Alan Wake - The Writer (DLC) review

Alan Wake - The Writer (DLC) review

YouTube Review

Out of the two DLC’s from Alan Wake, I’d have to say that the writer is much better than the signal, the signal was actually pretty good. There was actually a feel of progression with the writer, you actually felt like you were getting somewhere and you actually saw your objective getting closer and closer. The Objective was to get to the lighthouse so that you’d be able to escape from the dark place.

The glowing white text is back with the same gameplay elements found in the signal. Most of the areas weren’t recreated and there was a twist on everything. You’d be following the path and the glowing white text would have words such as “Bridge”, “Rock” and you’d have to shine your torch in order to bring that “bridge” or “rock” into life. These items would be stuck in a tornado and you’d have to jump onto these or else you’d fall into the abyss. A great moment would be a Ferris wheel that would continually go round with different rooms in each section and these rooms would have doors through them but because the Ferris wheel was continually going round, you’d have to rush or wait depending on which rotation the door was at. If you’re too late to get the door, you’d be plunged into the water and if you were too early, you’d have to wait until the gravity was falling in the right direction.

There were a lot more puzzles and a lot more environmental tasks to complete. Two examples, you’d be on top of a hill and your task was to travel down the hill and get to the cabin that was at the bottom. Enemies would be approaching you and there would be floating white texts that said “Roll”, you’d shine your torch and it would spawn flammable barrels that would roll down the hill and hit the enemies. Another example, would be as your trying to get the lighthouse, the lighthouse’s light is revolving around and this would kill enemies within an instant. Your journey to the lighthouse is weaving in and out of rocks with the glowing white text “clear” if you shine your torch onto this, it would destroy the rocks therefore letting the lighthouses light reach that area. I would find that without this gameplay element that this portion of the game would be very hard/impossible.

These DLC packs seem like the perfect ending to the game but the problem with games these days is that you’ll get 80% of the game for full price and then there would be 20% of DLCs to pay for, just so the developers can gain an extra few bucks later. It seems like a cash grab. But considering that the DLC is free. it’s all okay.

See I originally saw the ending of Alan wake as anticlimactic and it felt like you didn’t actually finish it and this is true because the rest of the story can be found within the DLC. 

Alan Wake – The signal review

Alan Wake - The Signal (DLC) Review

YouTube Review

When I completed Alan Wake, I was eager for more and I looked in the downloadable content menu to find that the signal and the writer was £9.99 each. I thought I’m not paying that when the game only cost me £3. When I was snooping round, looking for demos to play and trials to download. I saw Alan wake in the marketplace. I selected it to see what themes and wallpapers I could download. Whilst I was looking through, there was the Writer and the signal DLC’s for free. so I thought I’ll have some of that.

I’ve played the signal and all it seems like is an excuse to give you more content for not much of the work. Let’s just say thank god it’s free.

All the places that you visited in the original game, game back again, virtually identical. The only things that were different were items and objects were in glowing white text and you’d have to shine your torch on it in order to bring those items or objects into life. These items might be weapons and bullets etc.

The Story is different, this time around somebody is trying to get you out of the world that you’re stuck in and he’s transmitting a signal that is in different locations and just like the original game, you’d travel to that destination but in your path, there would be enemies, trying to kill you at every moment.

Mentioning the glowing white text again. Half way through the DLC, the glowing white text would appear with words such as boom, blast, firework and this changed the gameplay. You could strategically shine the word boom, so that would destroy and eliminate all the enemies with that field. The boom word would basically act as a flashbang. There’s one stage where you’re completely surrounded by words, these words would be ravens, enemies, possessed and these words would be around bang, so if you shined the word bang causing a light explosion, the enemies would be activated causing you to dodge their attacks.

The text would also have memories, so you’d be able to go through and see what you in the original game but only for brief moments.

The signal is most of the same but cutting corners. All I can say is, it’s the same areas and same locations and characters but with a slightly tweaked story and an interesting glowing white text gameplay element.

Alan wake Review

Alan Wake - XBOX 360 Review

YouTube Review

I’ve always been wanting this game ever since it was advertised back in 2010. At the time I didn’t have an Xbox 360. Xbox 360 exclusives in my opinion weren’t really that great, gears of war which I know has a culture following and so does Halo. I’m not asking for haters to comment. I’m literally just coming from another perspective. Alan Wake was the only exclusive at the time that I thought one day, I’d own an xbox 360 and play that game. Well that day has come and after completing it just hours ago, I’ve got to say that it’s Meh but let me explain.

By all means, it’s not a throwaway title. It’s a deep and heartwarming story of a man trying to find his wife that has been kidnapped by the lady of the dark.

I picked up the game at my local games shop for only £3 and it’s well worth the money. I might be saying it’s Meh but it’s a quality title that you should definitely play. The gameplay was a bit repetitive but it was only repetitive because the story was fantastic and all I wanted to do was rescue my wife and progress on with the story. Most of the game is you going through the forest or through a warehouse or solving little puzzles that aren’t too hard. They are only logical puzzles. The enemies just felt like they were slowing you down and once you started getting anywhere or you came to a big environment, you knew that there was a enemies going to be there ranging from little ones that only need 1 or 2 bullets to defeat with a low tolerance of light, then there’s others that you would need a few batteries for. Just to destroy their darkness forcefield that all the enemies have. In comparison to call of duty single player, there would be triple or even quadruple the enemies but because in Alan Wake, because of every enemy, you’d have to destroy their force field because you could even fight them, it took a little bit longer to kill the enemies and advance.

Alan Wake is a fantastic game but very cliché, you’d find that you can guess a lot of things that are going to happen. Find yourself on a little cart going from one place to another and before you know it, there would be crows coming at you at the tens of hundreds. One scenario near the end of the game. There’s a garage door that needs opening so you can carry on with the game. It turns out that the button for the door is far away and you’ve got to hold it down in order to open it. During this time, there are two people that are with you. The sheriff and your best friend, they tell you to hold the button down whilst they go and find something to hold it open. They fail to find something so you’ve got to run before it shuts and I remember saying to myself “something to going to happen so I’m not allowed in there and guess what, a piece of concrete dropped blocking me from the entrance whilst the two people I was with we’re telling me to find them and catch up with them and I thought this was typical.

The game is split up into episodes, just like a television series. You’ve got cliff hangers and Previously on Alan wake, for the first few episodes, I was very eager to get home from work and start playing it straight away but once I got to episode 3 or 4. It started to get very samey and very repetitive. Just when you thought you were coming to the end of the episode. The police would come or the entity would appear causing you to make a quick escape and causing you to go off a cliff. Nothing felt like you were progressing, it just felt like you were doing a little bit better each time.

The gameplay was great, using the flashlight to destroy your enemies, really does throw another twist on the third person shooter franchise, all the enemies, all the friendlies and all the objects in the game world cast a shadow wherever you point your flashlight, either that’s on the floor or the wall, it casts a shadow. Which is something that we are currently seeing in mainstream games on the PS4 and the Xbox One. Dominantly the game is set at night time which is really sets the tone. it’s quite refreshing when a portion is actually day time but you’re always gasping for daylight because before you know it, it’s taken away from you again.

As I said before the game was £3 from where I got it and I’d easily play £10 for it. It’s a must play but I still need to warn you that it’s predictable after episode 3 and 4 but the story is fantastic and it’s fantastically well written and even though I won’t be picking up their new game (Quantum Break) any time soon. Remedy Studios are brilliant on what they produce and all around good gaming experience.