Alan Wake's American Nightmare Reviews

Alan has spent two long years in the Dark Place, both literally and figuratively. Remedy hadn't announced anything new for their cult hit until this past December when we finally learned Alan's return would be available exclusively in digital format on XBLA. This decision was both good and bad for different reasons, and ultimately American Nightmare makes for a very fun game that represents the pinnacle of XBLA, but also exposes the restraints the format still has. When the game begins, we're introduced, or reintroduced, to Alan Wake. The Champion of Light. He's still trapped in the Dark Place, now searching for his sinister doppelganger Mr. Scratch, but he is much better equipped this time around. He's been down this road before and like anything else, practice makes perfect. The developers used this game as practice for themselves, too, but it isn't yet perfect.

Gameplay: The two biggest complaints gamers had with the first Alan Wake were a lack of enemy variety and equally sparse weapon variety. It's very clear early on that the developers sought to address those two issues first and foremost. You will now face a lot of new enemies like the oft-advertised Splitter, who splits into two, a few times over, each time you boost your flashlight on him. It makes for a nice challenge to rethink your approach when faced with a group of Taken and your back is up against the wall (sometimes literally). There are other enemies too, like a humanoid Taken that flies off to become a flock of malicious birds that series vets will be familiar with. There's also a new enemy who will lob grenades of darkness at you, which can be especially frustrating when they end your scoring streak in the arcade mode (more on that in a bit). Besides that, the enemies are made up a few other shadowy figures -- both new and old, poltergeist objects, and of course, the charismatic Mr. Scratch.

Weapon selection has been totally revamped as well. There are now a great number of firearms to choose from. In the first level alone, you'll have access to a new pistol not seen in the first game, a sub-machine gun, a nailgun and a carbine rifle. There are others available too, after you unlock some more manuscript pages, which also make a very vital return to the arcade sequel. The gunplay is tight and responsive, and the gameplay overall is fluid as it ever was. The game plays just like the original, even the controller layout is identical, which is sure to please series vets.

Another minor grievance, Alan's lack of cardiovascular endurance, is also addressed. He can now run at least twice as long, it may have been longer. I'd have to pull out my stopwatch. Those, like myself, who felt his sprinting ability didn't need tweaking need not worry. The way levels are set up now, it almost requires you can run for longer periods of time. There are only three (albeit large) locations in the game -- the motel, observatory, and drive-in theater -- and each location acts as a hub of sorts. You are given an entire area to explore to find manuscript pages, TV shows, radio shows, and the new ammo supply boxes which refill your guns and batteries to capacity. You can activate the next part of the mission by following the objective marker, or you can wander around to find more "stuff". In relation to gameplay, everything about American Nightmare is at least as good as, if not better, than its predecessor.

The new survival mode, Fight Til Dawn, is a fun, deep, and addictive game mode that would have been nice as a side dish to the story mode, but it ends up feeling about as vital to the game's value. There are five maps where you can play out the ten minutes of survival gameplay, boosting your high score, dodging enemies, and changing weapons as needed. The first few minutes are rather manageable for anyone who has played the first game, but at about the halfway point of any map, the action really picks up and it becomes a lot of fun. The inclusion of leaderboards is also a great motivator for you and your friends to compete for the top score. The down side to this mode is that, as I said, it sort of feels like the focus of the game.

Story & Presentation: Where the gameplay has noticeably improved, the story somewhat takes a step back. You're still trapped in an imaginative world filled with interesting characters and weird, intriguing moments, and the story is still better than a lot of games out there. The cutscenese are now done in live-action, but that's actually one of the game's strongest suits. It makes the game feel very unique. However, the developers' decision to change up the tone of this game may leave a sour taste in the mouth of Alan Wake devotees, like myself. The atmosphere of the first game was brilliant and engrossing, but this one doesn't feel that way. Maybe it's because they decided to liven up the color palette more than the first game's blue/gray/black aura. Partly, it is also the lack of locations. The three areas are exciting, but when you realize you'll be backtracking to them a few times each, anyone less than a Wake fanboy will have a hard time justifying the gameplay decision.

