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Preview: Alan Wake

Posted Oct 2, 2006 at 5:51AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: Xbox 360 Tags: Finland, Remedy Entertainment

Finland-based developer Remedy Entertainment has been extremely quiet about their upcoming psycho-thriller 360 game, Alan Wake. So quiet that updates have been really scarce and some are starting to wonder whether the game will indeed make its way to the 360. Well, fret no more 'coz GameSpy was able to play with Alan (wait, that didn't sound right. But you guys know what we mean), and shares with us the experience.

Environments/Visuals: the game employs a third-person perspective and the expansive environments are unbelievably detailed! The 100 square kilometers of the Pacific Northwest, including forested valleys, windswept mountain peaks and flat plains, are explorable in the game. With the game's environments, you'll see that it's really the small things that count as GameSpy was left in awe of the little details and touches in houses, garages, etc. that make the town realistic.

Alan Wake also features a dynamic volumetric lighting engine, which GameSpy was impressed with when darkness enveloped Alan's character who responded by turning on his flashlight, and ohsweetlord, even the dust particles floating in the light was finely captured. The shadows also looked great and were of top-notch quality, which will only make us look forward to exploring dark cabins with the trusty flashlight.

Gameplay: And speaking of flashlight, GameSpy reports that this trusty tool is actually Alan's most important weapon as the interplay between light and dark is one of the biggest gameplay mechanics in the game. One of the game's first missions is to find the town's mechanic to get the key to a cabin in the mountains. You'll see a compass at the bottom left corner of the screen to guide you to your destination.

Wake will narrate as you proceed throughout the game, which he starts by talking about how his book started off in the same way, and that his character had picked up a hitchhiker. And soon enough, whaddya know, there IS a hitchhiker way up on the road signaling to you. By this time we probably don't have to explain to you how the game is plotted, huh? But just in case you didn't get it, the circumstances that you'll find yourself in will be similar to the ones Alan wrote about in his book...and all this happens as Alan himself talks about it with the other game characters.

Another example: In that same scene, the hitchhiker joked about how the killer is always a hitchhiker, which Alan corrected by saying that actually, the hitchhiker is the one who dies. And as they were driving over a bridge, they see an overturned car with a body lying on the ground. As Alan pulled over to check out the scene, he notices that the body on the ground is wearing the same clothes as him and at that same time, an 18-wheeler slams into his car, killing the hitchhiker. Creepy, huh?

So there you have it, that's the vein along which you will progress through the game, with Alan's novel and your experience in the game combining to provide you a real nightmarish experience. Alan Wake is definitely one of the most intriguing upcoming titles, and based on the demo, it could just as well be making its way to your must-have list.

Remedy Entertainment also mentioned that Alan Wake will be episodic, but they didn't give details as to how later episodes will be made available. Hopefully though, the first "episode" will be included in the retail disc, but we can't be too sure. We'll keep you posted for more updates though. Alan Wake is slated for release January 2007.

Via GameSpy

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