Alan Wake Review

I thought I would take a break from my normal movie reviews and write a review for an Xbox 360 exclusive title that I recently played, Alan Wake. The game is developed by Remedy Entertainment who also developed the previous two Max Payne games and is published by Microsoft Game Studios, released in the UK on May 14th 2010. The game is a "psychological action thriller" revolving around a struggling famous writer Alan Wake. Wake is the games protagonist and after two years of writing nothing he and his wife Alice head to a small town called Bright Falls for a quiet vacation and an attempt for Wake to start writing again. Upon arriving two weeks before the towns big annual festival "Deerfest" Wake and his wife pick up the keys to a cabin that they believe to be theirs out on Cauldron Lake. After this the fun begins as Alice vanishes inside the cabin and Wake loses a week of his memory and attempts to find her. On his journey he sees things and meets people from the new book he has not written yet, a book entitled "Departure" the dark forces from Wake's new book are coming to life and begin attacking him and the town.
"It's not a lake… It's an ocean" Alan Wake.

First off I need to say that this is a very good game indeed, the story is great and it boasts a fairly original plot which nowadays is hard to find in anything. The game itself is quite short and took me around four days to finish as I played in three hour intervals each day.

Wake is quite a likeable protagonist and he meets a wealth of interesting characters along the way including two aging old rock stars from the 70s Tor and Odin who were legends in the day with their band Old Gods of Asgard. The game also boasts rather an interesting soundtrack and it's how i became aware of Finnish rock band Poets of the Fall.

The premise is simple and you must fight the townspeople who become possessed by the Dark Presence which turns them into things called Taken. The Taken are still normal humans but the darkness makes them stronger and a lot faster, they come at you thick and incredibly fast and the idea is to obviously fight them with the power of light so a torch becomes your new best friend. I often found it quite an exhilarating experience running like hell from these things and just praying that a generator of work light would be just around the corner to give me a moment to breathe and it got to a point at one stage where I myself simply dreaded the prospect of walking into the dark. The fun does not end there though, the darkness also possesses the towns crow population and several malevolent forces are called forth and begin to possess objects. So not only are you running from four Taken but also you find yourself running from and dodging a possessed fridge or later on a possessed combine harvester!

The story is split into six chapters and each chapter is made up of smaller episodes and again each episode gives you various objectives, most of which are simple and you won't get lost. I did begin rather early on to become bored of the games desire to make you go somewhere out of the way only to have you backtrack through the dark woods and then go back to where you started! That was rather annoying as it means you have to fight who knows what quite a bit and nine times out of ten the thing you were working towards only to leave and go back really is not worth the hassle. Chapter four is possibly the best one, it features a fight to stay sane in Dr. Hartman's lodge while being attacked by a malevolent presence and an amazing stand off where you and your agent Barry hold off a huge number of Taken and it all takes place on the Anderson farm (Tor and Odin) in their field where they have a massive rock stage and the battle takes place there and it's really just an awesome sight to behold.There were a lot of cut scenes and dialogue and I pretty much skipped it all as they quite simply went on forever. That's a bad thing for a game to chuck so much knowledge at you at frequent intervals only to have you sit there and press the skip button, as interesting as I found it all I just could not be bothered to sit through all of them.

The scenery of the game is quite beautiful and on the rare occasions when daylight is present you should definitely just stand and take it all in for a moment or two. Probably best done on the times in which you have to drive to a location, there are no threats during the daylight so get out of the car and have a wander. Speaking of the car, I didn't drive too much myself unless I really had to or unless it was night but the driving is a bit fiddly and poorly done. The control system is a little awkward and it took me a bit of time to adjust to it.