It isn't that the developers didn't hit their mark -- They absolutely did. They said they were going for a pick-up-and-play, standalone experience with a pulp action feeling to it, and that's exactly what it is. But sometimes it seems like they really wanted it to be a full continuation, as well. The manuscript pages, for instance, teeter between introducing the game's mythos to new players and teasing new information for returning players.

A lot of the "optional story [continuation] content" Remedy always talked about comes in the form of the collectibles, as well as conversations Alan has with the three women he meets in the game (one in each location). We get some more back story about Alan's life pre-Bright Falls, and we get to find out what the other characters are up to while Alan is still battling the Dark Presence.

The three ladies in the story aren't given enough screen time for us to really care about them, but they are still crucial to the story, as you'll see. Mr. Scratch is probably the game's best character. The evil, twisted version of Alan is always interesting when he pops up on the TVs throughout the game. The writers really made an intriguing villain with him.

Overall, I'm glad the developers didn't exclude a story mode entirely, and really the story itself isn't the issue. It's the presentation of the story. The atmosphere is changed, the format is changed. It's no longer episodic, but rather one episode of the fake TV show Night Springs. These decisions, that were all made to allow new fans to jump on board, may end up alienating the hardcore following that should be credited with this getting this game its green light in the first place.

Graphics & Sound: The decision to use a Rod Serling-like narrator instead of Alan himself again is one of the game's best qualities. The narration is so spot-on with the Twilight Zone impression that you'll feel like you're really watching the show sometimes. The graphics are also improved noticeably. Like I mentioned, for better or worse, the color palette is more vast, and the game definitely feels like the departure from Bright Falls that it is.

All of the original voice actors return, though most characters besides Alan aren't in it much anyways. Another piece of the game's intent on making the series accessible is on display when you search for collectibles. From a good distance, the manuscript pages glimmer like a small light, making the search for them very easy. This may appeal to achievement hunters, but it takes away some of the game's fun.

Licensed music returns and the songs are integrated in clever ways. In the first one, most of the music came on the radio or in the end of episode credits. In American Nightmare, the songs are often played over the gameplay, though still in justifiable ways. Early in the game, after you turn on a CD player with a Kasabian album inside, you have to escape a disaster as the song plays. It makes for a heightened sense of action, like the concert level in the original game.

Achievements: With it being an XBLA title, there's just the small dose of 12 for 200G, but it still provides a good challenge. There are a handful of "beat the story and you can't miss it" achievements, as well as a few more for Fight Til Dawn mode. The last few are of the statistical variety -- kill 2,000 Taken and collect all manuscripts. Overall, the game won't take long, as long as you're good at the survival mode and can hit the necessary scoring parameters.

Conclusion: Like Alan himself, American Nightmare is trapped between two worlds. On one hand, the game offers up one of the most robust, beautiful, and devoted games available on XBLA. But fans of the series have an idea of what the game should be, and it doesn't exactly hit that. As I mentioned, it was deliberate of Remedy to have this game feel different, and there may be some who like this game's tone better. But for fans of the first game's shadows and suspense, this may not be the sequel you're hoping for. The game's accessibility will draw in new fans, for sure, and returning fans will still enjoy their time, but it will leave something (atmosphere) to be desired.

Ultimately, this is a must play for fans of the series and it's a tremendous value at 1200 MSP. It's a fun game, and I can't wait to play it some more. Bound by the 2 GB limit XBLA has, American Nightmare's total package is the best the service has to offer. I just hope that Alan's detour in Arizona is exactly that -- a detour. Let's hope the future of the series can return to its psychological thriller roots. As a game, Alan Wake's American Nightmare is terrific. But as an Alan Wake game, it falls just short of its predecessor's excellence.

(Read my review of the original Alan Wake.)

I have been impatiently waiting for this game ever since it's been announced and checked for the download every other minute on the day it came out. I'm a real Alan Wake nerd, but I'll try to keep this objective.

