must buy period.

I'd green shell you off the track.

I'm sorry, but what Eurogamer had to say has to be some of the most retarded things I've read for a game review, regardless of the--super weak--explanation.WTF, are you for real?I really can't that seriously. That can be applied to so many games it's not even funny. I prefer a 5/10 if they just say they disliked the shooting, disliked the story or something, but if you say stupid stuff like the above, your credibility goes to hell.

lol Lebato, I read that review, too. You don't like to discredit reviews, but when one of the worst reviews out for the game, just also happens to be the one filled with the most useless nonsense in it, that tells you something, it really does.

Eurogamer at least maintains their spotless record of being complete idiots when it concerns games by Remedy :D

Remember their Max Payne review? Easily one of the most embarrassing reviews I've ever read, lol.

I agree, this review itself is pretty ridiculous. Any review that contains the words "transcends the genre" at any point leads me to believe this guy is totally full of crap lol. What an awful phrase with no meaning. I just like the review structure, not necessarily the guys writing them :)

Urgh nevermind

No, I did not see their MP review. The first thing I quoted though, is just beyond stupid. They can give it a 3/10, but not for those reasons, or even consider that a negative in any way possible. The fact that they felt compelled to put that in the review blows my mind.

So because the game tries to act like a movie, a universal video game mechanic is pointed out as a negative......just pointing it out is stupid, to make it seem like a negative is beyond comprehensible. Just imagine then what this third-grade reviewer must think of Metal Gear. Surely it is worth questioning Snake, you know since he can just pop a barrel out of thin air, or carry about 20 weapons at any one time. I guess it's also worth pointing out that Forza, trying to be all simulation does not allow you to go into the stands and run over people, something that puts part of that realism it is so hard trying to achieve in question.

It was also pointed out how the game racks you up with items before big fights, making these events predictable........you mean like every other game out there? I'm sure if it didn't, it would be criticized for it as well ("too unpredictable!"), and we'll have someone crying because of the Ninja Gaiden-like unfairness.

So I felt compelled enough to look up reviews by this person, and pretty much all of them are for low-key games. Perhaps this person just felt it was time to shine, and failed terribly.

Hey man, you never know until we play it for ourselves.

My most basic breakdown of this game is that it appears to be a very solid game whose most glaring issue seems to that it possesses design elements that may come off as more representative of a past generation, as opposed to our current gen of games, which it will certainly, and already has, been penalized for.

For example, there's some of the animations. When he walks on a broken log or something, he will exhibit the proper animation that you would pretty much expect of a person to display when they are attempting to carefully walk across a log. However, make a mistake while walking that log in Alan Wake and suddenly the illusion is broken. He now appears to have one foot on the log and the other appears to be standing on absolutely nothing in mid-air.

Based on our concept of reality, it would make absolutely no sense at all for a person to not fall down or lose balance after finding himself in such an awkward position. It's basically exactly what we saw in Max Payne during the dream sequences. Remember those? Remember how you had to walk on that very fine path, and many times you were still on it even when it looks as if you should've fallen off ages ago? But I guess we overlooked it because it was just a dream sequence, right? Who am I kidding, the dream sequence had nothing to do with it, there were many awkward moments like that in Max Payne that weren't just limited to the dream sequences, but we didn't mind them because we were focused on enjoying an awesome gaming experience, and I also suppose that they were considered fine for their time.

With a game like Uncharted, for example, when a player is bringing Nathan across a log and the player screws up, Nathan displays an animation showcasing him realistically losing his balance and then there's an entirely different animation that he smoothly transitions into to realistically depict his struggled and properly weighted -- or best attempt at displaying weight -- attempt to pull himself back up and regain his footing so he can continue across that log.

Alan Wake, from what I've seen, lacks this degree of design polish, which in this day and age it should rightfully be punished for. However, and this is pretty important I think, take notice of the fact that you probably wouldn't even have the time to do such a thing against the enemies he's fighting against anyway. Have you seen some of these videos showcasing just how fast, rabid and intense they can be? They literally surround and hound the living daylights out of you. Alan Wake's combat gameplay is surprisingly fast paced, so maybe Remedy decided it was best to not try too hard to remain realistic 100% of the time and focus on what they felt would equate to the best gameplay experience? In some ways that excuse I just came up with may be appropriate and sufficient when we're talking about combat, however, it still doesn't excuse the game for the moments in which Alan isn't engaged in any combat at all and is simply just navigating the environment, and then we find him in one of those awkward looking animations. Such criticism, I think, is fair. Will it stop it from being an unbelievable game? No way, but it should be noted.

