You’re Alan Wake, a famous best seller author. You’re currently having writer’s block and have not been able to write anything for two years, so you and your wife, Alice, take a vacation to Bright Falls. Bright Falls is a idyllic small-town, which is famous for its huge Deer Feast. You and your wife have rented a log cabin on a small island on Cauldron Lake. You only have one close friend, Barry, who is also your agent. You meet a lot of friendly people while heading to your cabin on the lake. After an altercation with Alice, Alan leaves the cabin, knowing that she will not follow him as she has a fear of the dark. Upon hearing screaming, Alan runs back into the house only to find that Alice has fallen into the lake. He dives in after her. Suddenly, Alan wakes up in a car, his head bleeding. He heads towards the nearest gas station after being attacked by the Taken, people from Bright Falls that have been taken over by the Dark Presence. When he arrives, by seeing a festival advertisement he realizes it’s been a week since he jumped in the lake after Alice. He calls for the police, and when he says that his wife is missing and they lived in the cabin on Cauldron Lake, Sheriff Sarah Breaker informs him that there is no house in Cauldron Lake, not since the 1970s. They drive past it and, much to Alan’s horror, she’s right.

Alan Wake is a very crazy and point turning thriller ride. Alan Wake will have you on the edge of your seats, wondering will will happen next. As you make your journey to find your missing wife, you come across manuscript pages that you have written for your new book. Only problem is, you don’t remember writing it and you go on to find that everything you wrote about is coming true. So here you are to make the journey to figure out what’s going on. You’re forced to go into the dark and face “the Taken”, in which you can not kill without light. So light is your main weapon in Alan Wake. Light is your only way of surviving this horror. If you must go into the darkness, always have a flashlight in hand.

The graphics are top of the line and are clearly the best on the Xbox 360 today. The details are simply amazing, and we can not say enough. So when the Taken starting popping up around you, you’re sure to freak out if playing at night. The scenery is just beautiful and will have you wanting to just take a breather and look out into the town of Bright Falls. You will be making your way through woods, streets, towns, parks, and mobile homes. You will even be able to enjoy the beautiful mountains and lakes.

The music are another great feature in this game. The music is just amazing and fun to listen to. The music is original for Alan Wake, and it tends to have a rock vibe to it. The soundtrack will be sure to create a disturbing atmosphere for your stay in Bright Falls. There is even a made up band called, Old Gods of Asgard. Similar to what Left 4 Dead 2 had in store for us with the Midnight Riders. The Old Gods of Asgard is a rock band which holds to band members. The music in this game will surely not disappoint. It is very pleasing to listen to, while at the same time pumping you up for the thriller that is in stores for Alan Wake.

The sounds in the game are high-def and are sure to add the spook and thriller that this game wants to throw at you. The details in the sounds are perfect, so if you have a pair of TurtleBeach headphones, or any other kind of HD headphones, be sure to wear them when you make your journey in Alan Wake.

As for weapons in Alan Wake, Light is your main weapon. Light destroys the darkness, therefore you have left will finding flashlights, lanterns, hi powered flashlights, flare guns, flares, flash grenades, and many other light objects that will help you live through the darkness. Besides the light, you will come across a hunting rifle, a revolver, and a shotgun.

As for collectibles, there are coffee cans and manuscript pages to collect. So these will be sure to make you go out hunting in the darkness to find these and get involve better with the story of Alan Wake. Throughout your game play of Alan Wake, you will come across television sets and radios. Be sure to always turn them on to watch and listen, as they will also help you understand more of the story in Alan Wake, along with catchy music at the end of each show.

As for Downloadable Content (DLC),  there will be plenty. The first DLC to be release will be The Signal, arriving July 27th. This first DLC will be free for all who bought a new copy of Alan Wake, other wise it will cost 800 Microsoft Points. The second DLC will arrive “shortly” after-wards and is called The Writer, for 800 Microsoft Points. Overall, I say this is a must buy for those of you horror and thriller fans out there. Alan Wake will not disappoint and it is something that needs to be checked out. There are strong characters in Alan Wake that will have you strongly getting to know, along with a strong and solid storyline. Alan Wake is simply perfect in many ways.

I believe overall this game deserves a 9 out of 10.

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Here is what Nicholas Bridge thought of the game:

I thought the title was clever. Any way, when Alan Wake was announced, I didn’t see why everyone was making a big deal about it. Then I got it, played it, made it my bee-otch. And do you know what I am saying now? Why didn’t people make a bigger deal about this, It was freaking awesome! The story, the suspense, the combat, and even the soundtrack, it was different, but this time I say it like a good thing.

What drills are to Big Daddy’s, the story is to Alan Wake. In one episode, you are like, “Oh, now I get it”, and then, “Nope never mind. Something big just happened and everything’s wrong again.” At night, with the brightness all the way down, this is a scary game. Not the scary that your health is at 10% and you are surrounded, but creepy scary. But you heard enough of the story being good, but what is it? You are Alan Wake, a famous writer with his wife going to a town called Bright Falls. But weird stuff is going down. And that’s all I will tell you. This game will make you say “OMG, Ahh crap, No no no no no no, and Awww hell yes!” Like the time I was in *removed for spoilers* and then *spoiler* started to *spoiler* and with *spoiler* in the *spoiler* with the *spoiler* trying to *spoiler* you. Don’t censor me.

The combat is good and bad at the same time. Aim your flashlight, shoot. Sounds boring, yet we can get enough of it. Light is your strongest weapon from flashlights to flare guns, and revolvers to pumps.

This game has lots of stuff to find. I really mean lots. Coffee thermoses, Manuscript pages, cans, signs, TV, radios, stuff we don’t care about but Alan does for some weird reason. Yeah, nothing like a good cup of Joe during a *spoiler* invasion. It has re-playability to get all this crap, and you really need to understand the story anyway. So go find it, stop reading and go find it. If you didn’t listen to me, the soundtrack kicks ass too. They got some Poets of the Fall and their hit War, a made up band (Not the Midnight Riders) called Old Gods of Asgard. Rock and frigging roll. Their song, Children of the Metal Gods, is so damn good! I will play it over and over and over and over and over and, well, you get the idea. And over.

AND Overall, this is worth a buy, if you don’t have it, get it. If you do have it, play it. If you don’t have it because you have a PS3, go get an Xbox 360, and then get this game. This is the God of War 3 of the Xbox 360. Screw Halo.

I believe overall this game deserves a 9 out of 10.

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This article was written by Michael Young