Man, I played this game several times over the last 15 years or whatever it's been. I originally had it for the original XBOX, but my original XBOX died a long time ago so all my XBOX games just sit in a binder in my closet forever. At some point this game became some kind of weird thing that no one cared about and they decided to just give it away online so everyone was downloading it for free. Not long after that WB said "Uh, no we want ya'll to pay for that" and the game was no longer free (to be clear WB was giving it away for free and then changed their mind- the business behind what happened there was always unclear). Then, a few years ago, I bought this and the sequel on EBAY for the PC because... Why not. I really wanted to play this again and I never played the follow up. This game starts off as a really great action survival horror like game (it's not completely survival horror as I would consider this to arm you a little more than those would but this definitely owes it's inspiration to those games) and becomes a lot of action by the end of the game. This isn't really bad, although I do remember not completely caring for the change in tone. Overall, though, it's a fun game to play. It has an interesting morality system, and the guns feel good to shoot. The story is really weird, and unfortunately it doesn't completely pay off at the end, but overall it's worth checking out if you never have since you can get it so cheap here on GOG now (and I should point out, this is currently now the only digital place to get this as it has never been released on Steam).
I understand the disappointment fans must have felt at the time this game came out. The game still has all the traits of a Zork game (goofy names and all) but tries really hard to tell a completely serious story. A story that is often in contrast to the world of Zork. So this does come out very confusing when you hear goofy names, spells, and just outright goofy moments in this world full of grisly murders, conspiracy, and slightly Romeo and Juliet undertones. The story in this is ok. It's not the best Zork story (for which, my personal favorite is Inquisition), but it's still fun. It's very much trying to be like Myst for some reason. I don't know why, really. It clearly has a bigger budget, a more interesting world they already built upon previously (with Return to Zork- not to mention the text adventures previously to all the FMV). For whatever reason, though, in the FMV world Myst was what everyone wanted to be, since it was such a phenom at the time, so I guess they had to try. It's unfortunate that the storyu comes out so confused, but I think the game is still worth checkinhg out. I'd say the puzzles are much more complicated in this one, but still solvable if you explore everything. Zork was always good about that. I'd also say the game still holds up fairly well. Again for what it is. It is a disappointing Zork game, but as an FMV adventure game it's pretty good as one of those.
This is not a great game, especially as a follow up to Max Payne 2. In fact it's down right disappointing, especially understanding when it came out. It had been in development for a very long time, with bold claims of "open world", a new darkness system, the dodge you do as Alan to avoid attacks, and "amazing weather effects like you've never seen in games before." It would not go on to live up to many of it's promises, or again as a very good follow up to Max Payne (one of the greatest game series in the late 90s and early 2000s). The story is pretty good (as per usual), and really my biggest complaint is how on the nose it's inspirations are. Many cite "In the mouth of madness" (a fun, and often overlooked John Carpenter film), and this may be apt despite it trying to be more like Stephen King in tone (who had a similar story, Secret Window, but that is much different overall than Alan Wake). I think if they had looked at IT more closely they actually would have found something similar to what they seem to be going for here- at least with the ending of the main game which is... quite awful. Indeed it's arguably the worst part of the game next to the sections that were clearly cut down open world and instead turned into momentary driving sequences that aren't particularly fun- and strangely reminiscent of Deadly Premonition which came out the same year. Interestingly there are a lot of similarities to Deadly Premonition with Alan Wake, but despite Deadly Premonition being of lower quality there is a lot more charm to Deadly Premonition while Alan Wake soaks in it's earnestness in a way that makes it drag at times, and makes some characters unbelievable. To top it off Alan Wake isn't scary. The weather effects in the game are not especially well implemented, being mostly limited to a tornado. The darkness mechanic is irritating, and the combat isn't fun. I have many more problems with Alan Wake, and no space to write it. Suffice to say it's "ok, but not great."
I've played this game about once a year every year since it came out. Still holds up incredibly well, and it's possible the simplicity is a big part of that. It's also probably just the best thing Tim Schafer has ever written. If you haven't played this by now you are missing one of the greatest adventure games ever made. The problem with a lot of Adventure games (even more so now than ever) is they try to do too much. This game understands how important a good story is, how important the puzzles need to be logical (even if silly) but still simple enough. The main problems have always been the same. The combat is bad. The thing is (and they've not removed it from this version) you can skip all of it (on the part when you have to run mine road, whenever the fight starts just hit shift+v- your welcome kids) if you want to so in my opinion that argument is invalid. I always liked that part, but in part this is due to (at the time) my misunderstanding that this wasn't actually an action game (like I thought it was- I was a kid then haha.) Another down side (always has been) is the frustrating demolition derby scene. It's tedious, but when you know the actual answer to that puzzle it's fine- you can finish it in 30 seconds. You just gotta get through it. All in all I love this game. This isn't my favorite game of all time overall, but it is my favorite Adventure game of all time. It is the best, and no Adventure game is better. Period. All love and remembrance to Roy Conrad.
I remember playing this for the first time on Gametap in like... 2006 or so. It seemed like a generic title at the time so getting to play it for "free" (with subscription) was fine with me. It turned out this game was pretty good, but I never finished it at the time. Now, getting to play it again, it's still pretty good. The maps are pretty generic, but the story is alright for a video game (it drives the gameplay forward) and the missions are fine. The shooting feels good, and there's a number of weapons to use (each witheir use case so there's a reason to use them). All in all I think this game still holds up and is still fun to play. The low price on GOG means there's little reason not to check this out.
Someone bought this for me on Steam so I played it there. Anyway, I've been blown anyway by this game. FWH has always made interesting world designs, decent combat mechanics, but little else. For example in Hard Reset the story was bad, and the first Shadow Warrior gets tedious around the middle. They have upped the ante this time. The things they added to the combat alone feel great. It especially feels good the way you can move around the field in combat with evasion into a double jump into sword slashes. I vaguely remember RPG like mechanics in the first game, but I found the first game forgettable so I can't recall completely. In this it's front and center and totally works.You start with a few cards which you upgrade by leveling up (by finishing missions and killing stuff), but you can find more as drops or buy some at shops. There are tons of skills to level up, and there seems to be no end to skills you'd want. It adds to replayability as it would take a while to level all of them up. The enemy system is similar to Diablo in that it's procedurally generated. You may find a sub boss (or three) in every level, and they have various vulnerabilities and resistances. The regular enemies can as well. The maps themselves don't seem randomly generated, but where you can start in them is so it gives it a little flair. I could be wrong- the maps themselves didn't seem random in my game. There are a decent amount of maps in the game which is good as often you do missions in maps you've been to before. For me this game is fantastic. If I have one downside, though, it's very minor. The "crafting" system is completely meaningless, and only seems to be in the game in order to have another way to get rid of upgrades you don't want. I personally sell all of mine. Overall this may be the best game I've played this year, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. If you like games like Fallout 4 and the new Doom, imagine mixing those two things together and then buy this game.
