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Alan Wake, that game being developed by Remedy, the team who brought you the first two Max Payne games is finally approved for certification and on track for it's scheduled release date of May 14th! That is 4 days earlier than expected and something that I never thought I would hear in my lifetime. Don't know much about it? Not too surprising since not many people did prior to it's big reveal last year at the Microsoft E3 Press Briefing. Along with the new release date, we also get a great new trailer that explains just about everything you need to know about the game prior to release.
The game is definitely something that is right up my alley but I do have a few concerns. Sure, the game has some fantastic production values, excellent cinematic qualities, and a dreary silent-hillish atmosphere but it is a game that looks like it may have some issues with controls and inventory management. (keep in mind that I have not had any hands on time with the game)
- Firstly, I don't have a grasp on how the camera is handled in the game but it appears as though the camera is controlled by the player during most scenarios. This normally wouldn't be a problem but if controls for the flashlight and controls for your weapon are handled separately, I am concerned that it will be difficult to juggle those two while optimizing the camera angles during action sequences. I think "God of War" showed us that third person action sequences are better when control of the camera is handled by the dev team and not by the player; assuming that they do it well.
- Alan Wake also seems strangely reminiscent of another game that I take a lot of flack for enjoying, Alone in the Dark. While the problems in that game were amplified by the overly ambitious inventory management system, the bigger problem was that the games core mechanic was fueled by finding items in the environment, specifically fire. In Alan Wake, the flashlight seems like it will play a huge role and will be the games core mechanic but if the player is constantly having to locate batteries and conserve battery life, I worry that the mechanic will quickly outgrow its welcome. If handled properly however, this could be a mechanic that fuels the tension and adds a dimension of the depth to the gameplay without becoming tedious. Hopefully Remedy balanced the mechanic with the environment and the supply of readily available batteries.
What are your thoughts on this long awaited title? How do you feel about the lengthy development cycle and what kind of effect do you believe this will have on the quality of the game?
-Nick
Comments
14 years ago
Controls, controls, controls,
That will make or break this game. Remedy is a good studio, however, and I can't really see them messing this aspect of it up. And I do like the slow motion (semi-bullet time) thing they seem to be doing with the battle sequences.
Also, Nick, please play this on the feed.
14 years ago
Damn Micro$oft and their plans to not release this on PC. I was waiting this game for few years FFS...
I hope it's still released later for the PC like Halo 1 and 2, Gears of War and Mass Effect 1.
14 years ago
I've been waiting a long long time for this and I get the feeling that the concerns you brought up won't bother me but more the topic of exploration as I found Alone in the Dark to be rather dull when it came to this and when I look at the trailer you provided, I get the feeling I might experience this yet again.. but we will just have to wait and see.
14 years ago
Oh, I get it. Alan Wake. A. Wake. :P
But in all seriousness, I think I really, really, really, really, really want this game, which is why I will now scream into my pillow for only owning a (currently non-functional) Nintendo Wii.
14 years ago
Strange enough, I was thinking "Alone in the Dark" the entire time I watched this too. Though this trailer has much more quality than any trailer they put out for that game. But that's just me trying to make myself feel easier about this game, and not thinking about how trailers often don't reflect the quality of the actual game.
Tight controls would push this game into a triple A title. But I won't really mind if the controls aren't amazing, as I've played all the Silent Hill games, and we all know how well those controls work...
I think as long as I can get used to the controls eventually, I'll be able to look past some minor flaws, and maybe one or two major ones.
The camera could mess the game up too. Hopefully they engineer that well, because a beautiful game is pointless when you can't SEE it well.
Speaking of sight, I too hope those batteries are many. It seems like a very innovative and fun way to handle combat though, something along the lines of Dead Space in relation to new combat styles.
One thing I couldn't stand in the Max Payne games is the shooting. It was good enough to kill things that weren't already shooting you in large groups, but it wasn't fun enough to keep playing the game. I lost interest with both games because of this. It would be a shame to lose yet another interesting video games to poor mechanics that just weren't as well thought out as others.
14 years ago
With the Max Payne games the style,story, and atmosphere are the elements that make that series great and distinguished from other shooters. If Max Payne didn't have the noir style or a dark story the games would just be simple shooters with a now outdated bulletime mechanic.
If Alan Wake ends up with a underwhelming or melodramatic story the gameplay might not make up for those lacking qualities. Remedy will probably pull of a horror or Steven king type of environment and story with grace, but you have to question a game that's been in development for so long.
Also the rating for this game is a Teen rating, which is odd for a game that has a horror style and a dark depressing story. It would be aggravating if Remedy decided to hold back mature conversations or actions so the game can sell more with the Teen rating. Also people that are in the teen age group probably aren't hyped for this game or they won't want to play this type of game.
14 years ago
I've been hyped for this game since it was announced last year.
14 years ago
I've been looking forward to this game since it was first announced back in 2005. Even put down the extra $20 for the limited edition,which I've never done for a game.
14 years ago
LOL Coderandom... this game was announced at E3 in 2005...
14 years ago
This game will either be the next Resident Evil 4 and blow people's minds, or the next Heavy Rain and end up falling short of all the hype that is being put behind it.
This game has been in development for five years and it seems they have every thing we want to see (as far as story, environment, graphics etc) in a game done and polished very well, but I hope that comes a long with some solid controls and well polished mechanics.
Despite my concerns about the technical side, I'm loving what I have seen of this. This is the kind of story and world that can pull me in and keep me there for long stretches of time.
14 years ago
Isn't May 14th the release date for Europe?
14 years ago
Namely, the hype.
This game has been hyped up more than the second coming of Christ, and this trailer flat-out tells us what to expect of the game. Even worse, it lists the game's greatest strengths as it being a "cinematic experience" with a unique soundtrack full of original and licensed music (whenever the freaking soundtrack is presented as a key selling point, that's always a warning light). It also cites key plot points that read as completely generic and/or cliche (anyone else think of Silent Hill 2 with that whole "letter he doesn't remember writing" business?). It also promises loads of "pop-culture references" and cites "Lost" as one of the game's main influences.
I'm not condemning this game, believe me; I want to see it turn out to be an awesome game as much as anyone. After this trailer, though, all I can think about is how generic and generally unimpressive all of its "selling points" come across as being. Everything that the devs behind Alan Wake seem to be proud of in the game are aspects that we've seen before in at least three different games.
Trailers are meant to show potential buyers what the game's strengths are, not tell us. The things they did tell us, the things they (as made obvious through the narrator's exposition) want us to focus on don't seem all that spectacular, especially for a game that's been in production as long as my nephew has been alive.
I was optimistic about this game, but it seems the mainstream of the industry's gotten their grubby little fingerprints on it. In this day and age, that means that whoever's been leading this project has been pushing developers to create a project that will sell, more than creating a game that is original and imaginative and unique.
14 years ago
Am I the only one vaguely reminded of The Shinning?