Posts tagged Alan Wake
Review: Alan Wake (Xbox 360)
Jun 22nd
Don’t let Alan Wake’s fancy genre nomenclature fool you. This “psychological action thriller” is dyed-in-the-wool survival horror, and it’s damned good.
Alan Wake, the name of the game as well as its protagonist, is the story of a novelist whose world becomes literally enveloped by darkness as he writes and lives his newest story. Spooky. The game follows Alan Wake as he confronts his writer’s block only to find that his creativity is, in point of fact, his worst enemy. Set in a sleepy town in the Pacific Northwest called Bright Falls, the story borrows heavily from psychological genre-bending television programs like The Twilight Zone. So great is the homage that television sets can be found throughout the game that present mock episodes of a fictional show called “Night Springs.” These Easter eggs provide much needed comic relief from the dark narrative, a strategy employed once before in Remedy’s previous franchise, Max Payne.
The Backlog: Welcome to Bright Falls, Sponsored by Energizer Batteries edition
Jun 6th
What’s scarier: Fending off legions of possessed townsfolk while armed only with a flashlight? Or witnessing a Pacific Northwest polluted with countless billboards promoting batteries and a cell phone carrier?
In my experience, neither one is too frightening, but you’ll probably be sick of both of them by the end of Alan Wake.
Our gaming exploits have taken us from the soccer pitches of Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 and the wilds of the turn-of-the-century American West to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest and the, uh, Mario-shaped planetoid-turned-spaceship that Mario used to travel the universe to make Bowser regurgitate the power stars he’d eaten (!?). In other words, it’s been a long week.
The Backlog: Call a Plumber, the Great Plains are Flooded edition
May 31st
The new Mario game is out, though we’re all still playing Red Dead Redemption. Alan Wake is also mentioned in this week’s edition, and Nick even played a real board game. Like, one that has pieces and tiles and you have to have a large, flat surface to play it on.
What an interesting year for games, and what a fantastic year for consumers. We have new iterations of old franchises (Mario), revamped sequels (Red Dead) and fresh concepts from established developers (Alan Wake). The most amazing fact about that previous sentence is every one those games came out during the month of May, which further means we’re only halfway through 2010.
Oh hell yes.
E3 2009: Day 1 Reflections
Jun 1st
Day 1 of E3 2009 — full of press conferences from Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and the big press event from Microsoft earlier this morning. Having spent the day taking in what each of these groups had to offer, we’ve got a little bit of judgment to pass now. Sure, it’s early, but here are some thoughts coming out of the first day…
Based purely on what’s been shown today, and assuming things go to plan:
The Sure-fire Big Winner: Xbox Live
Direct download capability for 1080p movies and Xbox 360 games; an expanded Netflix lineup; Facebook, Last.fm and Twitter tie-ins to come in the fall; and a whole host of exclusive downloads and DLC content for games coming this year. That $50 a year spent on an Xbox Live gold account keeps looking better and better, and regardless how the games turn out, what you’ll be able to do with the system grows and grows.
Most Important Announcement: Microsoft’s Project Natal
It's waggle, Jim, but not how we're used to: Microsoft's Project Natal could well be the biggest announcement at E3 2009.
We knew it was coming. It may even have been shown a year ago, before Microsoft acquired the company responsible for the technology. But actually seeing Project Natal — Microsoft’s code name for its controller-less motion control device — was very stunning. Sure, some of the tech demos displayed (a ball kicking/punching/heading game, motion to control the Xbox dashboard) were a bit hokey…but they showed a level of motion-recognition that was very tight and reactive. The big deal was Lionhead Studios (publishers of Fable 2, Black and White and many other games) and the tech demo they created where players could interact with a schoolboy named Milo. To say it encroached on the uncanny valley is an understatement; if it’s what the video demonstration billed it to be, it’s less a game and more interacting with a legitimate AI character. Absolutely stunning.
To say that Microsoft could capitalize on the market the Nintendo Wii has pioneered while also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible as an interactive activity with Project Natal is an understatement. The potential is there; whether it comes to fruition in the final form will be interesting to see.