The game also has quite a cool combat style behind it, when you are outnumbered by Taken of other things if you manage to time it correctly you can dodge an incoming attack and time literally slows all around you allowing you to narrowly escape harm. Not an original way of doing things but it worked quite well, along with the combat system you are supposed to fight the Taken using light so you often find yourself running like a mad man trying to find a pack of lithium batteries or a street lamp referred to as a "Safe Haven". There is a limited range of weaponry available to you, you can upgrade your standard torch twice and you will also find four various firearms a revolver, a shotgun,a hunting rifle and the amazingly powerful flare gun… seriously it's awesome and you will also frequently stumble upon flares and later on flash bang grenades! Never did I think a flash bang could safe my life.




Aswell as the main story there are lots of little things to keep you busy too. There are radio's to turn on and listen to, TV''s to turn on and watch a rather interesting show called Night Springs which is of course an homage to The Twilight Zone. Also the game has 100 coffee thermoses and 100 pages of Wake's new manuscript scattered around the place and sometimes you will shine your torch on a wall or piece of scenery and hidden yellow arrows will point the way to a secret chest filled with goodies and sometimes you will see helpful hints or simply disturbing scribbles. Collecting all manuscript pages and thermoses unlock achievements as do listening to all radio broadcasts, turning on all TV's, finding and looting all hidden chests, reading various hidden signs that give an insight to the town's history and also finding randomly placed pyramids of tin cans which can be shot.

In true Xbox style the game has fifty achievements with a total score of 1000G up for grabs. Most achievements you will get by simply playing the game and most you will get without even trying but there are a few fun ones to be had. The game also features two DLC packages, the first of which will be available on July 27th and is called "The Signal".

In conclusion I found Alan Wake to be a pretty good game on the whole. The main driving story is original but as i said it gets a bit boring too fast and as you progress you just find yourself in your usual survival horror game so it's really nothing special. The Taken were good enemies, the characters fun, the soundtrack amazing, the parts where you drive a car are rather clumsy but necessary and I often found myself running into the pure darkness just to pick up a coffee thermos because I like to collect things. When you finally get to the end it is all explained, which was good for me as I skipped most of the videos so I often scratched my head and we are left with an interesting finale.

4/5

The Losers Review

Based on a DC Vertigo comic series of the same name and directed by Sylvain White. The film features a cool cast with Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen's The Comedian), Chris Evans (The Fantastic Four's Human Torch), Idirs Elba (BBC 1 drama Luther), Zoe Saldana (2009's Star Trek) and Jason Patric (The Lost Boys). The film sees the five main protagonists Clay, Roque, Jensen, Cougar and Pooch as soldiers set up by the villain Max. Things go wrong and The Losers are supposed to die in a helicopter explosion but they never get on board and innocent children are killed instead, seeking revenge for the deaths of the children and for being set up the team go off the grid and end up starting a war with the CIA while trying to find the identity of and bring down Max.
"So… you, uh, ladies liking the angle of the dangle?"-Jensen

First off I feel I mention that I have never read the comic at all so there will be comparison talk in my review. I'm not sure if my not reading it is a good or bad thing really.
The film has a fairly basic and hardly original plot where a group of soldiers are ordered to do something a bit questionable, refuse and are set up. They were "lucky" to a degree as a rather callous villain wanted them to do the mission and head to their evacuation point where they would be blown up. Instead they are not on board the chopper when it goes up but several little kids are and long story short they all die. The team decide to play dead too.

The team leader Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) decides to not take this lying down and so he attempts to rally the others to regain access to the U.S. and track down the nefarious Max (Jason Patric) whilst staying under the radar as they are supposed to be dead.
Basic plot aside the film really worked well for me. It had your usual comic book cheesy element but you would obviously expect that and luckily the film didn't take it too far. There was a lot of action which again is something you would want. neigh expect from such a movie. The cast was great, the characters were all fleshed out and played well and the direction and script were all top notch.

I really wasn't feeling Max as the bad guy though. He had your usual ridiculous diabolical scheme that I must admit I'd not seen before in a film and he even had a cliche deformity of some sort. A lot of comic book baddies might where a mask or have scars or something but Max wore a glove and when he eventually takes it off you see what it's been hiding. But I just thought Max was pretty lame! Yes he looked suave and sophisticated, he was smart, articulate, funny and incredibly ruthless in some scenes but he just didn't do it for me as a villain. Maybe that was the point? Not to have your usual evil monster as the antagonist, I don't know as I've not read it and I think Jason Patric really did the role no favour at all. He just seemed a bit out of place really and I think deep down he is the reason I just didn't buy Max.