Story:
The story of this is decent, but it kind of plays a supporting role in this title.
It takes place two years after Wake's trip to Bright Falls and it's set in Arizona. When I heard about this in the trailers and interviews, I thought I was going to miss the beautiful Pacific Northwest landscape that I loved so much in the original, but now, I must say the desert looks really good and it helps convey the Alan Wake atmosphere.
Alan is still trapped in the Dark Place and trying to find a way to his beloved Alice. This time around, his evil alter ego, Mr. Scratch, who was only mentioned explicitly once in the original game and could already be seen in the TV shows, is now shown in a more sinister light and replaces Barbara Jagger as the game's main antagonist. During our hero's quest, he meets three strange women who help him locate his shady twin.
What I missed most compared to the first title were the daylight interludes. They really made you connect to the town and people of Bright Falls.
The biggest downside is the repetitiveness, though. The story is short enough as it is, but it's actually only a third of what it's made out to be. There are only three different locations and you return to each twice. The problem is, you have to do the exact same thing three times over as well.
All in all, if you're a fanboy, you will like it and be eager for anything new, but to be honest, not many of the open questions from the original are answered and there aren't too many new aspects to it either, other than the new gameplay and setting. If you don' t already love Alan Wake, you may feel a little cheated when the credits roll.

Collectibles:
The collectibles are a lot easier to find compared to the original game. The manuscript pages glow brighter than before and they will show as a question mark on your mini-map when you approach them.
Apart from the pages, there's still the TV and radio shows to find. There isn't an achievement for them like before, though. The other collectibles from the previous game (coffe thermoses, sights, can pyramids, supply chests) don't return.
The manuscript pages tell you a lot about the first game and they are very well-written. The radio shows no longer have Pat Maine as their host, but a new guy named Eddie Rodman.
The TV shows are fun to watch and the actor, Ikka Villi, did a really good job on Mr. Scratch's character, just like in the cutscenes.
What I liked the best about the collectibles, is the fact that you need them to unlock advanced weapons, both in the story and Fight till Dawn mode. That way, people who only play the arcade mode will have a huge disadvantage. I never liked how people just play MP right away, like in CoD. I think you have to earn the right to do so, and apparently, Remedy agree with that.

Graphics:
The graphics have improved since the first game, even though this is just an XBLA title. Like the developers said, they have kind of a pulp-style to them and in my opinion, they even contribute to the classic Alan Wake, "run through the dark with a flashlight"-atmosphere.

Gameplay:
The basics are still the same - you run around in the dark with a flashlight and your loadout and fight off the Taken by flashing away the Dark Presence protecting them and then shoot them.
However, there are a couple of tweaks that make it more enjoyable. For instance, Alan doesn't run out of breath as fast as in Bright Falls. You can sprint for about 10 seconds and even then, you'll recover after panting a couple of times.
Another improvement is the battery refill. It refills completely in the blink of an eye after not boosting for a second, which basically makes your 10 backup batteries pointless.

Weapons:
This is one of the game's biggest improvements. Whereas in Bright Falls, you only had access to a revolver, two shotguns, a hunting rifle, the flare gun, hand-held flares and flashbangs, you can now use a 9mm, a nail gun, an SMG, an M16, a Magnum, a sawed-off shotgun, a combat shotgun, a Carbine rifle, a sniper (can't scope, though) and a crossbow (which lets you kill Taken without light). The flares, flare-gun and flashbangs return, although their offensive effectiveness has decreased.

