I Pray I’ll Never Find Myself Stranded And Alone In The Misty Woods Of Maine

*Blows dust off Xbox360*

Oh, what have we here?

I’ve been spending a lot of time playing MMOs lately. Aside from using my Xbox360 to stream the occasional episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, the poor console has been pretty much neglected. Well, that’s going to change this week. A few days ago, I found out I still had some credit left over at the game store, so I took a trip down there yesterday to see what I could pick up.

Guess I chose a hell of a day to do that. Being a new game release day, the place was swarming with people looking to get the week’s big titles — Red Dead Redemption, Alan Wake, the new Prince of Persia game and ooh, Shrek Forever After.

In the end, it came down to RDR or Alan Wake. After much consideration, I chose the latter because:

• It’s described as an “intense psychological thriller”. Oh oh oh, I love those.
• It’s supposedly inspired by shows like Twin Peaks and the X-Files, as well as the works of Stephen King. I love those, too.
• The game plays out episodically. Like 24 or Lost, each chapter will reveal more clues to the overall mystery.
• It focuses on story.
• It’s an Xbox360 exclusive.
• Chances are my brother will end up buying RDR, so ha, I’ll just mooch off him later.

Anyway, half an hour into Alan Wake and I was already kind of creeped out. The problem is, while I love the action survival horror genre, I’m way too gutless for the stuff. This is going to sound really pathetic, but I don’t think I can play this game at night.

It was already pretty dark when I got home, so I had to turn the game off before I could get even more drawn in. I didn’t get to play very much as a result, but I’m liking what I’ve seen so far. Already, the story is reminding me a little bit of Secret Window (the movie version with Johnny Depp, that is. Haven’t read the King novel yet) and I’m loving the pervading themes of “dark” and “light”. Definitely looking forward to playing more later today, ’cause you know, I can only continue that long journey into the darkness in the warm, comforting light of the afternoon.

P.S. The game actually takes place in Washington state. But of course, one can’t help but visualize the fictional setting of Derry, Maine when it comes to anything Stephen King inspired.