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It's the hallmark of a great game when you lose all track of time; losing yourself in the game world and its characters. And that was very much the case with Alan Wake. The story begins with the game's eponymous protagonist, a writer struggling to write his next book, travelling to the idyllic small Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls with his wife Alice to try and clear his mind and regain his inspiration for writing. Of course, it doesn't take long before events take a turn for the worse, and Alan soon finds himself on a quest to find Alice who has gone missing under mysterious circumstances.

The folks at Remedy have been very upfront in their appreciation for the works of Stephen King and David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks, both of which deal with small town America's darker side. Alan Wake plays out like a TV show, with episodes that end on cliffhangers and open with recaps of past events. The story is the major driving force behind the game and is enhanced by in-game media such as radio stations, TV shows and town signs, all of which provide a clue to the going ons in Bright Falls. One of the prominent story telling mechanisms are the manuscript pages from a book that Alan Wake is the author, but has no memory of writing it. The pages are scattered through out Bright Falls and everything that's been written, is coming true. They give you an insight into events that happen later on in the game and allow you to see what the characters are thinking and their motivations for their actions. Of course, it's up to you whether or not you actually read them but they serve to full in the blanks and can even help increase the tension.

The majority of Alan Wake's gameplay takes place in the dark forests of Bright Falls, and this is where you'll come across the Taken: townspeople who have been possessed by a mysterious and malevolent force. Before you can do any damage to the Taken with the usual array of weapons such as a revolver, hunting rifle and shotguns, you'll first have to use a light source, ranging from your torches to flares, to reduce a sort of shield that protects them. Once that's done, you can put them down for good with a few well aimed shots. The light and darkness combat mechanic is wonderfully implemented, and you'll have to make quick decisions in when and how to use your items and weapons. As is the case with most thriller/horror games it's not always the enemies that scare you the most and Alan Wake makes good use of the unseen horror to heighten your tension all the while throwing scare after scare at you with enemies jumping from dark corners or behind doors.

The light and darkness mechanic also shows off the brilliant game engine that Remedy has come up with for Alan Wake. The shadows cast by your torch and the environmental lighting is eerily realistic at times and something I have not yet seen on this sort of scale from any other game. Looking out over a cliff you can see for miles into the distance, with the sun or moon casting shadows throughout the landscape, not to mention the ground mist and wind effects. It's right up there with Far Cry 2's Dunia engine in terms of presenting a realistic landscape and environmental effects.

The same cannot be said for the character animation though, more specifically their facial animation. Most of the time you’ll be rather bemused at how bad the lip syncing is, and at times, it will actually reach the levels of a bad Hong Kong action movie that has been dubbed in English. Thankfully though you’ll be far too caught up in the well written dialogue to care too much, not to mention a patch is already reportedly in the works.

The use of licensed and original music in Alan Wake is outstanding, with the tracks having been perfectly chosen for the different plot points in the game. You’ll hear everything from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds to Roy Orbison as you go through the game. The soundtrack is complemented by some great sound design overall. The voice acting is also of a consistent high quality and despite the farcical facial animation it manages to convey the characters' emotions.

After a long wait for Alan Wake most gamers probably wrote it off as either another Duke Nukem Forever that would never see the light of day or expected it to be a somewhat average game that would copy most of what is already on offer from games such as Silent Hill. Luckily for all of us they were wrong on both counts. Remedy has crafted a unique and compelling narrative in Alan Wake and given us a setting and cast of characters that are as deep and fleshed out as any other work of art out there, and one that holds a lot of potential for future games and DLC in the franchise. I can confidently say that this is a game that comes along once in a lifetime and will leave you better off for having played it.

Pros:

• Compelling story
• Wonderful cast of characters
• Great sound design
• Brilliant light and darkness combat mechanic

Cons:

• Poor facial animation

Rating: