My name is Alan Wake. I'm a writer. |OT|

I think Remedy has a nice engine which will really shine on the next-gen Xbox (720)

I think we will than see Alan Wake how it was meant to be. he Engine is clearly tuned down for this generation. Not that it's that bad, I like this game very much, one of the best games I have played.

But you can see that the engine struggles on this platform when all effects and physics are into play, not to mention all the dynamic shadows. Textures resolution took a hit.

Sometimes it's smart to do this, so you have a nice engine ready for the new consoles.

Alan wake 2 for X720 launch, please Remedy.
 
I haven't had much time to keep up with gaming news recently, so imagine my surprise when I see this on the shelves (not sure if I was more surprised the game is actually out, or that I didn't know).

I picked it up honestly not expecting much, as its not normally the title I would go for, but having just finished my first run I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The story was great, though the pages you find weren't exactly bestselling author material, and the atmosphere really made the whole experience. My only real complaint was the tension kinda died for me after the first 2 episodes when I realised that all the combat would basically follow the same format - still there were still some jumpy moments in there.

Fab game, just a shame to see it being thrown out with no support (I notice its ALREADY in the clearance section on game.co.uk)
 
sinnergy said:
I think Remedy has a nice engine which will really shine on the next-gen Xbox (720)

I think we will than see Alan Wake how it was meant to be. he Engine is clearly tuned down for this generation. Not that it's that bad, I like this game very much, one of the best games I have played.

But you can see that the engine struggles on this platform when all effects and physics are into play, not to mention all the dynamic shadows. Textures resolution took a hit.

Sometimes it's smart to do this, so you have a nice engine ready for the new consoles.

Alan wake 2 for X720 launch, please Remedy.
Click to expand...

Well it's pretty clear that the game lacks polish as it's hard to believe that the 360 can't run this at steady 30fps at this low resolution - hell we ain't talking anymore about an open world game, we are talking about linear environments, decent textures, low poly characters/objects and all this at a slightly higher resolution than 480p...sure the volumetric fog, the beautiful lighting, the draw distance and the environmental effects are maybe the best this gen but overall the engine is not doing something so impressive that it excuses the extremely low resolution and instant tearing in many places when nothing happens...the game screams lack of polish and I hope that Remedy will actually bother improving their engine for the sequel.

The engine struggles in many places but I don't think that's because of 360's hardware but mainly because of the inefficiency of the engine...sure the 360 is a 5+ years old hardware in 2010 but at the same time in 2010 we see games like LP2 & RDR - we are talking about engines that aren't even built with only the 360 hardware in mind...and this is coming from someone who loves his 360, hates the PC elitist crap and loved what he played thus far (on 3rd episode).
 
I'd rather not get into this debate on Alan Wake as I'm absolutely no expert in the technical aspects of a game, but Alan Wakes Textures are a bit more than 'decent'

66026542.jpg


Notice the pattern of the fabric on the chair.

24424975.jpg


The paint on the walls.

31979567.jpg


This ground has far more detail than most games.



Besides that, it's got 2 kilometer's of draw distance with very open environments, despite being a very linear game. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Remedy say that the game was 720p? Anyway, I do agree that it has this wierd blurry effect that makes it look worse and less detailed than it is, but when I really look at alan wake, I think it's very graphically impressive. Maybe not Uncharted levels, but still.

I do agree that the character models could be better, but I feel that character models in nearly every game ever look out of place.
 
Generic said:
I'd rather not get into this debate on Alan Wake as I'm absolutely no expert in the technical aspects of a game, but Alan Wakes Textures are a bit more than 'decent'

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8511/66026542.jpg
Notice the pattern of the fabric on the chair.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8484/24424975.jpg

The paint on the walls.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5325/31979567.jpg

This ground has far more detail than most games.


