Alan Wake: The Signal

The Signal downloadable content is essentially a brand new episode for you to go through and enjoy. The great work that Remedy did with the original game was definitely brought over to The Signal.

Ultimately, if you enjoyed playing though the main game, then The Signal is going to be a welcome expansion to the adventure.

The Signal is everything Alan Wake should have been. In about 2 hours of gameplay, the developers created a great atmosphere, a fantastic gameplay and the right amount of variety. The lack of different kind of situations was the main issue with the original game. The "floating words" idea is fantastic, and brings an awesome and original feature inside a previously boring gameplay.

You might get the impression that Remedy is stringing you along what feels like a never-ending nightmare, but in this case, it's a trip worth taking.

So whether you have to pay the 560 points or use your freebie, you will be pleased either way, if for any reason to continue the insane story line along with the man called Alan Wake.

The fact that it's free (supposing you bought the original game new) makes it well worth a play, just don't go expecting any plot revelations or answers to the game's more fundamental questions.

The Signal features more "best" than "worst," and is absolutely a must-play for anyone who's completed the initial release, as it extends, clarifies, and complicates the game's narrative -- just what Wake fans are looking for.

For anyone who bought Alan Wake, played through to the end and loved every minute, be sure to download The Signal. It is largely more of the same than an innovative step forward, so if you were not wowed by Wake's adventure the first time round, this new episode is unlikely to convert you.

The Signal is, simply put, another episode in Alan Wake's nightmare. This direct follow-up to the story of the main game doesn't answer all the questions one might have, but opens up another chapter for the writer, and also introduces some new situations - a variety we can only welcome. It's clearly destined to those who finished the main game first, and since it's free for all who bought the game, it would be a shame not to play it!

Alan Wake is back with an interesting new episode. It's the same game, with the same visuals, the same environments, the same enemies, the same weapons... but with an interesting plot. It's short (about an hour of gameplay), but it's fun and interesting, and the most important thing, it's cheap.

Clocking in at roughly 90 minutes, The Signal provides varied set piece battles across diverse settings that are well designed to maximize the tension Alan Wake is known for. Despite the retreading players must endure in the beginning and an abrupt conclusion, The Signal provides well-polished action worth picking up for anyone who's already completed the core game.

The Signal is a solid DLC with fresh gameplay ideas, but a short playtime (90 min.) and not so much progression through the story. Looking forward to The Writer.

Overall, The Signal is a good continuation of the story of Alan Wake; it just doesn't introduce anything new into the mix.

The Signal doesn't change the gameplay nature of Alan Wake, but it delivers a shake of innovation into its formula.

The Signal is a great addition to the Alan Wake story but there is not enough here to really understand the reasoning behind it.

The franchise's future looks - ahem - brighter, but we'd be best advised to withhold assent until the second extra episode, The Writer, is released later this year.

The Signal is a really cool, twisted and somewhat frightening expansion to Alan Wake, but doesn't have much story to it. Still highly recommended to all fans of Alan Wake.

Continues the narrative and challenges the player the way it should in the atmosphere and the environment. It is a good first sample of the depth of the story created and leaves us eager for the next episode.

The story in Alan Wake's first downloadable episode lacks a purpose, but exciting combat and a moody atmosphere make this a good addition.

So I'd rather play an erratic instalment of Alan Wake than a highly polished cover-shooter clone, because even when it fails, the former gives me something to think about in the ensuing days. Put another way, The Signal gets better the more I don't play it.

Alan Wake fans will want to check it out, if only for the morsels of story it gives them.

After playing through both The Signal and The Writer, the biggest impression I'm left with is that these two chunks of game (hateful combat aside) are better than anything that came on Alan Wake's retail disc. They illustrate Alan as a character, they immerse him in a world of his own internal madness, and they play to the strength of the premise in a way that actually makes sense. I can honestly say that if these levels had been included in the main campaign, my overall evaluation would've been significantly higher.