Alan Wake - review

Alan Wake is a third-person psychological thriller from Max Payne developer, Remedy. Prior to release, it had, famously, 'enjoyed' a lengthy development period - up to 6 years, depending on which source you believe.  Accordingly, there was a lot of anticipation, tempered with a jigger of hype and seasoned with  a dash of fanboyism (as an Xbox 360-exclusive) ahead of its release.

Note torch.  You'll be shining it a lot

The titular Wake is a Stephen King-esque author suffering from writer's block, who goes on holiday to the small northwestern US town of Bright Falls with his wife, Alice (a ruse on her part to get him to write again).  Early on in the game Alice is abducted by dark, supernatural, forces and the rest of the game revolves around Wake's attempts to find her.

The 'dark supernatural forces' really are dark - their physical manifestations can be harmed by light, mainly that emitted by Wake's Energizer-eating torch (as well as ammo for his weapons, batteries for Wake's torch must continually be found). Those inhabitants of Bright Falls that become possessed by the dark must first be stunned by light before becoming vulnerable to gunfire. Light itself (from street lights, for instance) becomes a haven from the dark, where Wake can rest undisturbed (and trigger checkpoints).

There are driving sections.  They're not that good.

The game owes a debt to a wide-range of popular culture influences.  Bright Falls echoes the town of Twin Peaks and also Blue Velvet's Lumberton, as do many of its inhabitants (Cynthia Weaver *is* the Log Lady from Twin Peaks); the quest for a lost relative was seen in seminal survival horror game,  Silent Hill;  the dark presence reminded me of Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos and some of the set pieces towards the end of the game were extremely similar (though presumably completely coincidental, given their respective development cycles) to those in Left 4 Dead 2.

The game is extremely linear, as can be seen from the map below (I can predict confidently that this will be the only map ever published on my blog).

It is very much a case of 'got to A, then go to B, via C' and the characters that you meet dictate a lot of the story - and where you are to go next - to Wake, via cutscenes (the lack of story-breaking side missions seems quite a dated gameplay mechanic).

While the graphics are excellent, the voice acting is, at best, hit-and-miss - Wake is OK, Barry, Wake's literary agent is annoying (but not badly-acted annoying) but some of the voicing of the supporting case is very variable in its quality.  I quite like that, reminding me of the (far worse) voice acting in Silent Hill, which led you to wonder if the characters were 'baddies' or just 'badly acted'.

At the sheriff's.  Like in Twin Peaks.

I throughly enjoyed playing the game despite its flaws but, unfortunately, it's had a poor time at retail, selling (I read in 360 magazine a couple of weeks ago)  only 500,000 copies.  It was discounted quite heavily within a couple of months of its release (as I said here I picked up the Collector's Edition for only £20 in July) in the face of gamer apathy.

While it received some decent reviews (it got an 8/10 and 7/10, respectively,  in gamesTM and Edge, the UK's finest multi-format magazines and a 7/10 on www.eurogamer.net), it didn't receive the unanimous 9s and 10s that maybe some had thought that its pedigree  long gestation and would have warranted.  A large factor in its lack of activity at retail was its release, in the EU, on 14 May 2010 (coincidentally, my birthday) - just 7 days before the sublime Red Dead Redemption (which did, deservedly, receive stellar reviews).  RDR sucked  all of  the oxygen out of the games market in one giant copy-selling behemoth and another story-led game (though RDR's 'modular' story structure was far more innovative than that used in Alan Wake) didn't stand much chance.  The multi-format RDR has sold approaching 7m copies to date.  Even if that figure is split evenly between the 360 and PS3 versions, it has still outsold Alan Wake 7-1 in a similar timeframe. I would be very surprised if Microsoft thought that it would compete in a meaningful way with Rockstar's game but even so, half a million copies must be a disappointment.

Stuck on a boat and now some guy's doing his Eric Morecambe impression. Worst. Holiday. Ever.

It is unfortunate that the game has not been more successful.  As I said, it is very linear but it is difficult to make something as tightly story-driven as this without having a degree of linearity (for the same reason you don't start turn to the middle of a book after the first chapter, outside of a Fighting Fantasy book anyway), as Heavy Rain found earlier this year. If such games aren't successful, simple economics dictates that similar games won't be green-lighted in future - boxed console games cost millions to develop and consequently need to sell millions to recoup the investment.  If the moneymen think that Medal of Duty 4: Tactical Warfare is a better option than original IP, then that's what they'll fund (and that isn't necessarily a criticism of them - once upon a time, I qualified as an accountant).