Besides that, it's got 2 kilometer's of draw distance with very open environments, despite being a very linear game. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Remedy say that the game was 720p? Anyway, I do agree that it has this wierd blurry effect that makes it look worse and less detailed than it is, but when I really look at alan wake, I think it's very graphically impressive. Maybe not Uncharted levels, but still.

I do agree that the character models could be better, but I feel that character models in nearly every game ever look out of place.
Click to expand...

Well I didn't say that the game doesn't have some areas with some impressive textures (though off-screen photos tend to make games look more impressive than what they really are) but on the other side there are spots that the textures are just bad - overall it's a mixed bag in this aspect.

Also the game does not run at 720p as Remedy claimed, it's actually almost half the pixels (960*540) but the 4xAA and the great 360 upscaling helps a lot the IQ...to be honest my main complaint about the game technically is not the low-res as you get used to it after some time but the constant in many places screen tearing which can be really distracting especially for an atmospheric game like this.
 
I feel like I'm LTTP on this game already! :(

I just finished episode 2 with my brother last night and I liked it a LOT more than Episode 1. I found the tutorial, with
that big dumb ball of light - "That is all, goodbye"
was the dumbest thing I'd ever played. Didn't really enjoy the
trek through the woods and logging camps
aside from a couple of key moments.

Episode 2 however, felt a lot more cohesive and scary and the ending was creepy. I could tell
something was up with Rose by the way her voice sounded. Who is that creepy old bitch!?
:-O

Oh, and a question...right after you pass moonshine cave, a little bit past that, there is a manuscript page in front of a rock that says
something about him turning a corner and seeing the torch graffiti on the wall and behind a rock was a box of supplies full of flare guns, flares, and ammo. Right after you pass that manuscript page you get assaulted by like 6 taken. I looked all over for that box and never found it. Is it actually there or is that one of those manuscript pages that sounds like it's talking about what's going on at the moment, but it's really not?

Gotta say though, the story is awesome. I really just can't wait to find out what happens next.
 
Generic said:
I'd rather not get into this debate on Alan Wake as I'm absolutely no expert in the technical aspects of a game, but Alan Wakes Textures are a bit more than 'decent'

*snip*

Besides that, it's got 2 kilometer's of draw distance with very open environments, despite being a very linear game. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Remedy say that the game was 720p? Anyway, I do agree that it has this wierd blurry effect that makes it look worse and less detailed than it is, but when I really look at alan wake, I think it's very graphically impressive. Maybe not Uncharted levels, but still.

I do agree that the character models could be better, but I feel that character models in nearly every game ever look out of place.
Click to expand...

I have seen quite a bit of places (somewhere in the middle of the forest and such) where textures were suddenly large blocks of ugly. The thing is, however, that all games have this variation. Not all content is equally important (again: middle of the forest) and there are deadlines to meet.

We can do this "spot the bad / low-detail texture" game for any 3D game since the N64, so it's basically not that big of a deal.

But I will admit that the difference (or variance) between high-detail and low-detail is more extreme, due to the further advanced specifications of consoles each gen.


Honestly, I think this is probably the worst thing you could look for as a means of making discours about a game. Only VG artists should be interested in this.
 
What bugs me are some of the shadows. Not all, as some are pretty damn good. But some.....like the one in Alan's NewYork apartment. There's a flower arrangement on his dining room table. The shadow being cast by the flowers onto the table is so ugly....I mean, FUGLY! I don't know why they just didn't bake a fake shadow into the texture or even taken the shadow out completely.
The game looks so good, so things like this really stick out like a sore thumb.


Anyways, I managed to get all the achievements in this game, but it doesn't show up on my XBL account. Figures, the first game that I managed to get all achievement for, doesn't even show up. :lol
 
Just finished after a little break from it. Gameplay started to get a bit repetitive for my tastes, but I liked the story moments, especially near the end. Too bad the base mechanic used to fight does not change throughout the game, and the only real difficulty spikes are when they spawn dudes behind you.

