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Alan Wake

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Was well looking forward to this. The EG review makes it sound pretty boring. No sale. Feel sorry for those guys after all that time.

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Was well looking forward to this. The EG review makes it sound pretty boring. No sale. Feel sorry for those guys after all that time.

I don't know, I'm at the point where Destructoid gives it a great review (Sterling is completely untrustworthy), Giantbomb gives it a good review (Ryan was the Giantbomber going nuts for this game, not so much Brad, who reviewed it) and Eurogamer gave it an ok review.

I say it breaks even, so I will continue with my completely unjustified excitement.

Nice review from EG though. Seemed like they had been on a bit of a "games are art, so we're going to write crazy long reviews that try to pose as modern lit" trip for a while.

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This looks like a highly linear game, which is fine, but wasn't this supposed to be more of a open-world thing? I remember reading of so and so many km² being filled with awesome crap, which only makes sense if you have some control over where you want to go.

The lighting in this looks absolutely amazing, like it could knock the Mass Effects off the pedestal of being the game with the best lighting.

Did anyone see if there was any auto-aim at all in the quick look? Sometimes it seemed like he had total control over the aiming, but it also looked like the beam locked at times...

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I... I think I'm sold on this. I've got a big horror itch to scratch these days for some reason, (which is why I finally finished Silent Hill: Shattered Memories) and a lot of the reviews are coming back promising and hope-inducing.

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This looks like a highly linear game, which is fine, but wasn't this supposed to be more of a open-world thing? I remember reading of so and so many km² being filled with awesome crap, which only makes sense if you have some control over where you want to go.

They scrapped the idea along the way. There are some driving sections which are probably leftovers of the open-world aspect (the driving in general not the sections by itself, because you're only driving along a fixed path now).

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They scrapped the idea along the way. There are some driving sections which are probably leftovers of the open-world aspect (the driving in general not the sections by itself, because you're only driving along a fixed path now).

Pretty sure a lot of it was scraped along the way due to budget and not wanting to go out of business. I mean it was just in December they said they were going to take a break and start up again in the new year; I have to imagine wanting to stay in business meant them cobbling together a game as fast as they could with the parts that were mostly finished.

Thats not to say the game can't be good, it's just unfortunate. Even their tech engine display video from the other day shows that it was meant to be an open world game and is pretty powerful to pull it off. So I can imagine that if it does well enough a sequel that might include those lost features would happen.

Sort of like how I thought Brutal Legend ended up; pay for the first one in hopes for a better sequel.

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This is definitely going to be a game I buy in a few months, seeing as Red Dead Redemption comes out on the SAME DAY. I'm just way more excited for Red Dead that Alan Wake.

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I am on the hype train for this game now. Especially after listening to Weekend confirmed rave about it and checking out the giant bomb quicklook. Looks like a blast.

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Thanks Quanta for pulling this up from the thread pile.

Here's the video I posted almost 4 years ago to start this thread:

Damn you Remedy, there you were putting the demo in a PC monster machine powered by Intel multicore processor and then you pulled a 180 on us when Microsoft came with the money trucks...

The game was supposed to be a totally open sandbox world originally in the style of GTA and have all kinds of crazy stuff happening, but I think they downsized quite a lot the original idea during the development when PC platform was dumped and killed with a rusty blade.

I'm still hoping of course that in one year's time Alan will wake up on PC.

I have read only one preview and that was Kotaku's.

I've watched video reviews from GameTrailers and IGN.

I would really want to play this, but I will not on Xbox360. I don't have it and I will not buy it for just Alan Wake and Brütal Legend.

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I don't see this game working as open world. Probably a terrific design decision to cull that buzzword. Shame about the 360 thing though, I'm not getting another console. Not that my current PC could run this anyway.

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I personally think that it could work as an open world game, but considering Remedy's resume, the game works perfectly as a tightly scripted game.

I loved Death Rally, I loved the Max Payne games. I would love Alan Wake, but only if it would come to PC.

Oh man, now that I finally have a great PC that I could only dream about in my wildest dreams 4-5 years ago, then I can't play this. Well, as I said I have to believe that the PC version will come out eventually, even as shitty port I would propably get it on day one...

