I'm not seeing the big appeal of Alan Wake. To me it plays very similar to the original Max Payne except you replace bullet time with forests. The novel pages feel like they were written by a high school kid. Alan's VO comes off like he's bored and reads a bit too quickly. The gameplay is very repetative and offers very little interactivity. The graphics just aren't that impressive. I will say it has great atmospheric effects and music but that's about it.