Mixed feelings on the game. I enjoyed the story (even though the voice acting outside of Alan himself was a little cheesy to me), but the gameplay brought down the experience a bit.
 
Just finished it a second time on nightmare. Still was awesome and some things got clearer. Love this game, every 360 owner should buy it I think.

Now missing for the final playthrough:
6 Manuscript pages
7 Thermoses
4 can pyramids
1 chest
9 signs

any tips for a good walkthorugh? The youtube ones are not good as it is hard to identify the exact spot.
 
skyfinch said:
What bugs me are some of the shadows. Not all, as some are pretty damn good. But some.....like the one in Alan's NewYork apartment. There's a flower arrangement on his dining room table. The shadow being cast by the flowers onto the table is so ugly....I mean, FUGLY! I don't know why they just didn't bake a fake shadow into the texture or even taken the shadow out completely.
The game looks so good, so things like this really stick out like a sore thumb.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the shadows are also dithered in some areas. Remedy lied about resolution, dithering and tearing.

And the textures posted above are just decent, nothing special. The whole lodge part was freakin' hideous!
 
Feindflug said:
The engine struggles in many places but I don't think that's because of 360's hardware but mainly because of the inefficiency of the engine...sure the 360 is a 5+ years old hardware in 2010 but at the same time in 2010 we see games like LP2 & RDR - we are talking about engines that aren't even built with only the 360 hardware in mind...and this is coming from someone who loves his 360, hates the PC elitist crap and loved what he played thus far (on 3rd episode).
Click to expand...

Well, this is what Remedy had to say on the matter:

The graphics side is pretty well optimized, but I think we can still push for more in the future especially on the CPU side but also on the GPU. We already have a few bigger changes in mind that could free up as much as 30% processing time, but they were too big to do for Alan Wake 1.

But it's not all about improving the engine. We also learned what kind of content works and looks the best with the engine we have, and can, from day one, make cooler stuff in the future. Expect the downloadable content to benefit from this already somewhat.
Click to expand...
 
derFeef said:
Just finished it a second time on nightmare. Still was awesome and some things got clearer. Love this game, every 360 owner should buy it I think.

Now missing for the final playthrough:
6 Manuscript pages
7 Thermoses
4 can pyramids
1 chest
9 signs

any tips for a good walkthorugh? The youtube ones are not good as it is hard to identify the exact spot.
Click to expand...
Seen the Rooster Teeth Achievement hunter ones?
 
the basic mechanic of using the flashlight to get the dark off the enemies then blasting them into oblivion is very fine tuned. i like that extra step added into the traditional bang-bang mentality of a third person game. just like two other standouts in the past two years--RE4 and DEAD SPACE--there's more to taking down an enemy than just "headshot" or "aim machine gun and hold trigger." there may not be much expansion or creative exploration of the flashlight-handgun combo, but it's rife with possibility, and is in itself really entertaining.
 
It seems strange to me they are using 4xAA but running at sub-HD resolution. Would have thought 720p 2xAA would be the thing to strive for.

Finished the game last night. Chapter 6 is just plain bad and explains nothing in the ending. Will post final impressions later.
 
Just finished this yesterday:
+atmosphere
+graphics - the low resolution was hardly noticeable at night and the lighting/fog looked awesome
+manuscript pages was a cool idea
+satisfying combat, guns felt powerful
+music/sound were both top notch
+Max Payne references :D even uses the same locked door sound effect, heh

-lack of weapon variety - I can understand they're going for realistically available weapons but you have to strike a balance between realism and fun; the two shotguns and rifle were basically all the same gun
-lack of enemy variety -
taken, larger taken, chainsaw taken + haunted wheelbarrows and shit, got a little stale after a while
-story was a bit off the deep-end for me and left too many questions, though I appreciate this is subjective
-FBI agent using a different author name in every sentence, man did that shit get old fast. I actually thought Barry was a pretty good character.
-Finished on a low. The penultimate areas were all really fun and then bam, another 1 hour slog through the forest, groan
-chapter 3 really felt too long
-large empty areas/buildings with nothing in them, you can tell this used to be a sandbox game
-driving was fun but the camera controls were horrible and the slightest of impacts brought you to a screeching crash

Overall I thought it was a really solid game but have no real desire to replay.

e~ added some stuff
 
I'm about to start episode 4 on nightmare and wow, this mode should've been available from the start. There's actual dread! Ammo have been almost scarce and it's possible to die :O Quite a drastic change from normal :lol I do think it's pretty lazy to just make every enemy capable of taking twice the damage though.

