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Alan Wake

post #1 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:06am
Thread Starter 
http://chud.com/articles/articles/20...KE-/Page1.html
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post #2 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:10am
I'm actually really looking forward to this. I like the general IDEA of Survival Horror games, but Silent Hill has been languishing in repetition (and Resident Evil is just a bad fucking joke at this point), so I'm hoping that a bit of new blood will bring some new ideas to the genre and make it interesting again.
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post #3 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:26am
Thread Starter 
Agreed completely, I'm just worried that people will only see a guy driving to a foggy town and dealing with a disappearance of a loved one (and maybe going insane) and immediately think "ripoff".

The idea of a whole world to explore has never been done with this kind of game before though, and really can open up all kinds of possibilities. Plus it's really friggin' gorgeous.
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post #4 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:29am
Yeah, it's going to be called a ripoff no matter what, and maybe justifiably so. But if it's good, who cares? I honestly don't think Silent Hill is really all that great to begin with, because all the atmosphere in the world can't disguise clunky controls and completely arbitrary, archaic fetch puzzles. I'm all for another developer trying to outdo them and make a real game under all the spooky fog.
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post #5 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:36am
At this point I'll get behind any survival horror game that doesn't try and build tension through hideously clunky controls rather than, you know, actually making a scary game. Silent Hill 2 (the only one I've played) was fun and all, but once you get down to brass tacks you spend the majority of the time wandering through an empty game world.
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post #6 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:39am
Most survival horror games seem to be exclusively about opening a procession of ever more elaborately locked doors.
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post #7 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:50am
The open world looks and sounds great, but what they showed at E3 blew absolutely nothing up my skirt. The scares need to deliver more than the action for this to work.
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post #8 of 78
8/21/09 at 9:52am
Well, you wear a skirt, so I imagine you're afraid of mice and breaking a nail.
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post #9 of 78
8/21/09 at 11:09am
If Alan Wake can succeed where Alone in the Dark didn't, then any similarities between this and any other horror game out there won't matter. I think it looks great, and I'm hoping it turns out to be as intriguing as it appears.
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post #10 of 78
8/21/09 at 11:21am
Looks interesting, but to be honest I'm far more worried about it being a rip-off of Secret Window than Silent Hill. Still it'd be nice to play an actual scary game again, I think the last game that really got under my skin was BioShock.
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post #11 of 78
8/21/09 at 11:27am
It's Remedy, and I am rather fond of them.

Day one, whenever that turns out to be.
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post #12 of 78
8/21/09 at 11:50am
If Twin Peaks is an influence, I'm there. Hope there's a wide cast of kooky and down right weird locals.
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post #13 of 78
8/21/09 at 11:59am
Thread Starter 
I definitely want to see more of the daylight scenes. I love that his books are in that bookstore and really want there to be some sort of creepy fans in the town.
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post #14 of 78
8/21/09 at 12:56pm
I think it looks gorgeous and interesting. It's sort of weird to see developers making games that are influenced by movies or TV to this extent. There's that other game, can't remember the title, where you're a dad or something trying to track down the dude who killed your son.

I remember Fahrenheit from a while back being sort of similar, too. Trying to be kind of a movie-in-a-game on an even more overt level. Is this approach to games wrongheaded?
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post #15 of 78
8/21/09 at 6:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
I definitely want to see more of the daylight scenes. I love that his books are in that bookstore and really want there to be some sort of creepy fans in the town.
Do you read Sutter Cane?

This instantly stands out from the other survival horrors in that it has a true day/night cycle with a normal-esque town that you can fully explore and interact with, yes? This has been on my radar for so many years that I still haven't accepted the fact that it's coming out at some point, but whenever it does I'm going to be all over it. The video stuff with him cutting through the murky fog with that great flashlight effect, gorgeous moonlit forest in the background, heck, nearly every second of footage in there is more.. not just graphically impressive but more purely atmospheric than any survival horror game has pulled off in a long time.

The only thing I'm slightly worried about is the comment about it being episodic. Will have to see how that works in-game..

