Alan Wake is one of those games that makes my duty as a critic rather hard. It’s not a bad game, but it is hard to recommend to anyone in particular. You can’t just say “this game is good”. I mean, it certainly is, but it’s not “fun for everyone”. It’s not good in the same way Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands was. That game accomplished all of its goals and could be enjoyed to some extent by anyone who played it. Alan Wake, on the other hand, is a game that could have been spectacular, but had too many problems to achieve all of its goals. Some people will still like it, some will even love it, but then there will be those that hate it.

It really hits the point where a consumer must decide for themselves what flaws matter, which is another wrench in a critic’s proverbial gears. Not everyone is going to see what I claim to be a flaw as a flaw. In fact, some of the problems I list may not have even bothered me much. However, they must still be mentioned because they could be irritating, or even unforgivable, for other consumers. Unfortunately people react to reviewers and critics as if their word should be law, and if they turn out to disagree with you on a few things then clearly they are wrong and don’t know what they are talking about.

Believe me when I say that, were my friends to ask me if they should play Alan Wake, the most I could do is shrug.

The first subjective issue is the writing of the game itself. Playing as an author that seems to be trapped within his own story, you get to hear the title character Alan Wake do a lot of narrating. Some folks will love it, others will hate it. Sometimes it seems ridiculous when you see something in a room or watch something happen followed by Wake’s description of what you just saw. It seems redundant and even condescending that he detail the obvious as if the player couldn’t see it for themselves.

To me, it’s a very interesting narrative choice. I view it more as how Alan Wake views the world and his experiences. It is a reflection of his character. Most people will see something happen and think “whoa, that was cool”, or “creepy”, or “disgusting”. Yet Alan Wake sees it and his reaction is to recreate the experience as if painting it with the keys of his typewriter. It isn’t merely how an average person views the world, but how a writer in particular does.

Yet we must also recall that we are living in a world where Transformers made a crap ton of money. Most people don’t think about their entertainment in that in-depth of a form, and so they will simply find it to be redundant. As such, it is technically a flaw.

The end of the game is another flaw, at least if you didn’t purchase a copy brand new. While the story technically resolves, there are some loose ends left open allowing for a continuation of the story. If you purchased the game new then you get a free episode in July! Yet if you buy it used or rent the game, then the story will feel a little incomplete and you’ll have to pay money to get the rest of it. In fact, the chances that you’ll even understand what happened on first viewing is very slim. Yet if you purchased the game new and, in fact, enjoyed the story, then the ending is exciting and that first episode is a package of delight to look forward to.

Once again, subjective. I wish this game were like Left 4 Dead 2 or Borderlands, where the flaws were very clearly design problems rather than being a bunch of subjective “could be good, could be bad” issues.

That’s not to say everything about the game is a matter of personal taste. There are some design choices that were simply poor or needed some reworking. The environments of the game are certainly beautiful, but each of the six episodes, or levels, are incredibly long. They tend to have very obvious marks to take a break, but since each episode begins with a recap of the story thus far it seems a bit improper to take a break in the middle of one.

Yet perhaps most of all is that many of the chapters feel dragged out, which isn’t helped by the fact that you’re surrounded by forest most of the time. A lot of the locations tend to blend together, and after wandering in the woods for half an hour or so it would be nice for a real change of location. Some chapters are great at achieving such variety. Most, however, will begin to feel monotonous. Yes, there will technically be many changes in location, but at some point the hedge maze in front of the mental clinic won’t seem all too different than the log yard from a few episodes before.

For a game where the town of Bright Falls supposedly plays such a prominent role, you don’t get to spend much time there. You get a chance to wander it in the daylight early in the game and in a very limited couple of scenes after, but the most time you spend is towards the end of the game following a very linear path. While the game follows a typical pattern of “safe daylight time” where the story moves along, it is always brief and followed by a “dangerous night time” that is stretched out a bit too long and too thin. It’s like those old Stretch Armstrong toys. Normally he looks buff, but the further you stretch the arm the scrawnier it becomes. Very little time is spent outside of the woods during the night, and as a result all of those trees seem familiar.

This is most disappointing after the start of the game suggests a level of variety. You are slowly introduced to the combat mechanics and basic enemies, and as you progress you begin to discover different types of shadow foes. Unfortunately a lot of the gameplay remains unchanged for the duration of the game, leaving you performing the same old tricks for hours on end. This isn’t to say the action and combat is bad, as it is quite enjoyable. Yet why get a hamburger when you can get a cheeseburger with pickles and ketchup? Throw some flavoring and spices into the experience to make it pop rather than having the same bland sandwich every day. As it is Alan Wake reminds me of Doom 3. Yeah, it’s fun, but it certainly feels as if it goes much longer than it ought to. The primary difference is Alan Wake has a story, and if you’re a fan of such things then it will be your primary motivation in pushing forward.

The real problem with the combat isn’t the tools presented, but the foes you must face. Every once in a while something like a combine harvester will come to life and chase after you while enemies come at you from all directions. In other words, you’ll have a boss fight. Yet most of the time you will be limited to fending off the same basic archetypes of shadow foes. There are the quick ones that close in quickly and perform a sort of combo attack but take the least amount of time to dispatch. From there you step up to a slower form of foe who takes more time to remove the shadow shield and more bullets to kill, but you’re still using the same strategy of “shine light, pull trigger”. In fact, that’s the natural progression of foes. They become bigger and they take longer to defeat. That’s it.

