Follow The Signal

The first piece of DLC for Alan Wake, The Signal, is now available and i've already played through it and figured i'd let you know what i think. Firstly, The Signal takes place after the ending of the game, so make sure you finish that off before starting this. When i found out it was following the ending i was a bit disappointed because i liked the ending of the game and felt that explaining it would take some of that away... After finishing The Signal though, i'm not at all disappointed. i won't go into details to avoid spoilers, but while there isn't much plot to The Signal, it does manage to explain bits and pieces of the ending, but still leaves just as many questions. A gameplay element that turned up near the end of the normal game (shining your light on words to make objects appear) has been brought back and is used rather extensively. Not just in ways you'd expect either. Anything can now be summoned from words including, weapons, ammo, helpful effects (such as explosions and fireworks) and even enemies. The Signal will only take about an hour to complete (much like the standard games chapters) but manages to cram quite a bit into that hour. Plus there are a heap of collectibles thrown in, just to make sure you play through more than once. Overall i'd say The Signal is a nice piece of DLC that expands upon and experiments with the original gameplay, but still manages to feel like it belongs within the game. At 560 MS Points, anyone who liked Alan Wake, NEEDS to get The Signal.