October Modern Playthrough - Alan Wake

[Fleach]

Part action game, part psychological thriller, Alan Wake® is a pulse-pounding thrill ride. When the wife of the best-selling writer Alan Wake disappears on their vacation, his search turns up pages from a thriller he doesn’t even remember writing. A dark presence stalks the small town of Bright Falls, pushing Wake to the brink of sanity in his fight to unravel the mystery and save his love.

Platforms
XBox 360
PC

Checkpoints
Week 1 - Complete Episodes 1 & 2
Week 2 - Complete Episodes 3 & 4
Week 3 - Complete Episodes 5 & 6
Week 4 - Complete DLC Special Episodes 1 & 2 *Optional*

Participants
Bombatomba
Disposed Hero
Fleach

Cool Stuff
This House of Dreams Blog entries about a sequel we never got.
Sam Lake teases the heck out of us

[Disposed Hero]

I was planning on playing this soon anyway, so go ahead and sign me up.

[wildbil52]

It's a busy month but I'm gonna try my best to join in

[techwizard]

this game is great on so many levels, unless SotN goes really fast i don't expect to join in as i've beaten it before but i highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't played before.

[Fleach]

The game's very good and fairly short. You can beat it in a week or less. There are six chapters in the game which take 1-3 hours each to complete.

[bombatomba]

I'm in.  This month was kind of a toss-up as to which game, but in the end I really want to play something a bit more horror-themed.  I will definitely be rocking this one on PC, as I've never played it all the way through on that platform. 

[Fleach]

It's October 1st! Head on down to Bright Falls and enjoy your stay.

[wildbil52]

Excellent!  What is the checkpoint for the week?

[Disposed Hero]

I got started on this last night and played through Episode 1.  It's been years since I've played this game.  I remember practically nothing from my previous playthrough, so this feels like a fresh experience for me.

[Disposed Hero]

Finished Episode 2 yesterday.  I felt like the combat in Episode 1 was way too easy, so I was pleasantly surprised that the difficulty ramps up a bit in Episode 2.

The story is very interesting.  I've played this game before, but I don't remember how the story ends or the explanation for what's going on, so I'm looking forward to unraveling this mystery again.

[Fleach]

The difficulty steady ramps up as the game progresses. There's a section of the game towards the end that can be quite frustrating but I won't spoil anything for those who are playing.

I finally had a chance to play the game today and I managed to get through the first two episodes in about an hour and a half. This time around I picked up a lot of things I never noticed during my initial runs with the game. I love the dark atmosphere in this game and the day time scenes have this juxtaposition of peaceful settings with ominous things happening in the background.

[Fleach]

I've updating the main post with new checkpoints. I hope everyone is having fun with the game.

[Disposed Hero]

The difficulty steady ramps up as the game progresses.

I just finished Episode 3, and I can definitely feel the difficulty ramping up.  I hit a couple of frustrating points in the episode, but nothing too bad.  I thought the

Spoiler (hover to show)

bulldozer

fight was going to be impossible after my first few attempts, but I eventually figured out an effective strategy for taking it out.

[Fleach]

I really dislike that boss fight. I'll fight any of those fast Takens but the poltergeists are so annoying.

[Disposed Hero]

Regarding the boss fight, I found that if you

Spoiler (hover to show)

hide in a corner, the width of the blade at the front of the bulldozer will cause it to hit a wall before it hits you, so most of the time you won't take any damage.  Just shine your flashlight and/or drop a flare when it gets close.

The poltergeists are kinda funny.  The physics in the game often cause them to flip around all over place.  I'm sure you know this, but hiding behind objects and shining the light on them after they land is usually the best way to take them out (short of wasting flashbangs on them).