ALAN WAKE (XBOX 360 X360)

Alan Wake is an intense cinematic action game with strong survival horror elements, told in successive episodes. The player controls the actions of the eponymous Alan Wake, a popular crime writer trying to escape the pressure of creative expectations in a fictional town called Bright Falls. Soon however, Alan's wife disappears and he will be faced with strange occurrences forcing him to pick up a gun and a flashlight. As Alan tries to uncover the mystery he's just been drawn into, the story is told in six episodes, each ending with a title screen and beginning with a recap of recent events - just like a TV episode.

The key element of the game is light. During the game's daylight passes, Alan explores and learns about Bright Falls with its city life and woods, including an in-game radio station and various TV channels. The dramatic and action-oriented elements of the game begin at nightfall. People and animals in the game transform into the most harmful beings at night. They are swallowed up by a darkness that transforms them. Called Taken, they are extremely vulnerable when exposed to light and that is how they should be fought. Alan's main survival tools are a gun and a flashlight. Throughout the game, the two tools vary, and Alan will find better weapons and more powerful flashlights. Flashlights require batteries and these can run out, especially when it focuses light into a stronger beam to clear the dark influence surrounding people and creatures faster. Enemies can only be slain after the veil of darkness surrounding them has been removed by light.