Enemies:
In addition to the usual Taken, there are five new enemies:
The splitter, an enemy that can be killed without light, but splits into two up to three times when shined upon,
the Grenadier, a Taken that actually runs away and lobs grenades at you from a distance,
the Sawyer, a huge tank that is really slow, but both takes and deals a lof of damage,
the Birdman who, similar to the Warper in Bright Falls, will show & go, this time by transforming into ravens and back (the ravens themselves from the first game will not return as such),
and spiders, that will die when you dazzle them with your flashlight for a moment.


and finally the icing on the cake,

Fight till Dawn mode:
This is definitely the game's core and the ace up its sleeve.
It's Remedy's attempt at their very own horde mode and boy, did they pull it off. It's highly addictive and simply a lot of fun.
As the name suggests, you have to fight off the Taken until dawn breaks after 10 minutes of gameplay.
There are 5 different maps - Cemetery, Ghost Town, Oil Field, Caves and Trailer Park. You will be able to get up to 3 stars for each and unlock more maps with those stars. Once you have gotten enough stars on the normal maps, you will unlock each of them in Nightmare mode as well. Similar to the first game, Nightmare increases the Takens' health and light resistence. Additionally, it will also make them spawn constantly. There won't be any waves.
You start off with a pistol and will find more powerful weapons scattered across the map. Just like in the story, you need a certain amount of manuscript pages to get advanced weapons like the Carbine Rifle or the Combat shotgun.
What I liked the most about this mode is pretty much what I like in Alan Wake in general - the spooky atmosphere, the beautiful surroundings and the creep thart it all gives you. This time around, add all of that to one of the best gameplays I have ever seen.
This mode clearly is the game's focus.

Achievements:
The achievements are awarded for completing certain objectives during the story, collecting all manuscript pages, earning stars and highscores in the arcade mode and killing 2,000 Taken.
The story can be completed in about 2 hours or longer, if you go for the pages.
There are two Fight till Dawn achievements that seem tough at first, but once you're familiar with the maps, they're very doable.
I particularly liked that there are two gamer pics and three avatar awards that come with the game. You get a pic of Alan and Mr. Scratch (the one I'm using atm). The avatar items are a black hoodie with the AW's AM logo for meeting Emma, a Old Gods of Asgard shirt for completing the story and a Night Springs shirt for unlocking one nightmare map.

Conclusion:
While the story might disappoint you a little, the new arcade mode more than makes up for it and sets a milestone for XBLA titles.

Originally posted at GamerScoreAddicts.net



Developer: Remedy Entertainment

Publisher: Microsoft Studios

Price: 1200MSP

Alan Wake has been away from consoles for over a year now, since the release of the last DLC episode of the 'first season' of its story. Well now he's finally back and its a version of Alan which is both familiar and enjoyably different.

To avoid any spoilers for the first game (though you all should really go play it as it is one of the best games on Xbox certainly in terms of story), I'll keep the plot simple. Alan arrives in a town called Night Springs in the aim of trying to defeat a new main bad guy called Mr Scratch. It's a nice follow on from the first game and fits well into the canon of the story and hopefully is a good setup to Alan Wake 2.

The game play this time has shifted from the more linear paths of the original to decent sized open areas to explore. You still have to complete various tasks for the inhabitants as well as find clues to the whereabouts of Mr Scratch and if you stick to these you'll get through the different areas quite rapidly. However the game actively encourages you to explore through its manuscript pages, though you'll be glad to know these are the only collectibles in the game. You'll need as many manuscript pages as you can find scattered around these new areas as collecting a certain number opens up weapon cases which give you greater powered weapons to defeat the Taken (the enemies of the series) with. You'll need these too as the Taken are a much bigger threat this time around.



In the first game, the suspense was created from the limited ammo in the game and in a Resident Evil style, you often had to choose between shooting your way through or running. This time around shooting is definitely the preferred option. The actual combat is still the same style as the original with Alan needing to destroy the protective dark barrier on the enemies with light before killing them with shots from his weapons. I found it very difficult to run out of ammo as there was always plentiful supplies as well as respawning refill points. To reflect this the number of different types of weapons have increased too. Flare guns, flares and flashbangs make a return, but you'll find yourself armed with 9mm pistols, nailguns, revolvers, shotguns, assault rifles, crossbows and more as Alan becomes an action star for American Nightmare.