Really hoping this one delivers and shakes up the old RE/SH formulas.
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post #16 of 78
8/21/09 at 8:13pm
I'm not usually into these kinds of games but this title is one of my most anticipated games of 2010.
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post #17 of 78
8/21/09 at 11:32pm
I gotta say, this game makes me kinda wish I still had a 360. Might have to hijack my friend's for a week or two when this one comes out.
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post #18 of 78
8/22/09 at 12:12am
I'm kinda hyped up for this. I'm in the minority when i say i liked Alone in the Dark, but if this is anything like it ill be happy.
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post #19 of 78
8/25/09 at 2:23am
Man, look at that shot of him crouching while using the flare to hold back the bad guys. I don't really care for the whole survival horror genre (mostly because the controls are generally god-awful) but this game looks really interesting.
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post #20 of 78
8/25/09 at 4:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad Millette View Post
I'm actually really looking forward to this. I like the general IDEA of Survival Horror games, but Silent Hill has been languishing in repetition (and Resident Evil is just a bad fucking joke at this point), so I'm hoping that a bit of new blood will bring some new ideas to the genre and make it interesting again.
Off topic, but you should really check out Penumbra: Black Plaque. In fact, everybody should. It's the best game nobody ever heard of.
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post #21 of 78
8/25/09 at 8:39am
I got it off Steam, played like twenty minutes of it, then went and did something else.
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post #22 of 78
2/10/10 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
Big article on this coming tomorrow...
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post #23 of 78
2/10/10 at 1:43pm
Looking forward to it, this is the game I'm most interested in this year.
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post #24 of 78
2/10/10 at 1:54pm
One of my most anticipated games for the 360. I've been hankering for a game with a good story.
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post #25 of 78
2/11/10 at 9:02pm
Thread Starter 
Still waiting on screens and such for the game so I can publish my article, but here's the new trailer in the meantime- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMNdIKIATdg

Also, a confirmed release date- May 18th.
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post #26 of 78
2/11/10 at 9:08pm
It looks great, nice style and atmosphere to it. The voice acting is a little stiff and the 'using light as a weapon' thing seems to have been nicked from some bizarre Playstation game whose name I forget but was about a bunch of high school students trying to break out of school whilst it's being invaded by the forces of darkness.
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post #27 of 78
2/11/10 at 9:55pm
Thread Starter 
My preview- http://tinyurl.com/yzxfcbx
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post #28 of 78
2/12/10 at 4:06am
Thread Starter 
Finally got a few new screenshots, so I updated the article.
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post #29 of 78
2/12/10 at 11:47am
Nice write-up Alex. This game game has constantly raised my interest meter, with each additional bit of info that I've come across. But I'm at the point now that I'd rather avoid any new information, since it's a definite purcahse for me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
'using light as a weapon' thing seems to have been nicked from some bizarre Playstation game whose name I forget but was about a bunch of high school students trying to break out of school whilst it's being invaded by the forces of darkness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ObsCure_(video_game)
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post #30 of 78
2/12/10 at 3:44pm
Well my curiosity's certainly piqued, which is more than I could say months ago. But then, if Stephen King's such a big influence, then my curiosity being piqued is one thing, maintaining it long enough to not throw the book/controller into the trash bin will be anothe.
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post #31 of 78
3/31/10 at 9:19pm
I'll be honest, I'm not normally one for the horror survival genre of game. Not a huge Silent Hill fan or Dead Space or any of that. This however looks so fucking smart and well put together it's replaced Alpha Protocal (after the so-so word of mouth that's begun to leak out) as the game I want to grab along with Red Dead Redemption.

I'll be honest tho, the reason horror survival games often don't interest me is that if they're too good, I get the heebie jeebies - and watching gameplay footage of Alan Wake gave me a few of those, so this may end up being the first jump-scare console game I've sought out almost ever.
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post #32 of 78
3/31/10 at 11:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
I'll be honest, I'm not normally one for the horror survival genre of game. Not a huge Silent Hill fan or Dead Space or any of that. This however looks so fucking smart and well put together it's replaced Alpha Protocal (after the so-so word of mouth that's begun to leak out) as the game I want to grab along with Red Dead Redemption.

I'll be honest tho, the reason horror survival games often don't interest me is that if they're too good, I get the heebie jeebies - and watching gameplay footage of Alan Wake gave me a few of those, so this may end up being the first jump-scare console game I've sought out almost ever.
Same here. Red Dead Redemption and Alan Wake are two of my most anticipated games this year. I was never really all the psyched for Alpha Protocol though. That game has always seemed pretty rough and lacking in personality to me personally.
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post #33 of 78
5/3/10 at 12:39am
Thread Starter 
Embargoed from saying anything except my impressions of the first "episode" till Wednesday, so let me just say that it starts off very strong. Then, well... (sigh)
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post #34 of 78
5/3/10 at 12:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
Embargoed from saying anything except my impressions of the first "episode" till Wednesday, so let me just say that it starts off very strong. Then, well... (sigh)
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh crap.
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post #35 of 78
5/3/10 at 1:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
Embargoed from saying anything except my impressions of the first "episode" till Wednesday, so let me just say that it starts off very strong. Then, well... (sigh)
First the rumors that Latin America was getting a dubbed (no multi language, like the Fable II and Forza3 releases) release of this here, and now this.
Yeah, I'm kinda glad I canceled my CE pre-order yesterday.
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post #36 of 78
5/3/10 at 3:00pm
How many episodes are there to the entire game length?
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post #37 of 78
5/3/10 at 3:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
Embargoed from saying anything except my impressions of the first "episode" till Wednesday, so let me just say that it starts off very strong. Then, well... (sigh)
I'd be disappointed, but given that I typically wait for single player only experiences to drop significantly in price I'll have plenty of time to let the zeitgeist of popular opinion coat me in its effluence before I decide whether or not to buy it.
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post #38 of 78
5/3/10 at 3:17pm
Oh good, if Alex is disappointed that means I might actually like the game. I still can't believe it's coming out in a few weeks. It's been the most prominent piece of 'vapourware' this generation.
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post #39 of 78
5/3/10 at 3:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
Oh good, if Alex is disappointed that means I might actually like the game. I still can't believe it's coming out in a few weeks. It's been the most prominent piece of 'vapourware' this generation.
After Duke Nukem Forever (which is of every generation), I agree. I wrote this off years ago. Kinda shocked it's actually been made.
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post #40 of 78
5/4/10 at 1:07am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trejo View Post
How many episodes are there to the entire game length?
Six, I think. Last one's really short.

