E3 2005: Company Remedy, best known for their psychological action thriller Max Payne, showcased their new title was scheduled for release on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. It was said to be another psychological thriller about a writer and his horror stories. E3 2006: After a long year of waiting for more information on this new title it was said to be released in the second quarter of 2006, but quickly turned down by Remedy. The game was in the middle of a bidding war with publishers and at last they found one. During Microsoft’s press conference they finally announced that Microsoft themselves have won the bidding war and will be publishing it exclusively (of course) for the Xbox 360 and Window Vista. Unfortunately the only thing was shown was another trailer featuring the man character, Alan Wake talking about his current situation alone in the dark. Today, X06: Remedy and Microsoft has finally released actual game footage through a demonstration of the anticipated thriller Alan Wake! It’s been a huge mystery how the game really plays, there’s been speculation it plays similar to Max Payne (which wouldn’t be a total over speculation), but with a free roam style gameplay such as Grand Theft Auto. Now we take a look at Alan Wake’s true potential.

The game Alan Wake is about a character named… Alan Wake and he a writer who is very stressed and wants to get away from everything in the world and just rest from writing his books. He drives down to the pacific north west to a town named Bright Falls, a peaceful town unfortunately he doesn’t know what it has in store for him. Here all of Alan’s nightmares and stories come true. Although they explained that much to us, we’re not exactly what occurs in this small town, all we know is that you’re stuck in the town and when it gets dark something bad will appear. And adding the darkness in the game couldn’t be any creepier, you’ll find yourself running around in the dark with or without your flash light.

Gameplay in Alan Wake was finally shown for the first time ever. There was a lot of speculation on how it would play, and like I said before, it plays similar to Max Payne yet has that free roam style gameplay. You’ll be set in a third person perspective with a controllable camera that can move in three hundred sixty degrees. You will be put in an amazingly looking environment, so hard to tell from the real thing, and this is where the action really begins. There will be various supernatural events such as a tornado. This tornado that was demonstrated will rip through anything and with everything in the game from houses to trees interactively picking up everything up that’s in its path and throwing it across a field. With this everything is interactive and can easily break with a specific action. While there was no viewable action, we know Alan Wake does wield weapons throughout the game as shown from the E3 2006 trailer. We’ll have to keep an eye on the game to watch for more specific information.

Visuals in the game a spectacular! The game’s backgrounds will stream so quickly you won’t see any loss in visuals for miles, this is only possible by using the multi-core aspect of the Xbox 360. The trees, rocks, everything you’ll see will be some of the best you’ll ever witness thus far in an open ended game such as this. Time of the day is also important as the sun will cast a super realistic light upon the world, giving off a radiant glow to everything around you. The position of the sun is of course time based due to Alan Wake being a game based around the night and day, and you’ll notice every minute you waste time will go by. It is not sad what the ratio from real time to game time is but it should be something reasonable like what Capcom’s Dead Rising did. With this, the entire world will interact with the specific time, owls will come out at night as the sky turns pitch black, and you’ll hear birds in the midst of morning. One of the most graphical beauties is the water effect. While there is quite a few different titles that have some good water effects, such as Far Cry, Alan Wake makes them look like nothing compared to what they demonstrated. Water in the title simply some of the best you’ll ever see as it has its dynamic level to, causing it have its own physics and ability to change due to weather. While looking nice the water also gives off an amazing shin when light hits it and makes a sundown look even more beautiful than it already is. Character Models in Alan Wake, while we only got to see one, Alan Wake himself, looks excellent. There are lots of sharp details that you’ll notice from wrinkles in his shirt or sweater to even hairs on his five o’clock shadow. The game really puts you in a super realistic world showing off what the Xbox 360 and its multi-processors can really do. This has to be one of the best looking titles we’ve seen for the Xbox 360, hands-down.

Alan Wake was first shown back at E3 2005, and was a really anticipated title being developed by the Max Payne developers and all. This could have been one of Microsoft’s best moves this generation deciding to publish this title as an exclusive because it’s sure to please visual junkies and anyone who enjoys exploring a massive beautiful world and getting a couple scares out of it. Alan Wake doesn’t not have an exact date so we can expect an announcement soon because the game was originally speculated for a spring release this year. Watch for more coverage on Alan Wake, the upcoming Xbox 360 and Windows Vista Exclusive, as X06 in Barcelona continues.