Alan Wake??

Cullen82

Has anyone played or got an opinion on this new release?

I have been interested in this one for the past 6 months or so but have to say despite the good reviews 9/10 mostly ... The game doesnt look anything special from clips etc

Captain Chaos

I have the LE pre-ordered (it shipped today actually:D) and I'm very much looking forward to this. Something with a good single player experience, good story telling, atmosphere, and great graphics, possibly the best looking 360 game to date with the lighting effects.

It's seems sort of like the old skool Res Evil, Silent Hill type which I like.

Sort of like Mass Effect 1, doesn't not look anything special or play particularly well but it's a fecking epic game story and atmosphere wise. That's still my all time no.1 360 game to date.

There is a long thread on this game here.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055826138

spooky donkey

i got that ME1 and think it is pants, cant see the appeal of the game. Its got no direction I have no idea where im going or what im doing.

Am looking forward to AW though. I do like them type of games. I even enjoyed alone in the dark flawed as it was.

budhabob

spooky donkey wrote: »

i got that ME1 and think it is pants, cant see the appeal of the game. Its got no direction I have no idea where im going or what im doing.

I had the very same experience myself, coulnt understand the appeal at all.

MiCr0

any chance its on sale anywhere early?

Mr E

Looking forward to playing this tomorrow night in a dark room with my turtle beach headphones.

spooky donkey

yes it does look like a dark room kinda game all right.

Karmafaerie

This is the first game in so long that reminds me of Resi 2.
Can't wait for this.

Any of ye been watching Bright Falls?

derv

@ chaos - where did you buy it that it has shipped already ?

Captain Chaos

derv wrote: »

@ chaos - where did you buy it that it has shipped already ?

I got it from Amazon, should have it tomorrow.:)

The Hut also shipped their pre-orders yesterday. I have RDR pre-ordered with them so should have that next Friday.

SO many good games, so little time to give them all.

silvine

Tis not bad at all.

<Shameless plug>

Check out my review: http://entertainment.ie/game-reviews/Alan%2DWake/43397.htm

</shameless plug>

dazftw

smyths in waterford are selling it after 6.30pm tonight.

derv

how are smyths allowed sell before the street date ?
looking forward to playing it myself , it looks pretty decent , despite some bad reviews...

Liber8or

Xtra-Vision price:

Normal Edition - 49.99
Limited Edition - 54.99

Limited comes with a book, bonus dvd and soundtrack cd in a rather nice book style box.

cycocycle

Liber8or wrote: »

Xtra-Vision price:

Normal Edition - 49.99
Limited Edition - 54.99

Limited comes with a book, bonus dvd and soundtrack cd in a rather nice book style box.

I pre-ordered the LE last week for the same price (49.99) as the regular edition in Gamestop. Limited quantities though.

Moiph

Picked up the limited edition in Smyths tonight for €50. It's well worth the extra fiver.

That_Guy

Am just wondering. I'm trading in Splinter Cell for this. Do Xtravision do good trade in value?

jv2000

Well I got a chance to play the game last night for about 1 1/2 hours before the GF got home from work. So anyway i was sitting there in the dark with the sound cranked up and it was a great experience, fantastic atmosphere and the radio/television broadcasts and the manuscripts you find add so much to the atmosphere. I think the game is a lot more silent hill than resident evil to be honest. The story is great so far and I'm really itching to find out more. That is a good start to a game for me....... and combined with the fact that it kept me away from FIFA WC 2010 for the evening is another very positive sign

So to sum it up so far; it's like a cross between silent hill (80%), Project Zero (10%) and Heavy Rain (10%)

Captain Chaos

Well got my post this morning and no Alan Wake to be seen. Feck you An Post for being such slow fecks, the Royal Mail with 13 times more customers put's you all to shame. :mad:

Ah well gives me more time to finish off some other games. Next weekend will be busy, have to set aside quality time for AW and RDR.

I take that back An Post, just got it now.:D

Oh yes, a few beers for later an I'm all set.

Clover

Picked up the limited edition in smyths for €44:99 with the loyalty card

calex71

guy's whats the code for in the special edition? I entered it and it said i would be emailed another code for the episodic dlc in july but it's giving a 500mb download now, and of course being on vodafone BB here it's going to take all day to download :mad:

Captain Chaos

calex71 wrote: »

guy's whats the code for in the special edition? I entered it and it said i would be emailed another code for the episodic dlc in july but it's giving a 500mb download now, and of course being on vodafone BB here it's going to take all day to download :mad:

The code is for the DLC as far as I know and thats what the slip says, both editions have them.

