It's definitely not one I would've expected to see, not at all. Not in the town of Brightfalls, anyway.

What I also love about the reviews I did watch is that we have proper confirmation on one thing, this is without a doubt an action game. It just so happens to be a action game that is unlike a lot of the action games we've been seeing lately, and it relys greatly on this light based mechanic, the episodic story presentation, and the really moody and dark atmosphere of this small town environment.

I gotta agree there scoobs. Sometimes, points send the wrong message. Just tell us in the best way that you can, how good or bad this game is. I needed to watch a lot of these reviews to raise my confidence level to complete this game, haha.

Also, I must say, I'm really liking all the subtle scripted touches I'm seeing throughout the environments. There are truly some unbelievably epic looking scenes visual wise in this game.

Another thing that I appear to be getting from the reviews I've read, is that the game, despite trying to tell such a serious story, especially from the spectrum of a professional writer, like Alan Wake is suppose to be, that doesn't necessarily mean that all the characters will fall into the kind of cliche you'd expect of a story like Alan Wake. Things tend to be more lighthearted at times, characters tend to act and potentially even say things that you would consider to be inappropriate for their current circumstances.

I like that, I guess it will add a bit of freshness to everything, it doesn't always need to be creepy old ladies, or people that are still living, but look like they are better off dead. That's what I always get from movies, shows that appear to be similar to Alan Wake, so it's a nice change to see that apparently Barry might not be as unique a character in this game as I was thinking. There are other interesting characters, perhaps interesting or different to a degree that they can be seen as taking something away from the creepy mood of the game, but I'm fine with that.

Oh thanks for the info Grift!!

:)

I was hoping for better reviews, to be honest - although Eurogamer describing it as a 'decent' looking game is surely absurd?

Decent compared to real life?

1up almost nailed it with their Uncharted reference. I was suspecting this to be the case well before reviews or even the game's release. That, like the first Uncharted, it's good, perhaps even great, but still flawed. But that the stage is basically set for an even more amazing sequel.

They're not necessarily directly comparing it to the kind of game Uncharted is, but what they are doing is saying that, as fantastic as the game is, it just screams to be perfected and further realized in a follow up.

Some liked Uncharted 1 way better than I did, and I felt the second game hit on the button exactly what the first was trying to achieve. Only, based on what I appear to be seeing in some of these video reviews, and reading in some of the written reviews, it would seem that Alan Wake's first incarnation may have come even closer to realizing what it set out to do on its first try, despite not entirely perfecting it all.

I pray this game sells the way it deserves to because I do want to see what insane things they'd do in a possible sequel. And I kind of expected this, and Remedy essentially said as much, but it sounds to me as if the ending leaves certain things unresolved for future sewing up in a sequel. Well, they basically said this outright in interviews, even though what's present in this game is the entire story as they wanted it with no removals.

I think the open world single player experience is a major trade off. Most often open world games have much less evolved cinematic experiences and less well laid out set pieces, while linear games usually offter MUCH less replay value, especially when they are as linear as games like Gears, Uncharted, or Call of Duty. Great, even amazing games, just not nearly as fun the second or third time through IMO.

As amazing as alan wake might look, and as stunning as the sense of atmosphere might be, something tells me this is gonna be a rental for me, an amazing rental for sure, but still not worth a full price purchase.

It's a must buy for me :D

I've read so many reviews!

http://forum.alanwake.com/showthread.php?t=3552

That's a compiliation of reviews, larger than what's on metacritic.

kinda, but not when you consider visuals are more then just the environment. the environment and lighting in alan wake is some of the best i think i've ever seen, if not the best. everything else seems par for the course at this stage tho. character models arnt amazing, animations arnt amazing, facial animations and lip syncing arnt amazing. all those little things add up and hurt an otherwise great looking game. it's no uncharted, but it doesnt need to be. it seems to be setting it's tone and atmosphere really well without UBER visuals. i too am dissapointed by the reviews. just becasue i wanted there to be no doubt what-so-ever that this game was a AAA game. that's kinda gone out the window, but i'm willing to keep my pre-order and pick it up. the was a moment earlier today where i was unsure, but i'm willing to take the risk. there no way it's going to be a "bad" game at any rate.

True, but very few games have been able to come close to the Half Life series in execution. Half Life 2 is still the perfect implementation as far as linear approaches go. Though I didn't mean linear games were bad, just the ones that assume you're mentally handicaped and feel the need to point everything out. For instance having a minimap with a big ass yellow dot telling you where to go. That's ok for some games where the agenda is just get from Point A to Point B and shoot everything along the way, but for a game like this, where you're suppose to be exploring and trying to piece stuff together, it's a little disappointing. Though whatever, it's not that big of a deal. If the game is fun, the game is fun.