Alan Wake:The Signal continues the story and escalates the suspense while maintaining a menacing and chilling atmosphere
Contains: Strong Sustained Horror, Menace and Moderate Violence
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Alan Wake: The Signal is the first downloadable content pack where you find Wake facing a threat unlike anything he's ever encountered before - and yet one he's intimately familiar with. In order to make sense of it all, he must follow the Signal.
Continuing immediately where the main game concluded with that unexpected twist of the protagonist being trapped and trying to write his escape from indefinite peril, The Signal follows Alan Wake in a strange, dreamlike, surreal world (still the Bright Falls setting, but recreated slightly) as he pursues the signal being addressed to him by the mysterious voice of Thomas Zane. The fictionalised state of the imagination is fully realised here as environments change, evolve or get ripped into past events and memories, making for a weird but still intriguing plot development. Mind-boggling scenarios are prepared for you within the lead's mind state and the reality has shifted to a preposterous degree where rules can now be bent in ways that cannot be explained and you can't trust anything you see, nor can you necessarily fight from it's strengthened grasp.
Probably the coolest implementation in this well-lengthed expansion is the words strewn across the world caused by Alan's active imagination. Shining your flashlight on them does basically the same thing as when you combat enemies, but the technique here that was briefly showcased at the latter stages of the main game exhibits lots of credible flair for creative conjuring of ammo and items, aswell as dispatching groups of enemies in imaginative scenarios this time around. A cool sequence in a cellar has lots of heaters with "blast" written next to them, and so when you highlight it with your light-based weapons it explodes a fiery fire very shortly that can be used to great effect and enormous advantage over aggressive shadowy figures that seem desperate in killing you off. It's a tense sequence of gameplay because of the fact you must almost blindly find your way out, as lifting your flashlight unwittingly can cause bursts of flames to erupt unpredictably and cause high amounts of damage on yourself, but at the same time you must defeat the hostiles that spawn in this dark area as efficiently as possible to preserve ammo for future purposes. Another clever instance involves all the different enemy types written in the area all cramped up next to one another, and you must keep your flashlight away from them so that you can cross without needing to engage in an unnecessary confrontation, all the while flocks of books (don't ask) attempt to destroy you. This sequence forces you to be exceptionally cautious, since if you decide to risk taking out your flying attackers then you crucially risk accidentally highlighting a bad word that represents a dangerous foe in the vicinity.
Throughout gameplay, other words could possibly be story-related, have no reason other than making a random object appear (possibly to get past an obstruction), or more importantly to import ammo and items directly into your nervous hands for use against the demons of the night. They represent many different things and it's an interesting element that makes finding supplies slightly more enjoyable.
Gusts of wind, possessed objects and dark surroundings force a very scary atmosphere upon you, and since this episode is taking place solely within Alan's mind, anything can happen, and that 'something' is usually hostile and frightening and threatens your survival to fulfil your quest to the signal that awaits you over the horizon (or that's what the fear you feel inside makes it seem like - an eternal walk containing never-ending horror). The fantastic visual presentation remains identical to the main game, which isn't a surprise given how amazing the graphics and environmental lighting had such an impact on proceedings aswell as the progressively torturous atmosphere before. Oppressive imagery and distorted groans are only small contributions to such a thick survival horror atmosphere, but minor integrations can often be just as effective at installing fear as the night-time setting and chilling aggressors successfully do.
Combat is frequent, and altogether is much tougher. Enemies are bigger, faster and plentiful, and resources are scarce enough so that when scavenged amidst a group of foreboding trees within woods, you'll make every bullet, battery and whatever other salvageable light-based piece of equipment you save count. This equation is balanced out on a reliable set of scales to make for tense and nail-biting combat where finishing off the last Taken and savouring the brief, slow-motion visual effect is ultimately far more satisfying, even if you live a dangerous line and notice your health is far more vulnerable than it ever was before. Hazards are placed wherever you dare stray, and thus a suspenseful atmosphere is generated alongside the obvious horror-orientated one, and enemies literally spawn from every direction, and are obscured only because of the psychological paralysis that pervades your senses and your deepest motivations.
To evaluate Alan Wake: The Signal, it's a worthy first downloadable episode that features the same eerie atmosphere, a plot that develops the protagonist and provides intrigue, exciting combat with some well created set pieces littered with danger and powerful foes, and also outstanding visual delights that affected the outcome of the main game drastically. Being set entirely in the mind of Wake himself allows for all the imaginative set pieces that offer much variety and challenge that you didn't have to face before, and scattered TV's do a good job of filling you in on what will happen next through the voice of a malevolent version of the protagonist. For its price tag, this episode is long enough to be well worth it, and despite its drawbacks - mainly a lack of rewarding collectibles and occasional signs of frustration caused by the amped up difficulty - nothing major inflicts harm into this perilous mystery adventure. If you want to experience more of Alan Wake, then this opportunity is unmissable.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 8/10
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Good Points: Story continuation is weird but captivating, Great writing keeps you engaged right up to the cliff-hanger climax, Atmosphere remains creepy and enemies continue to be terrifying, Wake provides more thoughtful narration on the unravelling events and developing plot, 'Words' strewn around environments for important and exciting purposes are a cool gameplay feature that widely vary confrontations, Combat is full of exhilarating moments with sustained tension.
Bad Points: Nothing rewarding to explore for, Increased difficulty occasionally leads to frustration.