I downloaded the videos from this guide:
http://swearingatvideogames.com/series/alan-wake/

It's not perfect but it's been alright so far.
 
I had mixed feelings after the first couple chapters, I like the environments and the atmosphere but that defeat the birds part was like the worst thing ever, it reminded me of that annoying vehicle part from Gears 1. Chapter 3 was really good, though, I'm starting to enjoy it a lot more. Good game.

So I'm at the start of chapter 4, how many chapters are there left?
 
On the birds

It was pretty much Odin and thor who brought the birds to life right? Odin mentions something about him and crows at one point, Then thor mentions abotu himself and thunder or whatever
 
Metalic Sand said:
On the birds

It was pretty much Odin and thor who brought the birds to life right? Odin mentions something about him and crows at one point, Then thor mentions abotu himself and thunder or whatever
Click to expand...

The what? Maybe I haven't got that that part yet. I just strongly disliked fighting the birds but part of the problem was that I ran out of batteries and it took forever.
 
Snuggler said:
I had mixed feelings after the first couple chapters, I like the environments and the atmosphere but that defeat the birds part was like the worst thing ever, it reminded me of that annoying vehicle part from Gears 1. Chapter 3 was really good, though, I'm starting to enjoy it a lot more. Good game.

So I'm at the start of chapter 4, how many chapters are there left?
Click to expand...

Six in all and four is really, really good.
 
sinnergy said:
I think Remedy has a nice engine which will really shine on the next-gen Xbox (720)

I think we will than see Alan Wake how it was meant to be. he Engine is clearly tuned down for this generation. Not that it's that bad, I like this game very much, one of the best games I have played.

But you can see that the engine struggles on this platform when all effects and physics are into play, not to mention all the dynamic shadows. Textures resolution took a hit.

Sometimes it's smart to do this, so you have a nice engine ready for the new consoles.

Alan wake 2 for X720 launch, please Remedy.
Click to expand...
Hmmm...honestly, their stuff is already nice...even awesome, really. This gen. With a sequel to Alan Wake in two years, like Max Payne 2 was to Max Payne's five year development time for its final design and tech, we could be playing a new game with a nicely optimized version of the tech with V-synch and 720p. I don't see any reason to believe that they cannot improve upon it for a follow up inside of this gen of hardware and no one can offer up a reason to believe there's a wall there to stop them from doing so. IMO, the only barrier is sales performance and MS' perceived value in the AW as a franchise for the platform to back them up with in the case that it doesn't sell quite to base expectations.
 
leng jai said:
It seems strange to me they are using 4xAA but running at sub-HD resolution. Would have thought 720p 2xAA would be the thing to strive for.

Finished the game last night. Chapter 6 is just plain bad and explains nothing in the ending. Will post final impressions later.
Click to expand...

With all the foliage the higher AA looks better then a higher resolution would.
 
Jtyettis said:
Six in all and four is really, really good.
Click to expand...

Cool, halfway there. I've been ignoring most of the paths off of the main trail so I have a good reason to play through it a 2nd time on Nightmare. Maybe it'll be my first 1000/1000 game but I might not be up to finding all of the thermoses.
 
I'm really trying to get into this, but despite its evocative and moody visuals, excellent score and intriguing premise, I'm just finding it so very boring and repetitive, and I'm only halfway through chapter 2. Not only that, but the dialogue, voice acting and facial animation is extremely mediocre for a game with such a strong emphasis on story.