When one or more games raise the bar in specific areas, then other games, especially if they are meant to be grounded in some sort of realistic world or setting, which Alan wake and Nathan Drake both basically are, despite whatever unrealistic subject matter may exist in either game, then it's totally fair to have the expectation that other games will meet that standard of quality as well.

Then, of course, many may also not like seeing Alan being hit dead on by things like bulldozers or having massive water tanks hurled at him at these incredible speeds, and basically still be alive to talk about it afterwards. It essentially -- well any game -- asks the player to suspend disbelief for a moment and just realize that this is still merely a videogame afterall, and perhaps what's most realistic may not necessarily be best for gameplay. Even in Uncharted Nathan survives things that would most certainly kill or cripple a normal person in real life.

However, such things aside -- like not entirely perfect lip sync -- or sometimes very weird looking character models, especially in close ups -- we may still find that we have ourselves a truly amazing and unique game, which may have an unbelievably well told story.

One area, however, in which Alan Wake does, I believe, raise the bar, is in the kinds of things you expect to see take place in real-time in the environment. Even by Uncharted 2 standards I think the stuff I've seen is impressive. It really gives the environment a real feeling of being alive, and in this game it's basically true that it is. Literally anything can be possessed by the dark presence. Then there is also the lighting present in the game. Totally insane stuff there.

Edit - Very well said Lebato. My post was in response to Scoobs regarding the Kotaku review

The Giantbomb walkthrough of a part of, I believe, the first episode was awesome. I love the attention to detail and all the various stuff you can find in the environments.

The conveniently placed weapons are one thing, but the well placed light that you could easily walk past without touching or even noticing turning out to be key in revealing some light sensitive paint pointing you towards some useful items, something you might've missed altogether is a rather nice touch. I'm also very surprised at just how explorable the environments appear to be. It's linear alright, but not as linear as I originally expected.

There are many people praising the hell out of the controls. They say there is a weight to movements, but also a level of freedom to them that make you feel as if you can do almost anything, especially with regards to making certain jumps.

If you don't mind episode one spoilers, definitely check out giantbomb's walkthrough. Does a good job of showing how much has gone into the game, i think, despite being very early in the game. The guy playing, who has obviously already beaten the game, also talks about the use of light as if there are a number of pretty cool things coming up that we couldn't have expected. It doesn't sound like you've seen very much of what the game is about at all, which I like.

http://www.giantbomb.com/alan-wake/61-20982/review...

Giantbomb walkthrough, totally worth it, even for those avoiding spoilers.

I can tell I'm going to love this game because I was having a blast watching that walkthrough. It really does seem to hook you rather nicely into the story, and wow pretty major twist there at the end. I didn't expect that at all. I don't mind that I found that out, however, it actually makes me even more excited -- and infinitely more creeped out -- to have learned what I did at the end of their walkthrough.

Will avoid that link thanks ops, next Friday this bad boy will be mine.

Hehe, yea, I'm also no longer afraid to play it. These vids were crucial for me lol.

Also, it's very clear to me more than ever now why this game is running at the resolution that it is, there's no friggin way they could pull off those environmental effects and various other forms of movement in the environment at the level they're pulling without lowering the resolution like they did.

The mist, the amazing way the trees sway with the picking up of the winds, the way even water from a river appears to be getting affected by the weather conditions, even the interaction with the tall foliage looks far better than I would've hoped.

It's easy to see what this game may not do as well as some other titles, but when you check out the sheer amount of things that go on in these environments and how amazingly well scripted and atmospheric they are to absolute perfection, then you really come to understand the long development time. Also, watching as much gameplay as I have, you totally see that this is a game made by the Max Payne developer. TV Shows, the writing, the voice acting, and the amazing shooting controls, which to me appear like they very well might be the best third person shooter controls this gen. The level of speed and precision with which I've been seeing some people whip around to take on various forms of the taken in these videos has been highly addictive and entertaining to watch. The burning away of the darkness before you can actually kill them mechanic also looks highly addicting and fun.

I love how not all taken can have their darkness shields stripped away so easily. It's actually such a damn cool mechanic that I'd actually enjoy seeing some jrpg employ it across the entire combat experience in some nifty way. Good guys and bad guys alike both starting off with shields of darkness that must be pealed away before actually defeating them becomes possible. RPGs already more or less employ this mechanic, but not always necessarily as all encompoassing as I'm thinking. It's usually reserved for specific boss battles or key points in the story where the main character is just impossible to hurt.

