Alan Wake (XBox360 / XBox One)

Gaming. Review.

Remember Alan Wake? In 2010 Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft Studios released Alan Wake for XBox and PC.

That's almost 10 years ago... So... why revisit it?

Because

... it is fun 😎

(And, to be honest, I never played it before. With cheap second hand games and affordable gaming platforms this is a great time to be a gamer!)

PC / Steam

The Steam version was taken down. The original version of Alan Wake includes a whole range of licensed songs, and apparently there were some issues with the rights. The PC version is probably a bit better, and I actually own it on Steam as well but... I prefer (most of) my games on a console, sorry.

XBox 360 / XBox One

You just might pick up a 2nd hand copy of the XBox 360 version, and load it on your XBox One. That's what I did. (I pretty much prefer the PS4 in about every aspect, but this backwards compatibility thing is great!) It's a pity the PS3 is so different from the single CPU x86 consoles of today, I understand PS3 backwards compatibility will never happen, but that would have been even better...

Worth playing

It's a very atmospheric shooter, the graphics are fine though a bit dated (especially the character models) and the controls take some time to get used to. So... why revisit it?

Because it is fun!  It is close to 10 years old, and still quite enjoyable. You're literally fighting the dark, throwing light and bullets at literally monsters in the dark.  It's a little frustrating at times (the controls are not very accurate), but there is enough atmosphere to compensate, even if it is mostly an (easy) shooter on rails. Call it a 'Stephen King in video game format'.

Worth playing, for sure. Especially if you prefer some story over mindless bullet pumping, and especially when you're a poor first person shooter player like me... Sorry.


The track list

• In Dreams - Roy Orbison
• Shady Grove - Among the Oak Ash
• Electrica Cadente - Dead Combo
• Haunted - Poe
• How Can I Be Sure? - Anomie Belle
• Coconut - Harry Nilsson
• Up Jump the Devil - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
• The Beaten Side of Town - Barry Adamson
• Children of the Elder God - Old Gods of Asgard/Poets of the Fall
• The Poet and the Muse - Old Gods of Asgard/Poets of the Fall
• Young Men Dead - Black Angels
• Back Bone - The Rumble Strips
• War - Poets of the Fall
• Black Night - Charles Brown
• Air Kissing - Violet Indiana
• Space Oddity - David Bowie

Some versions of the game allow you to pick and play any of these songs (not on the XBox version though). I think there were two or three sound track CD's released, but I'm not sure they contained any of the tracks above.


Verdict

Go for it!