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!
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.
Over to Alan Wake! 2003 comes back as a year to remember here too! It’s the year Max Payne 2 came out, it’s been seven years since we got a game from the Finnish developers Remedy. Has the wait been worth it? Oh, hell yes!
The game starts 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 control system and the heavy feeling of the shooting quickly grow on you. The gameplay in AW is actually quite simple, yet fairly original.
This is one of those games that really amazes you throughout, it’s one of those games 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 game!
Update: If you want to play Alan Wake on more modern hardware, check out my revisit to this classic here!
Review
Played on: Xbox 360
Released: 2009
Originally released: 2003 (PC)
Released: 2009
Originally released: 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.
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.
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
Released: 2010
The game starts 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 control system and the heavy feeling of the shooting quickly grow on you. The gameplay in AW is actually quite simple, yet fairly original.
The game 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 will need to remove the darkness from the enemies, then shoot them.
This combat gives the game a strategic feel, and puts you in some hectic moments when you are attacked by several enemies far from any safe places where light is present. You will after a while become very good at dodging enemies and finding out how to attack and stop them, but it will take some training.
What really grabs you in AW 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 really well written and fascinating story and the scary dark world and sense of being totally alone that really makes you want to simply continue playing and playing the game.
This combat gives the game a strategic feel, and puts you in some hectic moments when you are attacked by several enemies far from any safe places where light is present. You will after a while become very good at dodging enemies and finding out how to attack and stop them, but it will take some training.
What really grabs you in AW 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 really well written and fascinating story and the scary dark world and sense of being totally alone that really makes you want to simply continue playing and playing the game.
It’s one of those games that you simply have to keep on playing after it’s started. I almost played the game in one long playthrough. However if you want to take a pause the game does an excellent job of giving you a short video of what happened previously in the game 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. I would have liked even more freedom in them actually, but they do a fantastic job of giving you the sense of freedom. Other small complaints are the little amounts of enemy types. They could have varied it more to give the fights new approaches and strategies and while the voice acting is fantastic, the lip sync also needs an overhaul.
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. I would have liked even more freedom in them actually, but they do a fantastic job of giving you the sense of freedom. Other small complaints are the little amounts of enemy types. They could have varied it more to give the fights new approaches and strategies and while the voice acting is fantastic, the lip sync also needs an overhaul.
This is one of those games that really amazes you throughout, it’s one of those games 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 game!
Well, I’m off to play more of Final Fantasy 13, Bad Company 2 and my second run of Alan Wake!