"Long-awaited" is an easy way to describe the forthcoming 360 (sadly not PC) title Alan Wake. "Silent Hill meets Twin Peaks" would be another. But perhaps the most useful is "hugely promising". I recently spent a couple of hours playing the early levels of the game and saw enough to suggest that at least some of the hype may be lived up to.
Alan Wake, as you probably already know, is a survival horror/thriller/adventure game set in the US Pacific Northwest. The action sees you controlling the novelist and reluctant hero through misty woods and desolate lakesides in the search for his missing wife.
From the opening scenes the influences are obvious and include Twin Peaks, The Shining, Steven King, and Lost. The later especially for the TV-style "previously on Alan Wake" recap which starts every chapter. Twin Peaks is perhaps the biggest influence though and not just in the woodland scenery. There is a genuinely unsettling feeling when night falls in the game, reminscisent of the traffic light shots on the TV show. One early section sees you outside your wooden holiday home fixing the power while the fog drifts in and the sun starts to set. Not the best situation to be in when your wife is inside the house and afraid of the dark. Cliched? Maybe, but there is a deftness of touch that keeps you on edge.
The sections of the game I played were a mixture of chatting to the locals in the diner – damn fine cherry pie etc – and running round some dark woods. The latter involved bursts of combat and occasional sprints from light source to light source fending off an army of ghostly rednecks. Given that torchlight is a vital weapon – it holds the enemies at bay - most of the action I saw took place at night. Very quickly you get to love the healing and protective powers of the light, especially the glowing safe havens in the forest.
The combat seems to work well. Unlike survival horror style games of the past there isn't the need – in what I saw any way – to scrupulously micromanage your ammo. You do need to be careful with the torch though. It recharges over time but in the panic of combat it is easy to over rely on the light and end up ploughing through batteries. Out of the weapons I saw the flare gun is an early favourite, especially for taking down more than one enemy. The game does seem to help you though. I died twice after running out of ammo and restarting with minimal supplies. On the third go the game took pity on me and armed with a full stock of bullets. Clearly the adaptive skill level mentioned in my interview with the developers Remedy seems to be working.
Combat isn't all about the weapons though. For a start it did seem relatively easy to outrun enemies in most situations - or at least in those locations that were in the open forest. An early encounter with a chainsaw wielding maniac was less avoidable. It does throw up the question about AI though. Will we be fighting numerous, but unsophisticated, zombie like enemies throughout the game or will there more challenging foes later on? You would expect the latter of course, but I got the impression that the story and setting rather than the combat will be the defining memory of the game.
Forget space marines or dusty brown combat zones, Alan Wake is a beautiful looking game. The facial characterisation is almost up there with market-leader Mass Effect 2 but it is the environment that really impresses. The Pacific Northwest setting is lovingly realised and there is an Oblivion-style urge to find a spot and gawp at the scenery. Talking of Oblivion, one thing that wasn't clearly obvious in the demo was how open-world the game would be. The section where I guided Wake through a dark forest to the sanctuary of a lit-up gas station did allow some deviation off the path, but the episodic TV structure would suggest that freedom may be relatively restricted. In practice this probably won't be an issue. Alan Wake is – seemingly – about playing a protagonist in a set plot rather than wondering off to choose your own adventure. Also, in an age of multiplayer free for alls, Alan Wake is resolutely single player.
What else then? Well, the very occasional jumping parts were less successful with the controls not quite fluid enough. Let's hope there isn't too much platform stuff. Also the puzzles – for example moving some logs to get over a gate - seemed pointlessly easy, although I was at the beginning of the game. Elsewhere there is an excellent late-night radio chatshow that adds some GTA-style colour to the action. While more generally the script and voice acting are certainly above the gaming average – and given the importance of the plot to Alan Wake you have to hope they remain that way throughout the game. What I have seen so far certainly puts it above Heavy Rain's occasionally clunky dialogue, though whether it matches that title's emotional intensity remains to be seen.
Alan Wake was first announced in 2005 but judging by what I played so far it will be worth the wait. Just don't hold your breath for a sequel.
