Games like these deserve a ton of respect.
I understand that there are some people who do not swing well with this type of game, but this is supposed to be an interactive story, not a third person shoot em up.
Not only do i find the shooting and gameplay great personally, but just the amazing graphics PRISTINE optimization for the PC version should give the game a safety net of at LEAST a 7.0 if all else were to fail in someone else s eyes. Even if this game did not even include guns or combat i would have to give it at least an 8.0.
I can not even begin to describe how much i respect the group of guys who worked to bring us the PC version of alan wake. It is quality ports like these that make me happy to be a pc gamer. This is the most perfectly optimized game in my collection to date, i have taken hundreds of screenshots in just a few hours of playing.
It's not often you get a game this well optimized for the PC. In my opinion GREAT graphics mean absolutely nothing if it runs with occasional hitching. I hate how the majority of developers think that a little bit of lag/slowdowns is acceptable. The number one important thing in my personal opinion with games is fluidity. I think optimization and immersion go hand in hand, i personally can not get into a game unless it runs 100% fluid 100% of the time.. Nothing is worse than an annoying hitch to remind you that you are not actually in the game, but just a person using a metal box of mechanical circuitry.
And for the gameplay, WHO CARES AT LEAST IT LOOKS GOOD! haha just kidding.
The guns sounds/recoil leaves absolutely NOTHING to be desired. I love the raw blast of the shotgun and revolver in the silent woods, with sparks and smoke flying everywhere. And the way the flashlight roasts enemies actually feels very rewarding as well, i like timing my shots perfectly during the time where the enemies lose their immortality so you achieve this spectacular explosion type effect. And the flashlight and controls are just done so well.
This is one of those PC games that you MUST play leaning back in your chair using a bluetooth controller, i personally use a PS3 controller using motionjoy to make my PC see it as an xbox360 controller. Something about using a controller just complements the games fluidity so much more. With the controller, it is one of those games that you don't have to stand there trying to guess which controls do what.. You can just guess right off the bat which buttons do what, the left trigger aims your flashlight/gun, and the right trigger fires. All of the controls match perfectly to what they should be for a third person shooter, i absolutely hate those games that use the top bumpers instead of the triggers as the shooting/aiming buttons. How dumb is that? But yeah all in all the controls compliment the graphics/fluid motion of this game, even in the begging i had not encountered one single moment where i felt handicapped by not knowing which controls did what..
Oh yeah and the best part is i got this game for 3 dollars on steam. Wow don't you just love being a PC gamer?