Alan Wake, from Remedy Entertainment  (Future Crew!) and Microsoft, has been in development for a very long time. It was announced at E3 way back in 2005 and has taken almost five years to complete. Along the way the switched it from PC to Xbox 360 and completely nixed the PC version (I have a feeling it might still creep up on us but it’s doubtful).

So what does five years of development of an AAA title result in? A roller coaster ride of thrills and chills. The first time the Taken (people possessed by the Darkness) showed up, my skin practically crawled off of me. The story is interesting and keeps you trying to figure out what is happening with some success. The atmosphere of the game is well done and pulls the player in without remorse. I would often sit down to just play for twenty or thirty minutes and it would end up being hours.

The graphics on the game are exactly what we would expect from an AAA Xbox 360 title. While the character faces are stiff and Alan himself often seems to walk around with his jaw hanging open, these are little flaws. The rest of the game is built on the differences between light and dark and this is what helps to create one of the eerier game atmospheres in the recent past.

Helping along the graphics is the excellent sound for the game. There are clues all around and you need to keep both your eyes and your ears open to catch them. When the Taken show up there’s not only a visual cue but also an audible one (I think that’s what makes my skin crawl). You often can use sound to pinpoint the enemy’s location as there are times when you can’t see everyone and others when you are surrounded.

In the story, if you haven’t been reading along, you take on the role of Alan Wake, a successful writer who has come to Bright Falls with his wife Alice because he hasn’t been able to write for some time. During the course of the story Alice is kidnapped and extremely strange things begin to happen. Taking pages out of a mysterious manuscript that Alan has apparently written, the town turns into a nightmare as an evil, dark presence beings to take over its inhabitants to some evil end. I won’t spoil the story for you and just leave it at that.