Alan Wake is a third person shooter survival-horror title developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. http://www.alanwake.com/buy/Xbox.com [1]It was released on May 18, 2010 - precisely 5 years to the day it was unveiled at the Electonics Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. IGN: E3 2005: Alan Wake Announced (May 18, 2005)

Alan Wake is a horror novelist with a problem, he hasn't been able to put pen to paper for over two years. While taking a vacation to the dreary little mountain town of Bright Falls in an attempt to relax from the pressures of work and possibly cure his writers block, strange things start to occur around him. His wife disappears, townsfolk start acting strange, and he begins to find pages of a manuscript apparently written by him, a manuscript he doesn't remember making. As darkness falls, an insidious presence begins to possess the people around Alan and they begin to attack him. Looking at the manuscript he has, he realises something... the manuscript he doesn't remember writing, is beginning to come true!

Storyline plays a pivotol role in Alan Wake, with almost all of the games plot delivered by narrative of some description. Additional story snippets can be caught by overhearing conversations, listening to radio broadcasts, and even stumbling upon TV shows.

Gameplay in Alan Wake heavilly revolves around a flashlight mechanic, with the right stick controlling the Flashlight (and also camera) and the left stick controlling movement. Enemies in Alan Wake are regularly composed of pure darkness, so the only way to conquer them is to subdue them with light.

While light can be shone on enemies from your flashlight - there are several other ways inside the game world, from generators, street lights, work lamps to car beams. Some enemies (ones who are possessed by the darkness, as opposed to being made of it) must also be shot to destroy them. The game does not provide a crosshair, with the light of the flashlight providing a focal point for aiming.

In addition to this, players may undertake collection sidequests, with well over 200 pieces of collectable items to find, located all over the game world. While these are optional, many contain storyline inaccessible any other way, and also contain rich history.

The game progresses in a linear fashion, and is extremely storyline oriented.