It’s been a while since my last video game review so now it’s the perfect time to review Alan Wake for the Xbox 360.

Keeping it short, Alan Wake is a third-person psychological action thriller. You take control of a famous thriller writer named Alan Wake as he tries to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of his wife who went missing while on their vacation in a small town named Bright Falls. But that’s not going to be a walk in the park because some kind of dark force has awakened in Bright Falls and starts to cause havoc. This dark force is somehow linked to Alan and his “unwritten latest novel”.

Plot
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
When I started to play Alan Wake, the plot immediately sucked me right in and every time I played, I wanted to learn more about all the mysteries that surrounded the dark force and the disappearance of Alan’s wife Alice. The game starts off with no explanation at all and as you progress further in the game, all the mysteries will start to unfold before your eyes. Granted, there were some things that I didn’t quite understand and especially the ending (which I won’t spoil) left me confused.

I’m sure that some of my questions would be answered if I would have found all the transcripts that are scattered all around Bright Falls as they give out all sorts of info and explain things about the plot.

Gameplay
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
As stated, the game is played in third-person mode. You take control of Alan Wake as he investigates all these strange events and fights off with people and objects that have been possessed by the dark force. The game is mostly linear, telling you to go from point A to point B, but that doesn’t stop you from investigating the surroundings, which is often needed if you want to find all the transcripts and collectibles. You can also interact with other people who can give you some hints.

When combat kicks in, the most important weapon that you need is light. With things like flashlights and flares, you can make your enemies back away and shatter the darkness that shields them from harm. When the shield is shattered, you can kill your enemies with various guns that you pick up while on your journey. So the combat mostly consists of pointing light at your enemies, shooting them and dodging their attacks. The combat is nice and fun, but sometimes the dodge move can get on your nerves because you can’t dodge while moving, you have to be completely still. That may be nitpicking, but even in normal mode, one weak enemy can pretty much hack and slash 50% of your health away if your dodge move fails.

Graphics
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Alan Wake’s graphics are extremely well-done, especially all the landscapes. With high graphics, it’s also vital for the game to run smoothly. I don’t recall ever having any problems with low fps while playing, even when all sorts of crap was happening on the screen. I especially loved the moments when you were in a dark forest and it was windy and foggy, it really fits the creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately I have to take some points away from the awful lip syncing. Sometimes the characters look like muppets when they are talking.

Sound
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Alan Wake delivers when it comes to sound effects and voice acting. Especially the voice acting is well-done, I don’t recall ever cringing from badly delivered lines. The music might not be quite as memorable, but it gets the job done.

Last Words
Alan Wake is an exceptionally good when it comes to plot and quality. Although the game could use some little tweaking here and there, it’s still a game that should not be ignored and forgotten. The game is a horror game, but it’s not “Doom-3-zombie-jump-in-the-face-scary”, I would say that it’s more like “ooh-that’s-freaky” scary. There were only a few moments that made me jump just a little bit, but that’s all. I recommend Alan Wake to horror game fans and anyone who is looking for a game with a good plot.

Overall Rating: 4.13 out of 5 stars

+ Addicting plot
+ Great atmosphere and graphics
+ Good voiceacting
- Combat could use some tweaking
- Minor plot holes

Death is coming for you? Just kick the shit out of him!

About two weeks ago, the demo of Dante’s Inferno became available to download for Xbox 360. When I saw the first trailer of Dante’s Inferno, the game immediately got my attention. So how does the demo stand out for me? Let’s find out!

The demo supposedly starts from the very beginning of the game when Dante is fighting in the city of Acre. Dante is almost immediately killed by an assassin and that’s when Death himself appears before him and tells Dante that he has been sentenced to eternal damnation! But Dante yells “Screw that!” and starts to fight him. The fight itself is pretty easy, you just dodge and shield yourself from Death’s attacks and hack him to bits. Dante then steals his scythe and kills him (Can you really kill Death?).

Dante then returns to his home, only to find that his lover Beatrice has been murdered. Beatrice is then dragged to hell and Dante begins his journey to save Beatrice.

Hack and slash your way through hordes of enemies!

The gameplay consists of you controlling Dante as he hacks and slash his way through hordes of enemies. Dante’s has two weapons: Death’s Scythe and a cross that he gets in the middle of the demo. Death’s Scythe can be used to deal powerful melee attacks and the cross is more like a ranged weapon that shoots out holy energy. I prefer to use the scythe because it pretty much destroys everyone around you. Near the end of the demo, you also get one magic spell which was some sort of powerful dash that knockbacks your enemies.

The game also has a “talent system”. As you kill enemies, you gain souls. You can use these souls to purchase different combo moves for your weapons. This purchase system seems quite nice as you get more powerful moves, but there seems to be some combo moves that require you to do some different button combinations.  Different button combination moves are not my thing, I just prefer to hack and slash my way through enemies.

Purchase powerful moves with souls!

The demo itself mainly consists of fighting with little platforming thrown into it, which seemed fluent enough. By the way, if you like quick time events, you will find plenty of it in Dante’s Inferno. Finishing moves, surviving boss attacks, even regenerating health requires you to tap the B button! While Dante’s Inferno’s QTEs are not “RAAAAGE!” worthy, they do give me some mild annoyance.

As far as the graphics go, the cutscenes look beautiful, especially the smoke effects, and the game itself runs smoothly even though you might be surrounded by 20 enemies and you are spamming large combo moves that fill the screen with blinding white light.

Overall, I did enjoy hacking and slashing my way through hordes and hordes of Hell’s minions and I really liked the vehicle part during the near end of the demo when you gain control of one of the gigantic beasts that the demons ride upon. I really hope that there are some awesome vehicle parts in the full version of the game.

Roar!

I am probably going to buy this game when it comes out as it really kept me interested. If you like 3rd person hack and slash games, such as God of War, then I do recommend this game for you.

Dante’s Inferno is scheduled to be released for both Xbox 360 and PS3 on February 9th in North America and February 12th in Europe.

Comments from Gilgalad

Command your minions!

I’m a big fan of the first Overlord game. I love the humor, playstyle and art form of it so I’m quite excited of the next adventure.

I have just finished the demo of Overlord 2 and I have to say it looks amazing. Gameplay seemed to be untouched but why fix something that’s not broken. There were few minor details changed for the better, like minions not running straight into the water and dying.

Only new thing I noticed was the mounts for minions. Mounts look really nice but the demo didn’t show anything special that you can use em for, they didnt add any damage for the minions but I think the mounts added minions health.

The demo only showed the mounts as a new thing but I am excited for the siege weapons and new minion abilities that are in the full game.

Comments from Mike (Noob perspective)

Seals! Yuck!

I have never actually played the first Overlord game, I have only seen glimpses of Gilgalad playing it, but I do know the basics of the game.

My first impressions when playing this demo is that even a newbie like me can get the hang of this game pretty fast. The demo gives you all the required info for you to get started. I tested both Xbox360 and PC demo and if you ask me, both of them were equally good in gameplay and controls.

The demo was short so that’s all I can say for now. I might get interested enough to try this game.

The demo is currently available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The PC demo can be downloaded from here.

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