I don't know what your 500mb download is though.

Unless it's letting you download the content now and the code you get in July will let you play it. It's like how Steam works maybe? You can pre-order a game and download it early but the unlock code won't come out until the release date. Thats just a guess.

NotorietyH

calex71 wrote: »

guy's whats the code for in the special edition? I entered it and it said i would be emailed another code for the episodic dlc in july but it's giving a 500mb download now, and of course being on vodafone BB here it's going to take all day to download :mad:

From Wikipedia

Limited Collector's Edition
The limited collector's edition of Alan Wake, packaged in a case resembling a hardcover book, consists of the game, a 144-page book entitled The Alan Wake Files, a soundtrack CD, a code redeemable for the game's first add-on episode, and an Avatar shirt and Theme.[18] The limited edition also includes a number of making-of videos, an unreleased trailer from 2006, and developer commentary that is installed to the hard drive or memory unit and enabled in-game.[19]

Sounds like it's the commentary and videos that yer downloading.

Mr. K

Picked it up earlier, gonna give it a go in a few hours. I'm really looking forward to playing it!

Nemanja91

For those of you who picked up the collectors edition in smyths, did ye already have it prebooked or did ye just go in and pick it up? and also is it worth picking up?

NotorietyH

Picked up my Collector's edition there. I usually don't go for them but damn if it isn't nicely presented and has some good stuff in it. Possibly my fav collector's edition since Fallout 3's lunchbox! Installing game now, looking forward to playing it now.

EDIT: I had it pre-booked in GAME and it looked like only pre-orders were getting Collector's editions. Not sure what the story is with Smyths

Sad Professor

Got it in Smyths for 45.

Just finished the first episode and loving it so far.

naughto

picked it up to day will give it a spin later

ShaneU

Great, none of the xtravisions near me have it to rent until next week, starting to think they do this deliberately for short single player games.

-=al=-

Do they have it to buy now??

If so, thats just mean!

ShaneU

-=al=- wrote: »

Do they have it to buy now??

If so, thats just mean!

Yep, they said there were "shortages" yet there were plenty of retail copies there, bullcrap.

I refuse to pay €50 for a game that I'm going to complete in 3 days and has basically no replay value, no matter how good it is.

-=al=-

my initial thoughts were this game is a game you'd just play once and probably trade after, so i may rent it too... when its out that is

but yeah sounds like they wana ship a few copies first before they get it renting, maybe they do it all the time or just common practice i duno, i havnt rented a game in yonks

johnny_ultimate

Heh walked into Smyths Bray at half five, asked for a copy. All sold out except one special edition. I wasn't going to buy it, but then was told it was still only 44.99. Nice Not the biggest fan of SEs, but hey it was same price as regular (tenner more for the standard in Gamestop, as usual) and it's a really nice package.

Now, lights off...

DARK-KNIGHT

playing through the story now on hard WOW i know they were years developing this but my god it is stunning! dont know about replay value but i dont care this is a keeper title i will go back to again

calex71

raycaulwell wrote: »

playing through the story now on hard WOW i know they were years developing this but my god it is stunning! dont know about replay value but i dont care this is a keeper title i will go back to again

i have seen some blockyness in several places in the backgrounds. Water and lighting though are ace. As for replay /keeping it they have us till the dlc drys up which has me slightly pissed, I mean 5 years in dev and then to give us

6

episodes on the disc and then f knows how many more to be paid for as dlc after the free one in july, It's good but I'm regretting not holding out for a goty because of this.

DARK-KNIGHT

calex71 wrote: »

i have seen some blockyness in several places in the backgrounds. Water and lighting though are ace. As for replay /keeping it they have us till the dlc drys up which has me slightly pissed, I mean 5 years in dev and then to give us

6

episodes on the disc and then f knows how many more to be paid for as dlc after the free one in july, It's good but I'm regretting not holding out for a goty because of this.

agreed that goty would have been a choice for me too but impulse lol

johnny_ultimate

Played the first episode, quite impressed so far. The Twin Peaks / Silent Hill / Stephen King (

at least they acknowledge this, his name being the first two words spoken in the entire game!

