Alan Wake is a pretty tense game so far. Tense, but not scary. In fact, the only time the game gave me a fright was when I was in an abandoned cabin, watching a TV, and at the very edge of my view I could see out the open window, and some shadow figure walked by it. No attacks, no musical cue... just the fact that I was not alone. It was so subtle, and I could have missed it if my camera were pointing another way.

But Alan Wake is mostly about tension. Walking through the dark forest, full of an unnatural fog, and then the same shadow enemies appear. Fighting off 3 or 4 of them at once can be tough if you've only got a revolver with under a dozen shots left... which is what kept happening to me in Chapter 2. It was tense getting from checkpoint to checkpoint, sometimes legging it when I ran out of ammo. Sometimes I don't make it and the tension becomes frustration. Mostly because I am so limited in ammo, and I'm unlikely to find any if I go back, that it's just a matter of getting lucky with that run/dodge button.

The story is pretty interesting, too, but I'm only two chapters in so I don't know all that much yet. Visually amazing, I'm playing this on my brand new 37" LCD. I bought the game a while ago, but I only got around to starting it now, and I am glad I waited. The atmosphere wouldn't have worked so well on my old crappy TV.