You'll need these too as there are different types of Taken to combat each with unique attacks compared to the generic types of the first games. These range from grenade throwers forcing you to keep moving to guys who split into two when struck by the light from your torch. The downside to this is the suspense has gone from the title somewhat but instead you get to go on killing sprees and have a number of set-pieces to fight through. There may be some who complain it has shifted the tone of the games, but I was a big fan of the original games and in my eyes this is just an evolution of the series, possibly a necessary one due to its Arcade title status.



However this is just the single-player story mode covered. On top of this you also get a arcade survival mode to beat. In this you are tasked with surviving 10 minutes against waves of Taken until the sunrises and you are safe. I'd highly recommend playing this after the main story as the manuscripts collected in the story mode allow access to the power weapons in this mode as well as in the story mode. This certainly adds length to the game as you have to complete each round with the highest score to unlock the next stage and once the five stages are unlocked there are Nightmare versions to complete too. As usual there are friend leaderboards up to compare your friends scores to see who is the best Alan out of you!

Musically the game shines again, with its use of music from Poets of the Fall as well as its continued use of licensed tracks as well (though this time its just one track 'Club Foot' by Kasabian which is put to superb use!). The voice acting is top notch and the combination of FMV within the cutscenes (something which I realised has been sadly underused in recent games) as well as the videos of Mr Scratch and the radio shows which can be found really add to the game and flesh out the story nicely filling in gaps as to what has happened since the last game.



The game itself looks just as good as the retail version if not better which considering this is an XBLA title is impressive and also shows that there is a lot of life in the Arcade market still. As I mentioned earlier the FMV is superb and ties in nicely with the games story, this is certainly one of the most visually strong titles on the XBLA marketplace.

Achievement wise, you'll get about 50% of the achievements just through story mode. There is the inevitable collectibles achievement but with the addition of a minimap which flags up when a manuscript is about this is not really that difficult to get and you'll want to get them all to unlock the powerful weapons. The rest are tied into the survival mode and will probably take a little time and effort to unlock, but will prolong your gaming experience as bit of skill will be needed to net them.

Overall this is certainly one of the best XBLA titles on offer for quite awhile. With a fair sized story mode as well as long arcade survival mode your getting your full points worth. If your a fan of the original game this is a must buy. If you were put off by the slow suspense feel of the original I also recommend you at least give the trial a shot as the change in pace of the game may well win you over. In fact I recommend everyone tries this out as at the moment it has my XBLA Game of the Year already!!

Score - 10/10

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The original Alan Wake is one of my favourite games. The only thing that I didn't like about it. Is that it lacked replay value. Will this spin-off beat the original? Well lets find out.



Alan Wake American Nightmare is an Xbox arcade game and is considered to be a spin-off and not a sequel. Does this matter? no. The game plays pretty much the same as the original but this is more action packed than horror based which is disappointing in my view cause I just love horrors. There is also new weapons that you can unlock by collecting manuscripts. And the weapons are great. You can feel the power of the gun and it feels good to shoot your boom stick (shotgun) in the Taken's face. If you haven't played the original the Taken are shadow like zombies. In order to kill them you will have to expose them with light by using your flash light and then gun them down with your weapon.

The game is open world but it's in stages and you will be surprised on how much freedom you have. The stages are small and pretty empty most of the time and can get boring by just walking to your objective when there are no enemies around and looking for manuscripts is pretty easy cause they glow in a distance and since that the world is empty you can easily spot them.

Time for a glowing review.

Graphics:

The graphics is pretty identical to the original. But since that the game is an arcade game the graphics are impressive from such a download. The game runs smoothly and the animations are great. The lighting is also impressive and you can change the brightness of the light which is quite a nice addition. Graphically anyway.

I give the graphics an 8.5/10

Sound:

Even though the voice acting is well done the dialogue is pretty lousy. The characters will say cheesy stuff and some other things that don't make sense. The sound effects are pretty good and quite convincing. Using the Kasabian song for the first level is some how fitting.

I give the sound an 8/10

Gameplay:

Gameplay is pretty much the same as the original. The only difference is, is that the developers have taken away the scares and decided to add more guns which is fine but will disappoint some Alan Wake fans. The action is pretty good because of the cleverly thought out enemy types. There is this one enemy that will duplicate whenever you shine light on it and I think that is pretty cool. The controls are cluncky. The mapping isn't great and movements is wonky. Also it's quite annoying if you want to aim without using your flash light? You will have to press down the left trigger half way instead of pressing it down fully.



