Alan Wake, Is It Worth The Wait?
I am Ashley, and I write about the video games I play. It is therefore my responsibility to deliver you an unbiased verdict of whatever has been occupying my Xbox’ disc tray. Usually I can expect a few disagreements . After all, video games aren’t tailored to suit every individual, and personal taste undoubtedly comes into it. Never have I played a game, however, where I’ve been so certain that the answer to the question posed in the title of this very blog post will indeed be a resounding “Yes!”.
Back up… Wasn’t Alan Wake announced in 2005? Yuh-huh. I wrote a little about the effect of the many delays Alan Wake has seen, and how, having only played Alan Wake for one evening, my apprehension had quickly dissolved into confidence that it was in fact worth the 5 year wait. Now I’m on the penultimate chapter, and the game has only gotten better (and my screams louder).
What makes or breaks a survival horror game (or psychological thriller action-adventure as Alan Wake is described) is the atmosphere. If it doesn’t provoke even the tiniest pee leakage, then it’s not doing its job. Unfortunately, after the disappointing lack of scares in Resident Evil 5, I haven’t played anything since Condemned, the Xbox launch title, that has managed to terrorise me. Ask any of my friends who have spent an evening in an Xbox Live party with me as I hesitantly traipse through Bright Falls, and they’ll tell you this game makes me scream. A lot. With the lights off, surround sound on, I somehow feel that it’s entirely possible an axe-wielding dark entity will creep up behind me *shudders*.
The environment is what you’d expect, although not to an entirely predictable degree that it looses its scare factor; desolate woods, dense trees, abandoned log cabins. All of which you are forced to explore at night, more often than not alone.
Hmm. Uhh. Yeah. Skyrim. It’s massive. The quests are never-ending. My character has a mohawk. My class is Breton. Don’t