That aside, we have ourselves a very accomplished shooter experience here, even in spite of the game's larger focus on a story driven experience and, you know, Alan's a damn wrtier, but he's apparently pretty badass with a gun, too. I'm more interested in the game for its story than action sequences, but I'll admit that it's a pleasant surprise to see the combat turn out as good as it did.

You know what else? Alan Wake's big book, the one that basically made him this big famous writer before coming to Bright Falls, which has been revealed prior to the game footage or even reviews, was about a set of crime thrillers set in new york, with a hard boiled cop as the main character. It isn't Max Payne but sounds familiar as hell doesn't it? If Alan has this book that he can't remember writing, but apparently is his own, coming to life before his eyes, what would you think are the chances that past books that he has written could be coming to life as well? Maybe whatever skills that Alex Casey, the badass new york cop in his crime thriller novels, possessed, especially as it relates to talent with guns, are also ones that are becoming true for Alan as well? That would be most badass.


There's like... close to 70 or 80 glowing reviews for this thing already :D

God, I've been looking back at the Eurogamer reviewer's past reviews... could they have gotten a worse person to review Alan Wake, yikes lol.

CE Unboxing vid, lucky bastard!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUFFYF6OJU0

Alan Wake has easily one of the best looking Collectors Editions I've seen this gen. I want it so bad... :D

I especially want that book containing the FBI files regarding the incidents that took place in Bright Falls!!

Just canceled my pre-order for the regular edition and opted for the Collectors Edition, all thanks to that video :)

Then again... maybe I should've learned my lesson after the Splinter Cell Conviction fiasco. I just hope I get lucky, I suppose :P

Actually, I should be safe.

I shall read that book before i play the game for sure.

I dont understand whats so great about the CE.. how much is it?

Ohh yeah, picking mine up next week!!

Just look at it... and check out all the content that comes with it. It's one of the most worth it Collector's Editions in some time.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/edit...

Exciting review. They have much praise for the storytelling.

So yeah I watched the Giantbombs video on this and I'm definitely going to get this as soon as it releases. The way they were talking about it and the dense atmosphere you get from the use of lighting alone sold me. Actually I'm pumped for this, and I never wasn't for this game.

Yep, I told ya man! That Giantbomb video basically shows you just enough to let you realize how awesome this game is without spoiling too much.

Also check out the game's metacritic right now.

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

It's at an 85 metascore with 40 reviews counted currently. There are exactly 33 90+ Alan Wake reviews not listed on that metacritic list, a few of which are perfect scores.

Just think how much that would raise the overall average. Hopefully meta pulls all those reviews in by release time. Remedy spent like 5 years and change on the game, the least they deserve is everyone having the opportunity to see all the available reviews.

I know one review isn't a big deal, but this tells ya something about the eurogamer reviewer :P

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/eurogamer-editor...Hate to appear like I'm just piling on on this single reviewer, but this is NOT the person you get to review a game like Alan Wake, it just isn't. She has her opinion and that's fine, but you don't get a person who seems to like and play casual/lighthearted games more than almost any other to review a hardcore title like Alan Wake. You don't get them to review Call of Duty Modern Warfare, you don't get them to review Halo Reach, you don't get them to review Red Dead Redemption, you don't get them to review Uncharted 2, you don't get them to review Gears of War, and you don't get them to review Mass Effect 2. But you ESPECIALLY don't get them to review Alan Wake.

Never understood the whole CE/LE thing to be honest, all it is a bunch of crap and shiny box.

Think I'll save my money, still not been able to get the game, where are they getting it from :(

They are downloading it illegally, of course. I'm willing to bet that at least 40% of all non major gaming magazine, website, or blog impressions of the full game are the result of pirated copies of the game.

Some of the stuff in those CE/LE are usually totally worth the price of admission. They usually have really cool behind the scenes developer commentary about what the overall development process was like and what directions they thought about going in, but opted not to. They usually give you all sorts of really interesting information about not just development of the game itself, but the process of developing videogames as a whole. Whenever I've seen such things, I've always found them to be particularly interesting.

I like seeing instances where some of the best ideas were the result of complete accidents, or bugs. In even rarer cases, you actually get to see the entire process by which a developer painstakingly comes up with a solution to something they want to achieve in their game, and that's almost always really awesome. Also, that FBI files book about all the events that transpired in Bright Falls has me excited like you wouldn't believe. I can see it really serving to enhance my overall experience with the game. Also, there's a sense of pride that I get out of owning the collectors edition or limited edition of specific titles. For most I just couldn't care one way or the other, but certain titles you really do want to make that exception, in my case anyway :)