) influence is very, very obvious but it's a creepy piece of work too. The use of light is clever, and the environment effects are quite impressive. The flare gun is a highlight so far. Most of all I'm enjoying the little details -

while watching the Twilight Zone parody (Quantam Suicide :pac:) I loved how Wake was still reacting to noises even in his passive state.

This is a game all about the atmosphere and story, although it certainly helps that the gameplay seems fairly solid so far.

BrianSlipknot

Trading in Football Manager 2010, Alien vs Predator & Final Fantasy XI and getting Alan Wake for a tenner.

(Gonna complete the s**t outta it in a week tho and trade it in for Red Dead next week!) :rolleyes:

DARK-KNIGHT

BrianSlipknot wrote: »

Trading in Football Manager 2010, Alien vs Predator & Final Fantasy XI and getting Alan Wake for a tenner.

(Gonna complete the s**t outta it in a week tho and trade it in for Red Dead next week!) :rolleyes:

ill buy ff off you!! how much u want?

nevaeh-2die-4

Loving it so far, graphics are stunning probably the best I have see in a game.:o

I love survival horror games and there hasn’t been a decent one in years,

Silent hill 1-4 & Resident Evil 1-3 were great i don’t know why the developers of those games went over on a different direction, wish they would bring it back,,,,

Bulktohulk

It really is a great atmospheric game. Would highly recommend it if you like things such as Lost, Stephen King or Twin Peaks. I'll have a full review written up by the end of the weekend. One thing I would say though, is that the game is best played one 'episode' at a time. As in take a break after each episode,maybe a few hours,or wait until the next day. It really adds to the experience in my opinion.

naughto

iam well impressed with it stunning atmostphere really dark really good game.frighting the ****e out of my self a few times last night especiallly when some one comes in to the room and u playing away with the head set and have no idea that there

Mr E

Played first chapter last night, I really like it.

As I feared earlier, picking up hidden thermos flasks ruins the immersion a bit, but I can overlook that. Playing this with headphones is the only way to go - the sound design is great, and the score is very cinematic.

NotorietyH

The lighting effects in the game are amazing, but there's some really poor facial animation and dodgy textures here and there, especially during the day time scenes. It's no Uncharted in terms of visuals.

I'm really enjoying it though. it's really well paced and structured. The coffee thermos stuff does slightly affect the immersion and the big massive HUD on the top left of the screen with the constantly displayed objective can be a bit off putting.

You can really tell at times that the game started off life as an open-world game.

Driving sections and the like

Overall though it's a really solid, well put together game. Voice acting is great, story seems good. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

naughto

Mr E wrote: »

Played first chapter last night, I really like it.

As I feared earlier, picking up hidden thermos flasks ruins the immersion a bit, but I can overlook that. Playing this with headphones is the only way to go - the sound design is great, and the score is very cinematic.

whats the idea of the thermos flask that ya pick up???

Mr E

Apart from an achievement (and an artificial way of lengthening the game), I have no idea.

naughto

i first thought it was to help boost your energy levels seeing that ya pick up so many of them if its just an achievement its a bit ****e seeing that ya have to go out of your way to get them

Clover

Great game, even though it is short and I thought the ending was a let down, but very enjoyable overall.

calex71

Mr E wrote: »

Apart from an achievement (and an artificial way of lengthening the game), I have no idea.

My advice to anyone not started this yet is to not bother going out of the way for collectables, you Can't get them all in one play as some only appear in nightmare setting. So ignore them and enjoy, then worry about them on the 2nd play through if oyu are going for cheevo's.

Bulktohulk

calex71 wrote: »

My advice to anyone not started this yet is to not bother going out of the way for collectables, you Can't get them all in one play as some only appear in nightmare setting. So ignore them and enjoy, then worry about them on the 2nd play through if oyu are going for cheevo's.

I'd have to disagree. The manuscript pages add a lot to the experience as a whole in my opinion. It's great fun trying to figure out the puzzle and some of them give you information about what's to come, but you don't know when it's coming, so it makes you even edgier.

Battleflag

Got the game yesterday in Gamestop, Collectors Edition was given to me at the desk as it was the same price as the normal version, got Perfect Dark free with it too!

Played the first episode last night, really enjoyed it - even decided not to go out tonight so I can play the game a bit more, sweetness