Alan Wake (360), http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/Alan-wake-0.jpg Options

[Trumpetman]

"Alan Wake" isn’t your typical video game with a dull storyline and obvious twists and turns that almost make you want to stop playing the game. No, this game is like "Lost" meets Steven King meets "Twilight Zone" on steroids. If you happen to pay attention to the storyline and try to follow it, trust me you are wrong. What comes off as being, “Oh I know what‘s going on” quickly turns into “Wait, no I was wrong…..what just happened?”. The game keeps you involved which is a major plus. You have to watch out for the enemies or “The Taken” because they can appear and kill you quickly. Not sure I would be playing this game in the dark or at night time, just to warn you.

The soundtrack was written by Petri Alanko, who did a great job creating a Psychological effect from the music. The soundtrack fits perfectly inline with the game play and typically doesn’t sound just thrown in there to keep you entertained.

The character designs are nice and add in a little flavor by keeping with the overall grim nature of the story. Even the titular character himself is a bit grim looking. The only graphical problem that I have encountered is that the darkness that is prevalent throughout most of the game can be a bit distracting causing you not to be able to see everything. Though this can be looked on as a good touch for the game to create more suspense, I suggest turning up the brightness of your TV a bit.

Like I said, the storyline is pretty good. The ending, not to give any spoilers, creates an obvious need for more sequels. There is a lot of storyline in there that I think a good two play-throughs should help you understand it all. When you get to the end, a lot of the storyline is all wrapped up. There are only a few things that they didn’t wrap up, which may make you almost want to throw the controller as much as you did when you beat "Halo 2".

The gameplay is really well done and the controls are pretty easy to figure out. If you have ever played a third person or even first person shooter then you know the drill. There are a TON of collectibles throughout the game which means that you might have to do a lot of searching and a few play thoughs to find them all! It’s all totally worth it in the end.

Rating: 5/5 Finding Unwritten Manuscripts
Alan Wake is a psychological thriller game that will have you guessing until the very end. Most of the twists aren’t obvious to guess and overall the gameplay is extremely well done. If you enjoy “Lost”, Steven King books/movies, or “The Twilight Zone” then get up and go buy this game.

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