Alan Wake Review: A Beautiful Nightmare

I once read an article that said game reviewers should make more of an effort to recognize the innovation of imperfect titles. That, for games that strive to do something new and interesting but fall short of perfection, we should try to highlight what they’ve done right rather than focus on what they did wrong.

There’s something to be said for that philosophy, and Alan Wake is a perfect demonstration of why that is.

Alan Wake is a writer with a rather severe case of writer’s block. He comes to the seemingly sleepy little town of Bright Falls with his wife, Alice, to relax and take his mind off of his worries. Obviously things don’t go quite as planned and soon some evil force has possessed the town and most of the people in it and made off with his wife to boot. Wake must find out what’s going on, battle the dark forces at work, and try to save Alice.

This spooky tale is full of enough atmosphere and intriguing plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll. It accomplishes this using a compelling blend of familiar elements that come together to form a game unlike any other. The front of the box calls it “a psychological action thriller”, which seems about as apt a description as any. It’s not quite survival-horror in that it’s not usually outright scary, but the heavy focus on atmosphere makes it deserving of a label other than “action”. 

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Best of 2009 - Forza 3

As one year transitions into the next, I find it a healthy and refreshing endeavor to look back upon the past year and reflect upon those experiences which touched me the most; to discover which games stood tall above the rest and, for one reason or another, made a lasting impression.

Over the next few days, I will be sharing my own personal list of the ten best games of 2009, followed by those that didn't quite make the top ten and even a few of my greatest disappointments of the year. These are in no particular order, but they are the games I found most worthy of praise. Reflecting upon them makes one thing clear: it was a great year for gaming.

With Forza 2, I discovered that, miraculously, I could actually like a racing sim. This was something of which I was not previously aware. 

Still, Forza 2 was lifeless and not really built for the casual racer, even if it did manage to reel in a a few. The race events quickly began to drag, there wasn’t enough variety in race types or tracks, I was constantly forced to use cars I had no interest in to race on tracks I was growing bored with, and the whole thing just lacked style. I want to feel cool in a racing game, and Forza 2 was decidedly uncool.

But I give it credit for opening my eyes to the potential of the genre at least. And for being really cheap, because I got it used for next to nothing.

When I started reading about Forza 3, I got really excited. This sounded like my kind of sim game.

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A Windows Realization

Recently, as part of an effort to kick-start my PC gaming after a nice, long lull, I decided it was time to finally reinstall Windows on the iMac that serves as my meager but serviceable gaming computer.

Faced with the prospect of reinstalling and dealing with Windows XP again, I almost ended the project before it started.

Thankfully, I pressed onward.

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