So far it feels like 'walk a bit, then cutscene, then walk more, then pick up a thermos of coffee and a manuscript page, then cutscene, then pick up some batteries, walk through the woods, cutscene, shoot some identical-looking ICO-style shadows, pick up some batteries, cutscene...' and then the whole cycle just keeps repeating itself.

I don't think I'm going to bother with the rest; it's funny, it's just one of those instances were I completely fail to connect with a game. I don't know whether it's just me, or the game really is pretty mediocre.
 
timkunedo said:
hype is getting to me. I told myself no more games for a few months, but this one seems to good to pass up.
Click to expand...

please do. this game needs support.

Sidzed2 said:
and I'm only halfway through chapter 2.
Click to expand...

keep going. the first three chapters are the weakest (although I still thought they were great). ch 4 and 5 should blow your mind.
 
I bought Alan Wake and RDR on the same day and I got much more fun out of AW (even though I clocked many more hours up in RDR)

Its unfortunate that the hype machine for RDR will leave AW in its shadow, I hope it gets its deserved recognition when all the end of year awards come around.
 
Finally been able to finish it. What a ride!
Now for the nigthmare rerun, to bridge the time till the sequel comes!

BTW: You guys noticed, that the flashlight on the brightfalls.com site now works? :D
 
Just beat the game myself, and was mostly impressed by it. Here's my mini-review:

GOOD:
The story - The characters felt really believable and the writing was solid.
The atmosphere - looks just like a small town in the Northwestern US, and the fog and lighting is super well done.
All sorts of fun little details: an in game TV show and radio program, Max Payne references, this.
Good overall length for a game.

BAD:
Low resolution is apparent at times.
The woods start feeling a little dull after a while. Especially in chapter 6.
Pages from Alan's manuscript could have used some work (though I guess it's as good as it needs to be for a video game).
Ending was trying too hard, and obviously setting us up for a sequel.... playing as Alice, perhaps?


Overall, a great game. If you've seen previews and think it looks like something you'd enjoy, you're probably correct.
 
Yeah, this game really kicked into overdrive with chapter 4, it rocked my fuckin socks off.
I had mixed feelings at first but it got aloud better over the last couple chapters and 4 has been awesome so far.
 
Snuggler said:
Yeah, this game really kicked into overdrive with chapter 4, it rocked my fuckin socks off.
I had mixed feelings at first but it got aloud better over the last couple chapters and 4 has been awesome so far.
Click to expand...

Yeah definitely picks up at chapter 4, it really started dragging towards the end of 3.
 
I took a break from this and started Red Dead, while a great game it lacked the tightness of AW (ofcourse its an open world game).

Back to AW tonight though, in the dark around 10pm. Cannot wait.
 
About to start my nightmare run and to collect everything. Also going to play with the developers commentary.
 
REMEMBER CITADEL said:
Well, this is what Remedy had to say on the matter:

The graphics side is pretty well optimized, but I think we can still push for more in the future especially on the CPU side but also on the GPU. We already have a few bigger changes in mind that could free up as much as 30% processing time, but they were too big to do for Alan Wake 1.

But it's not all about improving the engine. We also learned what kind of content works and looks the best with the engine we have, and can, from day one, make cooler stuff in the future. Expect the downloadable content to benefit from this already somewhat.
Click to expand...

Well I can't see how they say that their engine is well optimized but honestly I wish that they are telling us the truth this time and they will actually bother to improve their engine...AW is a AAA game and will be such a shame to not see a more polished/AAA-quality visual department in the next game.
 
