Publisher: Microsoft – Developer: Remedy
Back in 2005, the same year Microsoft debuted the Xbox 360, Remedy announced Alan Wake was in development. This year, gamers were finally given a chance to visit the world of Bright Falls, and it was well worth the wait. While the game provides a truly suspenseful experience, it has more in common with a season of X-Files than the Silent Hill or Resident Evil series. (more…)
Title: Alan Wake: Original Score
Format: CD
Publisher: Sumthing Else Music Works
Review by: Bill Jones
Alan Wake is a fantastic game, in large part due to its atmosphere. And a large part of creating that atmosphere is a solid soundtrack to complement the environments, characters, story and mood. The original score by Petri Alanko is a great one, but owning it on compact disc out of context is a mixed affair. At times, Alanko’s beautiful melodies, such as those in “Welcome to Bright Falls,” fill the speakers to great enjoyment. But a lot of it is mood music, damn near perfect in the context of the game. But for someone listening to this recreationally, that means tracks that mostly sound silent at normal volume levels, accented by heavy tones. It’s a mixed bag over the 73-minute running time. It’s no discredit to Alanko’s work, but fans might want to think twice about whether they purchase the music, or just hear it as they play the game again.
For more info, www.sumthing.com
Pads & Panels received a copy of the soundtrack courtesy of the label for review purposes.
Title: “The Signal” DLC for Alan Wake
Platform: 360
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Remedy
Review by: Bill Jones
“The Signal” picks up right where Alan Wake left fans at the end of the core game. We get a recap of the entire first game in one of those television style “Last time on…” vignettes, and then we find ourselves back in Wake’s shoes, in the first of a two-part “Special.”
Assuming anyone reading this has already played the game (and therefore won’t find this to be a spoiler), the ending of Alan Wake left a lot of questions up in the air, though to be fair the game told us up front it was going to do just that. After Wake’s rewritten ending apparently brought his wife back, but wrote himself out as a matter of balance, fans will want to know what exactly happened to him. “The Signal” doesn’t offer any concrete answers, but it’s dancing around them. (more…)
Publisher: Microsoft – Developer: Remedy
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Alan Wake isn’t the kind of game anyone’s accustomed to playing, because it’s presenting a new idea to the medium, or at least presenting it in a new way. It’s got an incredible cast of characters, solid gameplay and even better presentation. The major success of Alan Wake comes in its ability to totally immerse gamers in the experience from start to its finish. And after playing what’s offered on the disc, it’s hard not to want more of Alan Wake.
–Bill (more…)
Title: Alan Wake
Platform: 360
ESRB: T
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Remedy
Rating: 
Review by: Bill Jones
Alan Wake opens with a reference to Stephen King about nightmares existing outside of logic, and a short monologue on horror fiction. The voice is that of the title character, Alan Wake, and he explains that in a horror story, the victim always keeps asking, “Why?” But an answer is rarely ever given, and should not be. Similar the opening scenes of A Serious Man, the point is that gamers should “accept the mystery,” because it’s often these unanswered mysteries are the ones that stay with us the longest. This sets the stage for the first several episodes of Alan Wake.
It should also be noted that as these words pour over the speakers, the video takes gamers swooping through the landscape of the small town of Bright Falls, Wash., and its centerpiece mountains and Cauldron Lake. The opening credits come from the shadows and then dissipate into black smoke. The landscape is on the verge of sunset, and the sky is hazy. This also sets the stage for the first several episodes of Alan Wake. (more…)
By Bill Jones
Hear me out. I don’t play favorites when it comes to consoles. I don’t consider myself among any of the console fan boy camps. Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, PC, iPod Touch, DS, PSP…whatever. All of them have their strengths and all of them have their weaknesses. If they work and I can play a good game on them, I’m happy. But going back to that first point – if they work – I’m having a major problem with the way Microsoft is doing business with the Xbox 360.
I’ll make a few more disclaimers here before getting into things. First of all, this is not necessarily the overall opinion of this website or all of its writers. It is an opinion piece, and this is my opinion on the matter. It is anecdotal and it is in the heat of dealing with a problem, admittedly, though I do think you’ll be hard pressed to disagree. Second, as a gamer, I like the idea of what the Xbox 360 offers. I’m definitely not a hater. Despite having to pay $50 for it, I like the Xbox Live service. I like the Arcade. I like the community aspects of the console, and despite the fact that a lot of what I play nowadays is multi-platform, I’m usually playing it on the Xbox 360. But none of these disclaimers change the fact that the Xbox 360 is a malfunctioning piece of crap. (more…)
By Bill Jones
Microsoft invited us over to the Omin Hotel July 23 to get into a nice, air-conditioned executive skybox suite for 30-minute meetings away from the flatulence-heavy exhibit floor over at the San Diego Convention Center. It was nice. While we were there, we also sat down with developers to get demonstrations of Shadow Complex and Alan Wake. (more…)
E3 has come and gone. John and Bill offer their impressions on this year’s biggest gaming event.
So this year’s E3 has come and gone with quite a few nice surprises mixed in with the usual expectations which, for the most part, have exceeded my expectations. It is hard to argue with the claim that Microsoft ran away with the most buzz surrounding its next fiscal year, and Nintendo recognized their hardcore gamer mistreatment and addressed it in a big way. Sony, for me, left an underwhelming sense of “That’s it?” from a show that really needed to boost their presence. (more…)
