What are you currently playing? 4.0

[Foggle]

I like it more than 1, which has some great story stuff but not much in terms of straight-up gameplay, but yeah, it's nothing compared to 2-5 IMO. I do like how the Dark Presence tosses boats at you, though.

Oh yeah, the driving controls are surprisingly not shit. Makes me wish Remedy hadn't completely scrapped the open-world concept.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I like it more than 1, which has some great story stuff but not much in terms of straight-up gameplay, but yeah, it's nothing compared to 2-5 IMO. I do like how the Dark Presence tosses boats at you, though.

Oh yeah, the driving controls are surprisingly not shit. Makes me wish Remedy hadn't completely scrapped the open-world concept.

Remedy X SWERY

Deadly Wake. 

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Remedy X SWERY

Deadly Wake. 

IF ONLY.

They should partner up for Deadly Premonition 2.

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Finished Episode 6. When I stopped playing last night, I was literally 3 minutes away from beating it.

I still have to play The Signal and The Writer, but since those were originally released as DLC, I suppose it's cool for me to go ahead and give my opinion on the game. Alan Wake has the best story, dialogue, and characterization I have ever seen in a video game. The cliffhanger ending is more tantalizing than angering, which is definitely a rare occurrence. The atmosphere is brilliant while the setpieces are creative and easily the best I've encountered (the rock concert stage part in particular). The manuscripts, radio shows, and Night Springs episodes were all great and promoted exploration well.

The gameplay isn't my favorite, though. The core shooting mechanics are fine, but the cinematic dodge is too hard to pull off (with a keyboard, anyway) and some of the enemies just aren't any fun to fight (the super speed guys and possessed objects come to mind). Also, in terms of character control it's definitely a step below Max Payne, IMO. That said, it's still pretty fun, but I don't think it's as good as MP or Vanquish. Of course, this means that AW still makes it into my top 5 TPS games. I'd give it a 9/10.

Side note: The product placement in this game is a bit annoying. I actually got an achievement for watching a Verizon commercial at one point...

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Maybe the product placement is only in the PC version, because I honestly don't remember it in the XBOX360 version of the game, unless I'm just that oblivious to stuff like that.

Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the game. I have yet to play Vanquish, but to me Alan Wake is one of the best TPS games I have ever played, right behind MP and RE4.

[Foggle]

Maybe the product placement is only in the PC version, because I honestly don't remember it in the XBOX360 version of the game, unless I'm just that oblivious to stuff like that.

Most of the product placement is actually cool, like how your flashlight batteries are made by Energizer. The Verizon commercial can be seen on a TV in Hartman's lodge during your escape, and it completely kills the mood IMO. It's easily missable, but you actually get an achievement for watching it (and if you're like me, you'll sit through the entire ad in hopes that there'll be a Night Springs episode after it). It's definitely in both versions of the game; I just confirmed that by watching a video recorded from the Xbox release.

Anyways, I'm glad you enjoyed the game. I have yet to play Vanquish, but to me Alan Wake is one of the best TPS games I have ever played, right behind MP and RE4.

Yeah, my favorite TPS list is probably this now:

Max Payne
Vanquish
Max Payne 2
Resident Evil 4
Alan Wake

AW is a great game, one of the best this generation. If every "movie game" was like this, I'd love movie games. David Cage and Quantic Dream need to go back to fucking pre-school; they can't even touch Remedy.

[Foggle]

Okay, I beat The Signal. I quite liked the idea behind it, but only the first and last five minutes really did anything with it; those bits were amazing, though. This Episode was actually pretty creative, and I wanted to like it, but I couldn't. As a whole, it was way too fucking hard. Honestly, at times it felt kinda' unfair with all the enemies it throws at you. Not really fun at all.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It was definitely the most creative episode (like with that bit where you shined the light on the gas pipes to open the valves and ignite any Taken standing next to them), but the episode as a whole was just not fun to play through. It used too many cheap encounters in which you were both swarmed by Taken in addition to having to deal with those possessed objects, and it just got to the point where I dreaded every upcoming encounter, and it felt like there were too many enemy encounters that happened far too frequently. Its easily my least favorite episode out of all of the ones that I played through.

[gunswordfist]

I didn't even know Alan Wake was a TPS. I saw him with a gun in like one CG trailer..or commercial and paid it no attention. I thought he just used a flashlight. My knowledge of the game clearly sucks.

[Foggle]

It was definitely the most creative episode (like with that bit where you shined the light on the gas pipes to open the valves and ignite any Taken standing next to them), but the episode as a whole was just not fun to play through. It used too many cheap encounters in which you were both swarmed by Taken in addition to having to deal with those possessed objects, and it just got to the point where I dreaded every upcoming encounter, and it felt like there were too many enemy encounters that happened far too frequently. Its easily my least favorite episode out of all of the ones that I played through.

There's actually an achievement for beating it without dying or loading, too. How the hell is that even possible?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That at least seems more realistic than getting that same type of achievement for Halo Anniversary on The Library (ON LEGENDARY!). At least with Alan Wake its all scripted for the most part, so you can come up with strategies to avoid obstacles and get past the Taken as quickly as possible while taking the minimal amount of damage.

[Foggle]

that same type of achievement for Halo Anniversary on The Library (ON LEGENDARY!)

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Just beat The Writer.

HOLY SHIT! That was awesome! Easily my second favorite Episode after #4. Imagine if all the creativity and mindfuck from The Signal was properly integrated into what made the original campaign awesome in the first place, tone down the difficulty, then add in some of the game's best story moments and setpieces as well as a great boss encounter, and you have an amazing DLC pack. If you like Alan Wake, you'll love The Writer.

Seriously E-K, download this as soon as possible.

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I'm playing American Nightmare now. I'm unsure about it so far... Mr. Scratch is hilarious/awesome and the combat has been greatly improved from the original game, but it's really lacking that Alan Wake magic right now. The storytelling isn't very strong and the atmosphere is almost nonexistent for the time being; game isn't sucking me in at all. Hope it improves later.

[Foggle]

Alright, I finished American Nightmare. Overall, it was great, but it doesn't pick up until about an hour in. While it lacks the atmosphere and memorable characters of the original (aside from Alan and Scratch, who are amazing), it's still an excellent experience and easily worth the asking price. On that note, Mr. Scratch is easily my favorite video game antagonist of all time. He's suave as hell, but also seriously creepy. His videos are darkly humorous at first, but become somewhat disturbing near the end of the story.