Although it acts as a veritable magpie towards other fiction, the work of synthesis that Remedy has created is original in its own right and should be welcomed for that in an increasingly risk averse market.

Heavy Rain, with a chance of spoilers

Right. Here's the warning. There are spoilers in this post. If you haven't finished, or have yet to play, Heavy Rain, stop reading here. There are plenty of other spoiler-free articles on this blog - move along and try one of those.

Really - leave now.

I'm not going to say who did it - that would be pointless. Anyone for whom this would be a spoiler should have stopped reading after the first paragraph. For those of you left, you know who did it, I know who did it, I know that you know and so on - adding the killer's name here isn't news for anyone.

Rather, this is an 'narrative-theme spoiler' - there is a large twist towards the end of the game, relating to the identity of the killer. I didn't read any reviews before playing the game, as I didn't want anything to spoil the experience. I knew that a review wouldn't reveal 'X' as the killer but even knowing something about the narrative path, like that there was a big twist in the story, would have been enough of a spoiler for me. I find that when I know that there is a notable twist in a story, I find myself subconsciously looking out for it as I progress through the narrative, rather than letting the narrative play out, be that in films, books or TV.


That being said, I was clearing out some games magaziness at the weekend and had a look through the 'origami cover' issue of gamesTM, which came out in the autumn and contained a large preview of the game. As I'd already finished the game, I had a flick through the article. There was a massive spoiler contained within it, that, had I read it nearer the release would have spoilt the suspense for me (it is, unwittingly I think, a clue to the identity of the killer, rather than a blatant spoiler). It was only a throwaway line in the article and I doubt, at the stage of development the game was in, that the journalist would have played enough of the game to even know that this piece of his or her article was a clue (you would need to know more of the story to know that this line was a spoiler). It was such a throwaway line (in fact, it was a caption to a screenshot showing the killer) that I'd forgotten about reading it months before, when I played the game.

Having forgotten this article, I did not see the plot twist coming in the slightest - I had no inkling as to the identity of the killer until the big reveal, maybe 20-30 minutes (if that) before the end of the game. I think I was more surprised by this than I would have been if it were a film, as with a film you accept that 'something' (or a succession of 'somethings') is going to happen and be played out in front of you, the passive viewer. This happens far less often with games.


Films, good ones anyway, are rarely a simple journey from A to B, whereas games, even good ones, often are. Gamers are more accepting of this than a film-goer would be, as games, unlike films, are a non-passive medium. A game's narrative may go from A to B but we are given alternatives - formal side-quests or just taking up the option to wander around the game world, tinkering with what the designers have given us - to depart from that path. Without wanting to sound like an English David Cage, we often create our own story. Filmgoers don't have that luxury - they are a passive audience, there to be entertained. A simple traipse from A to B wouldn't work well within that medium.


What Heavy Rain showed me is that, admittedly with sacrifice of some of what makes a game a game, developers can create cinematic storylines that combine the ethos of a videogame with the narrative structures of a film. Whether I will get the same feeling of surprise the next time I play a Quantic Dream game, I doubt. To use a videogame metaphor, after the zombie dog has jumped through breaking glass at you once, you get wary the next time that you walk past a window.

Heavy Rain - some thoughts

I've been playing, apocalyps3 excepted, Heavy Rain over the last few evenings. It's a compelling game and, such is its reliance on narrative, I'll not go into any plot details. I've avoided all reviews of the game in order not to spoil the experience and it would be churlish of me to then spoil it here. I figure that it must be a very difficult game for a journalist to review - to convey the writer's thoughts on the game, without giving anything away on the plot.

I'm not going to attempt anything so arduous as that. Instead I'm going to talk about the emotions that I felt during those parts of the game that I have played so far. I'm about 5-6 hours in and I would be lying if I said that it had been a fun experience, in the normal sense of the word. The feel of the game is very similar to the film Se7en, another intelligent, claustrophic, uncomfortable but at the same time very enjoyable experience.

Rather, playing the game has been compelling to the point of discomfort - in several places I've felt my heart beat faster as a result of the on-screen action and, like with a good horror movie, I've wanted it to end, while at the same time enjoying the experience.

I wonder if this cinematic feel is partly due to a slight disconnection between the player and the onscreen avatar. Much of the time the player is in full control of the action onscreen, but at the key, most action-filled points - an assault, for example - the play goes 'on rails' and control is maintained via a series of prompted button presses, which have to be executed within an exacting time limit. Much the same thing happened in Quantic Dream's previous game, the interesting, if flawed, Fahrenheit (aka, for reasons beyond me, Indigo Prophecy).

