Alan Wake (Xbox 360)

I bought Alan Wake from Amazon at a pretty good price, £28 and have played about 4 hours so far. I really like the approach they have taken. Alan Wake is told like a TV show with narration and touches like "last time on Alan Wake" when you start a new chapter. The lighting is brilliant, the night-time scenes are dark without losing you not being able to see what's going on it and creates an ominous feel. Your main source of attack is light which also acts as your health restorer and safe area, the only niggle I have with this is the lack of continuity of weapons, in one scene you have a flashlight and a gun, in the next you have nothing and have to build up supplies again. Whether this improves as the game goes on I've yet to see.

The character models in the cut scenes are pretty poor, when you compare to other games on the market including Heavy Rain, Final Fantasy and Dragon Age who manage to create realistic character models that don't appear blocky with odd moving mouths you wonder why they skimped here and where else they might not have paid attention to.

The game feels a little like Silent Hill combined with a Twin Peaks setting and a dash of The Outer Limits (you'll know what I mean when you see the TV's dotted about) and Quantum Leap thrown in for good effect. So far so good, I've yet to really feel connected in a can't put it down kinda way but I am hoping it doesn't end up on my game shelf with Silent Hill - Homecoming, abandoned due to annoying repetitive hack and slash and lack of a good storyline.

I wonder if I had been able to play Alan Wake before Heavy Rain whether I would have been more blown away by the story set up. Both are similar but So far I feel Heavy Rain far exceeded my expectations.