Gameitall 2010’s Alan Wake was a hidden gem on the 360, and I was glad to see that the PC version got it the attention it deserved. It was a fresh look at story-telling and presentation in games, and honestly will be one of my favorite 360 games to ever be released.
So you could tell I was setting the bar a bit high when I heard Alan Wake: American Nightmare was announced. Expecting the return of my favorite tortured writer to set us up for another horrific fight against the dark…
Sadly I was disappointed.
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is a standalone game that takes place shortly after the ending(s) of the first Alan Wake game. Alan is fighting his evil doppelganger, Mr.Scratch, an egotistical, homicidal version of himself, who is bringing the Dark Presence out of Bright Falls and to the rest of the world.
Like the previous game, Alan’s weapons against the Dark and Mr.Scratch are simple, involving a flashlight to destroy the darkness, and a gun to destroy the Taken. There has been some changes to the gameplay though, specifically that the light source, when just shined on the Taken doesn’t do anything unless it’s focused on it, and that there are much more weapons, allowing you to change up your side arms and your heavy weapons.
The guns are a welcomed feature when taking on the hordes of Taken that are coming to kill you, especially with the new creatures that Mr.Scratch created. Splitters, mutants, and human forming birds are just a few of what you’ll face in the game. As Action goes, Remedy definitely did some improvements.
However as a Story, the originals strong point, Alan falls short. What we are looking at in American Nightmare is a Time-Loop. The game is separated into 3 levels, of which you’ll visit 3 times and do the same thing 3 times. What you are looking at is a game version of Groundhog’s Day.
If that isn’t the worst part, the game does something that original did, breaking one of the first rules of horror stories, they explain what it is Alan is fighting, because of this, the game loses it’s horror appeal for more of a Sci-Fi Twilight Zone approach.
The game’s Arcade Mode is quite entertaining, as Alan fight’s until dawn against waves of Taken, making good use of both the manuscripts found in the main game to unlock more powerful weapons, and the new intense combat. It’s fun to play and may even be saving grace to those who haven’t played the original.
The Original Alan Wake is still a gem, but American Nightmare would have probably been done better if it was planned out as DLC. I can really only recommend it to people who enjoyed Wake’s previous adventure though the dark.
Alan Wake American Nightmare – 5 out of 10
Pros: Improved Combat, Arcade mode is a blast, Some pretty impressive scenes in the story mode.
Cons: Time-loop is a lazy way to increase the play time, and it’s still short. Story flaws.