Although the phrase 'interactive movie' sounds a death knell for gameplay, the game is movie-like at these points. I feel, as with a movie, that I'm a viewer - with some interaction admittedly, - rather than a player during these phases.

I think this is part of the reason why I'm not as far into the game as I would expect for a recently-purchased AAA game. I tend to game at nightime, after my daughter has gone to bed (not including playing kid-friendly titles, which Heavy Rain certainly isn't) having, at the other end of the day, got up at 530am for work. While the passive activity of watching TV can make me feel drowsy (I never understood, as a kid, how my parents could fall asleep in front of the telly - I do now), gaming generally keeps me alert. I'm no scientist ('O' level biology doesn't really count, does it?) but I figure that brain activity is far higher when you are gaming, concentrating intently on the screen with your eyes, while working the controller with your hands) as opposed to zombied out in front of UK daytime TV hell 'Loose Women'.

However, Heavy Rain doesn't keep my drowsiness at bay - I've been feeling 'TV tired' while playing it. This has meant that I haven't been having long sessions on it 'til stupid o'clock in the morning, as would normally be the case with a new game.

That's not to say it is in any way boring - far from it. The shortish bursts I've been playing, I've thoroughly enjoyed. Graphically, It is as good as anything I've ever played and storywise it is as strong as Bioshock (currently - hopefully it won't go silly in the last third like Fahrenheit did). The voice acting is of variable quality - some very good, some decidedly average - but that may just be in comparison with the last game that I played, Uncharted 2 (for which the voice acting was near perfect).

Overall, it is an experience that I'd recommend to anyone that is interested in a game that tries to do something different within the gaming medium, but don't expect it to deliver on normal videogame conventions.

Curse you Microsoft - you've won, OK!

As I've said before, I'm playing inFamous at the moment. It's, well, 'OK', I suppose - nothing out of this world but it rolls along at its own pace and gives you plenty of toys to play with. In short, somewhat giving away the review that I intend to write when I'm done with it, it's fun - an engaging way to spend your gaming time.

It's just that.......it's a bit longer than I thought it would be. I'm not sure how long I've been playing it (if only Raptr worked with PS3) but it's been a while and it's certainly the most I've played my PS3 since January, when I played through Uncharted. Since then, I've dipped in and out of Little Big Planet and Burn Zombie Burn, I've played a fair few Wii games and spent time on the handhelds (anything to escape the X Factor) but this year I reckon I've spent at least 75% of my gaming time on the 360. I didn't think it would ever bother me but I am concerned that my current gaming isn't increasing my Gamerscore!

When I first got my 360 I can honestly say I didn't care about Achievements. I took quite a low gp yield from my early games - Bioshock, Crackdown, Battle for Middle Earth II and others - as I never gave the Achievements and gamerpoints available a second thought. My disquiet over the time spent with inFamous has made it apparent that now I do, in fact, care about them. And that's made me angry with myself and with Microsoft (though the latter is tinged with a crudging respect at how they've played me).

Hopefully, this self-realisation will be enough to 'scare me straight' and I'll just concentrate on the games from now on. I'm getting Uncharted 2 for Christmas and God of War III and Heavy Rain look the most interesting games on the horizon, so I need to stop thinking about my Gamerscore and go back to thinking like a gamer.

Heavy Rain

I had enjoyed, to a point, Quantic Dream's previous game, Fahrenheit, on the Xbox. My problem with it was that, while the story (other than the last third, when it got a bit silly) was decent, well-directed and acted, the gameplay was a bit lacking. At times it was more like a game of 'Simon' than a videogame.

So I approached Heavy Rain with some trepidation. However, I was very impressed with what I saw the demo at the Expo though.

Two scenarios were shown in the demo, one involving an FBI agent visiting a junkyard as part of an investigation and the other, more interesting, one showed a different, older, detective, Shelby, thwart a stick-up artist in a convenience store.

The former was more conventional - agent investigates yard (albeit with cool toys), questions suspect, rumbles suspect, fights. The latter, however, was far more interesting.

Shleby thought that the shopkeeper, Hassan, held information for his case, based on the murder of Hassan's own son some years before. The still grief-stricken Hassan wouldn't help initially and Shelby looks to depart but first goes to pick an asthma inhaler from the back of the store.

While he searches for the inhaler, Hassan is held up by a stick-up artist and will not give up his hard-earned cash. Shelby moves to the front of the store and his subsequent interactions with the robber can take a number of diverging paths depending on what responses are given. I played it once and saw others play it too and I witnessed a number of different paths through that scene based on the player's/Shelby's responses, making a refreshing change for a videogame. If this level of originality and depth can be carried through the rest of the game, I think it could be one of the best games on PS3.