I want to bitch about this game so goddamn much, you guys have no idea.
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post #41 of 78
5/4/10 at 1:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
I want to bitch about this game so goddamn much, you guys have no idea.
I love it, this was the first horror survival game to actually grab me - the first.

Eh, back to my RTS's, (western) RPG's and sandboxes I guess...
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post #42 of 78
5/4/10 at 1:52am
I was going to say, maybe it picks up during the other episodes but it sounds like you've played through it all Alex; I think I misread as you had played the first episode and were embargoed but it reads embargoed from discussing anything except the first, my bad.

Bummed out to hear it's no good, this has been on my radar for as long as I can remember now.. at least there's still Red Dead this month.
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post #43 of 78
5/4/10 at 3:45am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trejo View Post
I was going to say, maybe it picks up during the other episodes but it sounds like you've played through it all Alex; I think I misread as you had played the first episode and were embargoed but it reads embargoed from discussing anything except the first, my bad.

Bummed out to hear it's no good, this has been on my radar for as long as I can remember now.. at least there's still Red Dead this month.
Well now I didn't say it's not good. It's decent.... it's just full of wasted opportunities. Anyway, enough hints from me- embargo's up tomorrow and I'll have a review set for you guys.
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post #44 of 78
5/4/10 at 1:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
Well now I didn't say it's not good. It's decent.... it's just full of wasted opportunities. Anyway, enough hints from me- embargo's up tomorrow and I'll have a review set for you guys.
Looking forward to reading this. This is one of those games that has so much promise you want to buy into it completely, but that gets you burned more often than not. Sounds like they didn't fully live up to the promise, but I'm interested in the specifics of where you think they fell short.
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post #45 of 78
5/4/10 at 3:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
Well now I didn't say it's not good. It's decent.... it's just full of wasted opportunities. Anyway, enough hints from me- embargo's up tomorrow and I'll have a review set for you guys.
Ugh. Your words do not give me hope. I cancelled my pre-order, and put a big message on our forum at preordergamesdiscussion.com and all of us ended up canceling it. It's around 10K people, and we emailed the developer and told them that Alex wasn't happy with the game, and we were all canceling our orders based on your pre-embargo observations.

Thanks for the help!
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post #46 of 78
5/5/10 at 5:35am
Well Alex, you convinced me at "dream sequence". The rest of it was just icing on the cake. Maybe I'll rent it sometime down the road, although it doesn't sound like it's worth finishing even.
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post #47 of 78
5/5/10 at 9:40am
It seems like Alex is in the minority. I've looked over several reviews this morning, and his is the only negative one I've found so far. I'm still very interested in this game, but I don't think I'll be getting it right away due to the large number of games coming out in May that I also want to get.
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post #48 of 78
5/5/10 at 10:33am
Thread Starter 
Well it might have a negative feeling to it but it's not a negative review. I was bouncing between a 7.5 and a 8 for quite a while, and 8 seems to be the average review. It's interesting to note how even the most positive reviews I read this morning have the same issues I do with the game- namely it's linearity, lack of enemy variety, and the way it just sputters to a (quite mild) climax.

The embargo allowed for a preview of the first episode and I can see why they would do that- because the first episode is exceptional. As a standalone game it's great, but every subsequent episode offers the exact same challenges. It's Assassin's Creed syndrome all over again, a game that doesn't give you anything new to do throughout the entire playtime.

I didn't even mention the little QTEs you have to perform to start up generators or push boxes out of the way...
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post #49 of 78
5/5/10 at 11:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
The embargo allowed for a preview of the first episode and I can see why they would do that- because the first episode is exceptional. As a standalone game it's great, but every subsequent episode offers the exact same challenges. It's Assassin's Creed syndrome all over again, a game that doesn't give you anything new to do throughout the entire playtime.
Lets hope it also goes through with "Assassin`s Creed 2" therapy for the sequel.
Liked the review, and I'll probably get this once its cheaper and if i find a US disc around here, cause im not paying for a dubbed game.
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post #50 of 78
5/5/10 at 12:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post
I didn't even mention the little QTEs you have to perform to start up generators or push boxes out of the way...
Nice review, but seriously, this sounds really awful. And not just ^this^, but pretty much everything.
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