Forums > Submission Feedback > Clayton's Alan Wake review

I’ll get this bit out of the way early: I found a small typo at the end of your review:

I didn’t finish Alan wake because I felt like...

Capital W needed.

So, yeah, I’ve been giving the whole Wake ‘franchise’ (if you can call 1½ games a franchise, I guess) a bit of though recently thanks to a couple of reviews penned here, and I find myself a little surprised. I though the games were pretty average but okay on the whole and, as such, counted myself in within the series’ detractors. I’ve recently learnt there’s a pretty strong undercurrent of dislike for the games and, while I don’t wholeheartedly agree with your opinion, I’m unable to disagree with anything you’ve said. That’s some strong writing.

What we can agree on is the abject lack of horror. When I think back now on my playthrough, only a handful of things stand out as points I enjoy. The battle on the rotting heavy metal stage on the farm was pure action. Wake’s manager getting wrecked and wandering around in a darkened woods full of deranged killers while refusing to let go of his client’s life-size cardboard cut-out still makes me smile. Downloading ‘put the lime in the coconut’ as a ringtone after it got stuck in my head from the accursed jukebox was probably the closest this game got to horror.

It’s ironic in a way, because the game’s opening monologue nails what good horror is. It quotes Stephen King by saying that the strongest horror is unexplainable, and is more fearsome when unexplained. The game then does its abject best to ignore its own advice, and explain everything to the gamer in crayon. That, I always felt, was the game’s biggest pitfall.

Closely followed by the fact that the entire game is set in the woods. Trees everywhere and nothing to distinguish one area from another. Argh.

Yeah, the woods setting was a downer for me, but I did enjoy the story, in particular the various writings, as well as the radio bits. The enemies and combat were rather dull, but I didn't find the game to be anything less than average. It had a good ambiance at times, and the ending was awesome.