And the escape from the PoPo through the woods bit is one of the most cinematic levels I've played in games. No words of lies.

Bollockoff wrote:

and don't have pieces of a novel scattered around the levels for you to find.

H
The thing under the lake is using his writing to fabricate the entire plot and what's happening to Wake. You can interpret it as Wake subconsciously seeing the threads of his own work and "knowing" what's going to happen next. In terms of horror it was a great tool since it was a dread trouser filler. Reading that you're about to encounter a chainsaw maniac, then hearing a chainsaw rev up, was surprisingly scary.

My problem with this was that fair chunks were off the beaten path. It's bit like going to see an action film, and being told that if you want some more exposition you can hunt around for it in the foyer. Be an action game!!

I wonder if they'll be tempted to fluff up the story mode.

There were a lot of people disappointed at the lack of a proper campaign. They'll probably have figures on how many sales that cost them vs how much it'd cost to make one.

CoD seemed to have a good thing going. The campaign was just a bunch of MP maps laid end to end with ex EastEnders actors shouting at you. I remember being blown away with the level of detail in areas that I blasted thru in 10 minutes. All the line of sight work seemed overkill until I played MP and it all made sense.

Bollockoff wrote:

and don't have pieces of a novel scattered around the levels for you to find.

The thing under the lake is using his writing to fabricate the entire plot and what's happening to Wake. You can interpret it as Wake subconsciously seeing the threads of his own work and "knowing" what's going to happen next. In terms of horror it was a great tool since it was a dread trouser filler. Reading that you're about to encounter a chainsaw maniac, then hearing a chainsaw rev up, was surprisingly scary.

And of course LAKE rhymes with WAKE such an obvious giveaway so clever plot.

And WAKE's adventure is like a ripple or a WAKE going across the surface of a body of water like a LAKE and #euphoriacrywank

I've got a mate called that but he spells it with a W.

And it means new. HE'S THE NEW ONE OMG. For an action movie though it's good. Like Vanquish having a story based on Candide while slowmo rocket sliding under a giant robot spider's legs and shooting it in the balls. It's the best possible shooter.

IanHamlett wrote:

It's the best possible shooter.

Even better than Gears.

Bollockoff wrote:

IanHamlett wrote:

It's the best possible shooter.

Even better than Gears.

That was a Candide reference but there's also a good chance it's true.

I wonder if Namco are going to cash in on inventing the cover shooter and reboot Killswitch.

There was so much growing room. It's not like Advance Wars where any sequel would be like drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa. A boost jump could've been added to the rocket slide without breaking anything and added a boatload of possibilities to combat and level design. Coop could've been Full Spectrum Rocket Pants Warrior. Online could've been like Burnout Paradise challenges but with guns.

That's the end of this year.

You're right, it could be, I'll add it to OP. I hadn't put the interesting looking destructible house game together with the name Rainbow 6.

Vela wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

Like a sixth former overreaching themselves in an attempt at gravitas.

You could be describing 90% of all games' stories with that line.

Agreed.  Most game plots would get laughed out of sixth form lessons, at least Alan Wake would get a grade.  As fan service to the kind of page turners that never set the world alight in the first place, I thought it worked. Plus: Roy Orbison.

Moot_Geeza wrote:

Vela wrote:

Yossarian wrote:

Like a sixth former overreaching themselves in an attempt at gravitas.

You could be describing 90% of all games' stories with that line.

Agreed.  Most game plots would get laughed out of sixth form lessons, at least Alan Wake would get a grade.  As fan service to the kind of page turners that never set the world alight in the first place, I thought it worked. Plus: Roy Orbison.

I'm not too qualified to comment on Alan Wake's story since I didnt finish it. It seemed alright though from what little I played.

Personally I like the stories that are implied rather than told. There is a history in a game world itself when it forms a reason for the quest. Something like the vast emptiness of Shadow of The Colossus plains; or the layered textures and emergence within Rez. Or even just the atmosphere in the (now quaint in size) world of Ocarina.

When a game goes into heavy exposition (Metal Gear Solid 4 post Act 3, Halo 2 and the Gravemind) it really loses any sense of potential about what the world is/was/could be, and instead becomes an exercise in which non-sequitur story threads the writers have attempted to poorly tie up nice and neat.

I don't know about anyone else, but I felt distinctly dirty and let down after revelations about how Big Boss never died/nanomachines did everything/David Bowie Major Tom was the villain in a wheelchair. The more you learn about a game the less mystery remains and that almost invariably leads to disappointment. The same goes for Halo. Midway through Halo 2, it wasn't any longer about some immensely ancient death arrays in a failed military tactic from a mysterious long-gone alien race; it was instead about a religious insurrection and power plays from deluded antagonists who really should know better. No subtlety.

There was a better story in Mario Galaxy ffs and that was just riffing off The Little Prince.