The rest of the characters and cast were pretty good. I'm a big fan of Idris Elba and Jeffrey Dean Morgan and both guys were pretty cool. I didn't really care for Jensen (Chris Evans) he was your normal joker in the pack. The smart one who just continued to bumble his way through and make a lot of jokes that were more often then not completely unfunny. My love for him did grow though in the scene where he alone attempts to infiltrate a building and gain data. He enters posed as a courier and hilariously walks up to the elevator while singing Don't Stop Believing by Journey, that alone had me in hysterics and as he enters the lift he changes into some office attire and in true comedy fashion the lift happens to stop while he is inside…naked as onlookers gaze in awe. That entire scene was incredibly fun I thought.

It's a shame they didn't go into much detail with the sniper Cougar. I quite liked his character but we really didn't get a chance to see that much of him and that was a shame. Zoe Saldana's character was also a bit under used but that was a good thing I think, the revelation of who she really was is just one of those roll your eyes moments. The kind of thing you worked out a while back but didn't think too much of.

Without going into any spoilers the ending was pretty good. Fast, action packed and cheesy as hell. The effects were a touch shoddy in one particular scene but I let that slide. And the way they leave it hanging clearly means a sequel is on it's way in the near future.

All in all I say this is a very good film. Lots to take away with you I feel, if you like cheese, action, comedy and a wicked cast then The Losers is for you.

4/5

[REC 2] Review

In 2007 we were given an incredible new take on horror with Spanish film [REC]. These two films were both written by and directed by Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza. The first film revolves around a news reporter who tags along with a group of firemen and films what she witnesses. The group are called to an apartment building to investigate a disturbance only to find things are not quite what they seem. If you have seen this film you know the score. The sequel takes place directly after the events of [REC] and a small team of special force soldiers are sent in to investigate what went on, upon entering the building they are joined by an official from the Ministry of Health. They are told to record all that they see.


I was initially rather psyched to see this, the first was amazing and felt incredibly real and very claustrophobic. This sequel however twisted the original plot a little bit as at first we are led to believe it is your usual zombie flick. There's a virus, people get bitten and there's a lot of blood etc but after sometime it is revealed that the official from the Ministry of Health is in fact a priest sent by the Vatican to investigate the activity.


At the end of the first film we are told of a priest who kept a girl who was believed to be demonically possessed. The priest and the team are there on a mission to obtain a sample of the demonic blood from the original source the scary looking girl at the end of [REC]. If they can obtain a sample of this blood the priest believes a cure can be found.

It was still rather frightening, I myself don't get scared but this certainly had it's jumpy moments and these were in abundance. The speed at which the infected move was just like the pace in which most modern zombies move which is a terrifying prospect but it's hardly original.

I didn't really feel for any of the characters this time around. In the first film there was a fireman I quite liked so I felt a tiny bit more invested then I normally would and that is what you want in any film really, a character you feel connected with but this one really had none I cared about. As it went on we are shown the same story from the perspective of three incredibly irritating teens who are messing around on the buildings roof and are told to leave. Instead of leaving they think it would be fun to sneak in and follow a guy who lives there because he is a bit weird! They get more then they bargained for.

I quite liked the fact it all stemmed from a demonic possession and wasn't just your run of the mill military experiment gone wrong crap. The way the demon spoke through others was creepy and when it says there are things they cannot see because they are too evil was cool. The remaining group are later joined by a familiar face and work out that the use of the cameras night vision reveals new doors and paths that were invisible to the naked eye. And this causes a lot of running, shaky camera work and screaming.

All in all I did like it. It had all the chills and spills that a horror should have and it keeps the story alive by throwing a new underlying plot into the mix.

3/5