Okay finished the game last night and here are my final impressions:

Knowing that this was a Remedy title, I went in expecting an extremely polished game with a compelling narrative and quality storytelling. I was very surprised at just how unpolished Alan Wake turned out, especially when you consider its a Remedy game and they took yonks to produce it. The cut scenes are atrocious and downright jarring. For a game that has such a high focus in immersion, its baffling as to why they chose to use pre-rendered cutscenes with a different aspect ratio to the actual game. Aspect ratio notwithstanding, they just had completely different "feel" compared to in-game. The color timing seemed off making the blacks washed out. Add in some severe compression and they look significantly worse than the in-game visuals. Okay I probably bitched too much about the cutscenes...

The controls are pretty solid and the use of the torch as your crosshair is neat. However, the jumping and dodging mechanic is kinda janky. Several times I was annoyed by the game making me dodge instead of run because I was too close to a Taken. The shooting is satisfying, no doubt from their Max Payne pedigree. More weapon variety would have been nice, but the flare gun is undeniably cool. As someone rightly pointed out previously, the rifle and shotgun were basically the same weapon. As good as the shooting mechanic is, it starts to get stale before the end of the game. Theres just not enough variety between encounters besides the set pieces. Talking of set pieces, I felt they were great and definitely memorable. The one in episode 4 is worth raving about.

The episodic concept was done really well. Every episode ended with you wanting more, and definitely helped with pacing. Voice acting was surprisingly solid, especially after the complaints I had read in this thread prior to playing. Barry is the best comic relief character since Jansen in Lost Odyssey, and Sarah is also cool. The story is intriguing, but I'll refrain from commenting until I read up on it some more. Its a shame it turned out so wildly convoluted and unclear. The horribly rushed final episode didn't help, with you running through the forest for an hour, finally ending with a lacklustre "boss" and a final cutscene that explains absolutely nothing.

On the tech side of things it was a real mixed bag. The volumetric fog and lighting model are absolutely nuts, producing fantastic atmosphere. Some of the night scenes are up there with the best graphics this gen. The sub-HD resolution really shows during the day time scenes as does the tearing, with the beginning of episode 4 being the biggest offender. Player models were just downright ugly, particularly Rose and Alice. The audio they've produced is astonishingly good. Bass is prominent throughout game and the ambiance created through the surrounds complements the atmosphere perfectly. OST fantastic and captures the mood of the game very well. "The Clicker" is probably my favourite track. The songs chosen at end of each episode were amazing too.

All in all I'll give this game an 8. Genuinely unique with some baffling flaws.
 
Snuggler said:
Cool, halfway there. I've been ignoring most of the paths off of the main trail so I have a good reason to play through it a 2nd time on Nightmare. Maybe it'll be my first 1000/1000 game but I might not be up to finding all of the thermoses.
Click to expand...

That is pretty much what I did the first time around as well. I'll get three though as I went back to normal first time around to get a good feel of the game. Now playing through on hard.
 
Apparently this game has terrorized my dreams....

I had a dream last night that I was in my house and it was really dark. So I had a flash light and then I opened a door and found this guy having sex with my wife.

I turned around and saw the same guy walking away and when I shined my flash light on him, he screamed and then his body had another man's face inside of it.


So...does this mean that a two ghost dudes are having sex with my wife or maybe Alan Wake is having sex with my wife. DAMNIT, WHERE ARE THE MANUSCRIPT PAGES TO TELL ME THE TRUTH?!

Somehow I believe this should be the plot line behind one of the next DLC episodes.
 
Got my strategy guide + illuminated today. I expected the guide to be mainly compromised of pictures with small blurbs but it's a bit more intense than that. A lot of shit in there.
 
Tokubetsu said:
Got my strategy guide + illuminated today. I expected the guide to be mainly compromised of pictures with small blurbs but it's a bit more intense than that. A lot of shit in there.
Click to expand...
They did an excellent job in making the guide. I just love the way it reads like the story instead of the same old "You'll come to this spot and fight guys", etc.
 
AW is $49.99 on Amazon right now. I used the $20 from Super Mario Galaxy 2 to bring it down to a nice $29.99. I guess I'll be keeping busy till Crackdown 2! :P
 
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