Alan Wake Game Review

This is my first game review of one of my favourite games ever, this game inspired me to continue writing my novels and keep on pushing to finish them. I know what you are already thinking but no I will not be biased, well... I will be a little :) It is my favourite game and I have the right to be biased if I want to be.I will try not to put spoilers in this review but I warn you there will be. 

Alan Wake is about a writer plagued by writers block who  takes a holiday with his wife to a remote place in America. A dark presence takes his wife hostage and makes him write a novel to make it stronger, after escaping the dark presence Alan must try and find a way to rescue his wife while making sense of the entire situation; he is helped by his agent, a police officer and a man named "Thomas Zane"; a man who is still trapped in the lake and was the last victim of the dark presence.
The Story is well written and leaves you thinking "Wtf!", actually makes you think rather then plastering the story on your face like most games now a days. Game play involves weakening enemies down with a flash light and then shooting them, this gets very repetitive and I believe (as a writer) that the story kind of makes up for it. Behind the scenes the game was to be a open Sandbox style but failed and it is evident that this part was kept in during some of the driving scenes.
The Game gives a good presence and as the darkness envelopes you, the music the atmosphere brings the feeling of the player being alone and striving for the light becomes a goal. The Light engine is also brilliant, If you stare from the light to the darkness you cannot see anything other then the light but if you stare from the darkness into the light, you are blinded  by it, unless it isn't aimed at you then it looks like Real Light, I say real as in The Real world..
The Idea of a First Free DLC was brilliant. Remedy (the Original creators Of Max Payne and Now Alan Wake ) gave a DLC which made you wanted more story wise, almost making you want to pay for the second DLC to complete the story; rather then saying "here is the DLC, Buy it" like most companies. Alan Wake's DLC is not like most where the DLC is just part of the game they left out; in Alan Wake, the DLC is a extension of the game, bringing Alan wake 1 and the squeal "Alan Wake's American Nightmare" together. The use of music is pretty good, they have a band in the game which is key to the actual story with a song "Poet and his Muse". The band called "Poets of the fall" are a band Remedy have used before in Max Payne; they were the band that the end song 'Late Goodbye" was written from, the band was used in the in game band but also had a debut song called "War".

Alan Wake was also widely advertised in different Mediums, mediums such as a miniseries and the music video for Poet of the fall also includes the live action actor who gave the likeness for Alan and was also in the miniseries. This is great because it shows they are not just cooking out another game and want to actually make Alan wake into something more then a game.
I love this game, it has perfect story and a very good atmosphere. The problem with Alan Wake is it has almost zero replay ability unless you count finishing on the harder difficulty and collectables or achievement whoring. I hope you liked this review, Its my first one and hopefully the first of many. Thank you for your time and look out for my next review of Alan Wakes Sequal: "Alan Wake's American Nightmare".