Watcha been playin'?

Yeah, what have I been playing lately? Apart from a serious amount of online hours in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, I know you're tired of me saying how awesome it is, I've gone retro with the Xbox 360 port of the first Call of Duty and been jump scared multiple times in Alan Wake.

Let's take a look at them both!



Review

Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2009
Original release: 2003 (PC)

Calling the first Call of Duty "retro" is perhaps pushing it, it’s only been around since 2003, but I felt like playing through the sheer awesomeness of it again! I got received a download code of the game alongside my Hardened Edition of Modern Warfare 2 last year and it’s been lying on my 360 hard drive unused since.

A couple of weekends ago I decided to play it, or replay I should say. You see, I played through the original on PC back in the day, including its add-on United Offensive, seven years ago. So yes, I know how good this shooter was, and after playing through it again, still is.



Back in 2003, Call of Duty followed in the footsteps of the Medal of Honor series, and together these series are to “blame” for the masses of WW2 that followed the craze. However, the COD and MoH franchise were always the best at the WW2 sub-genre of shooters and what COD did differently from MOH was to make the variation of missions better.

The first COD started the tradition in the series of playing for different allied countries in WW2. Switching between taking part in scenarios and famous battles during the US, British and Russian campaigns of WW2.

The game changed the WW2 shooter formula up by offering larger scale to it's missions, depicting such massive battles like Stalingrad and other historic events. By today’s standards the game has aged but the controls and gameplay are still solid fun. The lack of physics and the amount of scripted scenes seem a little out of place, but they don’t make the experience bad.



The playthrough has been a nice trip down memory lane and there are some very memorable moments, the dam-busting comes to mind. That said, the port runs at a locked 30fps, losing some of that responsiveness and smoothness we're used to in COD titles by now.

Would I recommend this specific version for players, seven years on? It's still good to play, and if you can accept older graphics, you should give it a try. But I'd recommend to stick to the PC version, where you can pick up the add-on United Offensive too, it’s a great addition!




Review

Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2010

Over to Alan Wake! It’s been seven years since we got a game from the Finnish developers Remedy, Max Payne 2 in 2003 being the last one. Has the wait been worth it? Oh, hell yes!

It all begins with the nightmare of the main character, Alan Wake, who is a famous writer. The nightmare serves as a tutorial level for the game and after you wake up the story is introduced and the main game begins. Right from the beginning the torch light controls and heavy gunplay appeal.

The gameplay might seem simple, and a little stiff, yet it delivers some very clear originality and unique challenges further into the game. Once the controls are mastered, you really begin appreciating them.

Alan Wake is centred around the darkness that takes over the world at night and it makes you use light to take down the enemies in combination with standard weapons. You'll need to remove the darkness from the enemies, then shoot them. A ballad of dark and light, from gameplay to story.



This combat gives it a strategic touch, placing the player in some hectic moments being attacked by several enemies, but far from the safe haven of light. You'll build skills in dodging enemies, finding out how to attack and take the down, but it will take some training. Other times, simply running towards a light source can be the best option.

What grabs you into the game is the fascinating story and the natural environments which serve as a great scenery for the creepy story to take place in. It’s the combination of a well written and captivating story, and the scary dark world with a strong  sense of loneliness which intrigues the player to continue playing.

It’s one of those titles you simply can't put down and keep on playing to the end. I almost played it in one continuous playthrough. However, if you want to take a break, it does an excellent job of giving you a short explanation video of what has happened previously to remind you!



I’m fascinated by the fantastic environments, how the woodlands look so natural and the feeling of loneliness is so well presented to the player. The dark presence, the swaying of tall pine trees and homely, but remote mountain, cottage locations. I would've preferred a larger, perhaps open world style, but they do a fantastic job of giving you a sense of freedom.

Some smaller complaints is the limited variation in enemy types. They could've varied it more to give the fights new approaches and strategies and while the voice acting is fantastic, the lip sync needs an overhaul.

This is one of those titles that captivates throughout, where the story, gameplay and environments all go together perfectly. Just like Bioshock or Silent Hill, it’s a scary and atmospheric singleplayer experience that you simply shouldn’t miss out on. Alan Wake is, in other words, an excellent and unique horror title!


Update: If you want to play Alan Wake on more modern hardware, check out my revisit to this classic here!


Well, I’m off to play more of Final Fantasy 13, Bad Company 2 and my second run of Alan Wake!