I heard that the game does have those tv shows again, hopefully with the developers themselves again "acting" the shows. :)

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I heard that the game does have those tv shows again, hopefully with the developers themselves again "acting" the shows. :)

Oh my Lord, you should not speak so.

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I heard that the game does have those tv shows again, hopefully with the developers themselves again "acting" the shows. :)

Mirrors are more fun than television!

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I don't have a fancy Intel Quad Core, so this game is never going to run on my system :/

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I don't have a fancy Intel Quad Core, so this game is never going to run on my system :/

Also, it's 360 only.

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Also, it's 360 only.

It's the standard Microsoft deal where they pretend they're not going to do a PC version for about 6 months to a year. Sooner if it doesn't sell. There is no way in hell that they're not going to do a PC version. It will come! :yep:

Sorry, I haven't read the entire thread, but has anyone mentioned Twin Peaks yet? Slightly influenced by, no?

I believe you are looking for this

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Sorry, I haven't read the entire thread, but has anyone mentioned Twin Peaks yet? Slightly influenced by, no?

Sam Lake said already when the project was announced years ago that Twin Peaks is one of the main influences of Alan Wake.

Twin Peaks has always been really big in Finland. People love that show.

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Twin Peaks is a great show, I love it. It's that Alan Wake just SO Twin Peaks that it's almost TOO like Twin Peaks... or it's at least worth discussing. Anyone seen the Alan Wake "TV show" that's currently playing on XBL?

Edited by ThunderPeel2001

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Machinima has also put the episodes up in Youtube with HD quality.

I have watched all the four so far, it's VERY Twin Peaks as in not making much sense at all. Two episodes left I think? Total will be six episodes?

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Machinima has also put the episodes up in Youtube with HD quality.

I have watched all the four so far, it's VERY Twin Peaks as in not making much sense at all. Two episodes left I think? Total will be six episodes?

I've seen the first three. It's nowhere near as good as Twin Peaks, but it's also much better than I was expecting (I was expecting total dreck). It doesn't have the subtly, intelligence or genuine humour of TP, but it made me jump once or twice :)

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I've seen the first three. It's nowhere near as good as Twin Peaks, but it's also much better than I was expecting (I was expecting total dreck). It doesn't have the subtly, intelligence or genuine humour of TP, but it made me jump once or twice :)

Yeah, but thats a pretty big expectation, I mean Lynch is Lynch and whoever is directing this series is doing it for XBL.

Even when TP kind of tanked in the second season, Lynch still had a goal in mind and once I figured out what he was doing(his own soap opera?) it was kind of funny, though not as interesting as the first season by far. Though they did reign it in just before it ended, which is a shame.

Man I just want a TP follow up, hbo mini series, movie, whatever.

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So has anyone been playing this? I've only played about an hour so far, and I stumbled around a lot, but I've been really pleasantly surprised by this one. The concept is intriguing enough and I'm finding the horror/thriller elements to be extremely well done and effective at scaring the ever-loving crap out of me at times.

I can see how the combat may eventually get repetitive at times, but the game seems to be a master at instilling a narrative desire in the player to the point that I probably won't even notice I'm growing bored with the light/gun combo.

Looking at videos of the cut scenes and the characters, I didn't expect to even remotely like them or car about them, but I was really enjoying Alan's wife's company and found Alan to be a pretty relatable guy. I think part of the reason for that is that right off the bat they are established as vulnerable. Alan's nightmare unveils some of his own self-doubt, and he wife's fear of the dark seem like more than mere plot devices.

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I only played the tutorial and the opening 30 mins. i wasn't able to dodge. I really liked the flashlight and the ravens though. I didn't like Alan's wife's botched botox/collogen/lip sync job though.

My friend who owns it is a huge Twin peaks fan. he spent the whole time pointing out hommages that i had no idea what they were.

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Just finished chapter 2 of this (probably 2-3 hours) and I'm not sure if I'll ever finish it. The story is kind of interesting, but only because not much has been explained yet, and already things are very ethereal and generically Evil. The game has already pointed out the fact that explanation defeats horror, though, so there is still hope. The levels are nice, but the combat is no fun. And there's a lot of combat. So far something non-combatty has happened just as I'm getting tired of fighting black men, but that interval has to start reducing if it's going to keep me interested.

I like the level design that follows the classic presentation rules of first showing you where you're going, then you're there, and then later you can see where you've been.

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