Perhaps the biggest crime of all is how the enemies approach you. You are given a flare gun that is a very powerful tool, but only if enemies are grouped together. Unfortunately you are always being attacked from all sides. If you see two guys in front of you then expect a third to be coming up from behind. While this is technically a thrilling experience, it would be a lot nicer if it wasn’t the case every time you had to fight. The flare gun ends up being saved up for the perfect opportunity, but such a moment rarely comes. Sometimes the game will go into slow-motion and pull back to reveal enemies behind you or a foe about to attack, but you don’t always have the proper reaction time to avoid.

Which brings up another issue. The dodge mechanic works well when you’re fighting someone one-on-one, but when you have foes on all sides and aren’t able to keep track of them all the dodge mechanic seems a bit worthless and unresponsive. After playing a game like Prince of Persia where foes have very obvious tells for when they are going to strike, it seems as if Alan Wake doesn’t even want to give you a fair chance. A small glimmer from the weapon would have been enough to hint to the player that they need to dodge. That way you don’t necessarily have to see where it is coming from, as long as you see it coming.

While the levels are linear they are massive enough to feel as if you can explore off the beaten path. As a result there are a series of collectible items and interactive objects throughout the game to encourage such exploration. Some of them serve a purpose or provide some level of amusement while others do not. The pages of manuscript scattered throughout the wilderness will contain brief glimpses into the story in events past, present and future. The radio shows set a mood and even give an idea of how the rest of the world views the ongoing events of the story. The television plays a fake Twilight Zone homage called Night Falls, which borders between amusing and just plain dumb. Considering it is an intentional sort of dumb and is also optional, it can be forgiven. Lastly are many signs and posters that detail the setting and even pay reference to Remedy’s previous game Max Payne in a few places. These are the collectibles that serve a purpose

Coffee thermoses do not serve a meaningful purpose at all. A reference to the television show Twin Peaks, there are roughly 100 coffee thermoses scattered across the game that provide no useful benefit aside from a couple of achievements. While a lot of these are placed in obvious spots, there are a small number located in areas easy to pass or miss. The same goes for the piles of cans to knock down as well. If the player wants to get all of these it is best advised that they wait until they’ve completed the game so as not to ruin the suspense or immersion.

The real killer is that, while exploration is fun, there are moments when the game will begin to continuously spawn enemies until the player reaches a certain point. These eternal spawn pits tend to be in massive areas where foes can emerge from anywhere. Simultaneously, they could easily be hiding something as simple as a thermos or piece of manuscript page within that thick fog, guarded by the endless marches of enemies.

It’s a point where immersion is broken by gameplay. The player will want to explore the world in order to find the extra items, but at the same time the game presses the player to move on unless they risk wasting ammunition on an endless wave of enemies. Sometimes these sections don’t even have hidden items at all, yet they are large enough that the player will never know unless they spend all that time spelunking in the hazy darkness. Of course, it only takes longer because every ten seconds they’ll have to stop and fight another trio of foes emerging from the underbrush.

Alan Wake‘s levels should have been designed so certain sections encouraged exploration and thus rewarded the player, whereas others were only large enough to provide tactical possibilities in combat. Any collectible items would be easily found as the area wouldn’t be large enough to explore. Or better yet, include more collectibles in the peaceful sections where a player is going to be more likely to explore the setting at their own pace while rushing through. If you want the player to feel as if staying idle is a fatal mistake then don’t encourage them to go crawling about the forest seeking out long lost coffee cans.

This is where the game could most easily make it or break it for certain players. If you are unable to resist the call of collectible items or to enjoy a game at your own pace then you will be unable to fully enjoy Alan Wake. It will continuously interfere with your attempts to find items, or to even explore and find potential secrets. That isn’t to say that all of the items are in the most inconvenient nooks and crannies. Signs and posters, TVs and radios, these will be located in very obvious buildings and locations off the beaten path and are no trouble to find. A large number of manuscript pages are either on the main path or in the same obvious spots that you’d find the other objects.

Yet even finding most of the items without much effort isn’t going to help a player that yearns to find them all. The game doesn’t mark down how many of each item is in a specific episode, either, so if you are missing, say, 90 thermoses out of 100, you’ll have to go back through all six episodes in search of the remaining ten. At the very least all the thermoses you already found will be gone, but there’s no real way to keep track of what you’ve found and haven’t. It’s a bit like some of the issues in Darksiders all over again.

In the end, the actual game is played best if you just follow the main road and go from one objective to the next. Unfortunately, you may easily miss manuscript pages and radio shows that add to the story of the game as well as the atmosphere. It’s as if the player is being forced to choose whether their priority lies in a good gameplay experience or a good story experience, and a player should never be left to make that choice.

The final major flaw of Alan Wake is purely aesthetic. Some of the facial expressions of the characters will look awkward. In particular is Alan’s wife. Her lip sync is completely off, opening and closing partially while going too slowly to match the speech. It looks like a creepy marionette talking to semi-convincing characters.

Yet that is nitpicking. Supposedly it will also be fixed in a patch! Unfortunately I doubt the other flaws can be so easily repaired.

Alan Wake is a good game, and some players will be able to forgive the above mistakes in order to move on to the more positive experience within. Being a fan of a strong narrative in games I certainly enjoyed Alan Wake a lot. Unfortunately it becomes tough to recommend it because not everyone cares about story. Some people are unable to resist the call of the collectibles, either. What may be a good game for some can be incredibly frustrating for others. That a game developed for five years can have so many problems doesn’t speak too well on Remedy, despite the radical changes the game has undergone.

At the end of the day Alan Wake is a game that isn’t for everyone. Which is a damn shame because it does a enough right that it really ought to be.

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