The Sanatorium

If you’re one of the few(million) people that bought a Wii, it’s time to get excited.  Finally, another reason to make you believe that getting that console was worth it is about to arrive.  Metroid: Other M (also known as “The only game worth mentioning from Nintendo’s E3 09 Conference”) will see a North American release of August 31, 2010.

It’s nice when games like this come around.  I really do like the Wii, I just wish it wasn’t crowded by so much bullshit.  I’m a huge fan of fresh air, a.k.a. 1st party Nintendo titles, so you can imagine I’m pretty happy about this game.  It looks like quite the original experience, something that can help me, once again, believe that getting the Wii was completely worth it.  Not to mention Samus Aran is probably the only Nintendo character with sex appeal, so that’s a plus side too.  If you’re looking to get a new game before the start of the Fall season, if you’re looking for a game without the words “Halo” and “Reach”, and if you have a Wii, I recommend saving a few bucks and purchasing this Wii game.  It’s sure to be some good fun

I don’t know if you guys know this, but a couple months back, on May 18, an amazing game was released, and it didn’t involve the Wild West.  This game is known as Alan Wake.

You all probably know why you don’t have it yet.  When it came down to getting Red Dead Redemption or Alan Wake that day, you likely chose Red Dead Redemption.  I can’t blame you, RDR IS a great game and it definitely had a more “secured” fun factor at the time.  But that doesn’t mean our beloved author/slash warrior of light was far behind in quality.  Alan Wake was originally announced several years ago, then pretty much seemingly died and then came back to life.  Odd how things work like that, isn’t it?  Anyways, I’ve come to tell you why you should finally be getting this game.  It is now $39.99 all over.  That is a pretty good price drop considering it has only been out for about 2 months.  Still, perhaps you’re thinking you aren’t convinced?  Well I’m thinking you’re fucking nuts.  But I’ll help you out.

Alan Wake tells an amazing story that is seldom seen in gaming these days.  I commend Remedy’s originality in this game.  And I’m not just talking about story.  The setting of Bright Falls offers a chilling and eerie environment unlike any other.  The game is a thrilling experience that always keeps you on the edge of your seat, and even in the (literally) darkest moments of the game, the environment still remains something to remember and never gets old.  Bright Falls is simply the kind of world you wish were real, just so you could experience it yourself.  Even if there is some sort of shadowy death machine there (well, fuck, you can’t win every time!).  On top of that, Alan Wake does a great job of changing up the typical shooting style seen in most other games.  Light is your true weapon here.  Don’t expect to fight anything without it, or live very long if you try to.  Ultimately, the combination of light weapons and normal guns offers not only tons of “hold your breath” moments, it offers a good level of strategy as well.  Even Alan Wake himself is a far cry from the usual gaming heroes.  Sometimes he can be a bit of a prick, sometimes he can be a nice guy, sometimes he’ll make other characters sound stupid.  Either way, you never feel hate for this character.  The entire game connects you with Alan because of the simple fact that you too would do what he is doing if you were in his position, and you can’t really blame him for the way he’s acting because of that.

If that isn’t enough to convince you, then you fucking suck.  That is all.

For everyone else, I hope you enjoy the game as much as I did!