The campaign isn't all that good. It's repetitive and quite boring because you will revisit each level 3 times and without change. This will mean the enemies will respawn at the same places and you have to revisit the bosses as well which is kind off annoying and tedious.

The arcade mode is the game's strongest mode. It plays like mercenary's mode in Resident Evil. You will have to kill enemies until you run out of time. Simple. It's pretty thrilling as well cause you are battling hundreds of enemies all by yourself. Unfortunately you can't play with a friend so it does decrease the replay value.

I give the gameplay score a 7.5/10

Storyline:

The story isn't the best. It has a tone of plot holes and sometimes hard to follow but the rivalry between Alan and Mr. (static) Scratch is quite entertaining. Mr. (static) Scratch is Alan's evil doppleganger for those who don't know.


I give the storyline score a 7/10

Is it your cup of tea?

If you liked the first game then this is worth a try. OK it's not the best of spin-offs but it will do. For newcomers however I would pick up the first title before you buy it on the marketplace.

Summary:
Good:
-Great graphics for an arcade game.
-The Arcade mode.
-Great weapons and enemies.

Bad:
-Confusing story.
-Boring campaign.
-Lacks replay value.

Overall I think it's a decent game. Could've done better with the campaign and story but what you get is what you get.

I give it an overall score of 7.5/10

Remedy Entertainment’s critically acclaimed Alan Wake was intended to be the first installment of a planned franchise—the developers referred to it as the “first season” due to the game’s episodic presentation. Initial game sales, however, were less than stellar and there was a great deal of doubt that the franchise would be able to continue. Thankfully for fans of the troubled writer, Remedy was able to bring Alan back for a second outing in a standalone adventure set in the fictional Night Springs.

It’s been two years since the first installment and that time is reflected in-game as Alan finds himself still trapped in the dark place after the events of Alan Wake. Over the years, the writer has seemingly grown more comfortable with his situation and is making another attempt to break out—a seemingly impossible feat.

While it certainly helps to have prior knowledge of the writer and his plight, Remedy made sure that American Nightmare would be easily accessible to potential new players. As in the first game, manuscript pages are hidden throughout the environments and provide insight on the events that surround Alan’s new adventure; this is useful for easing in new players to the lore as well as offering a refresher course to fans who haven’t made their way through Alan’s Bright Falls adventure in some time.

The tale weaved in American Nightmare pits Alan Wake against his evil doppelganger, Mr. Scratch, in a small town in Arizona known as Night Springs. The town gets its name from the Twilight Zone-inspired, fictional television series from the Alan Wake canon—the same television series where Alan got his start as a professional writer. Using his ties to the show as an anchor to reality, Alan hopes to finally find his way out of the dark place. It’s an interesting tale that takes more cues from “grindhouse” features and Quentin Tarantino films than Twin Peaks or the works of Stephen King which served as inspirations for the first game.

This shift in inspiration in story leads to a greater focus on combat than was present in the first game. The two-tiered combat from the first (with a light source being necessary to remove the darkness surrounding the taken and a gun to ultimately dispatch them) is still as satisfying and intense as ever, but ammo and flashlight batteries are much easier to procure as there’s an abundance of infinitely replenishing supply caches in each level. Flashlight batteries also recharge noticeably faster in American Nightmare than they did in Wake’s first outing, but this is balanced requiring that the light be focused in order to damage the darkness. The abundance of ammunition and batteries don’t detract from the intensity, however, as new enemies abound and come in furious waves to hinder Mr. Wake’s progression.

Complimenting the story is a new arcade mode dubbed “Fight Till Dawn.” In this mode, players face off against waves of enemies in various environments in attempts to survive until dawn. This arcade mode is entirely focused on the combat and definitely adds an addictive boost to the game’s replayability.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is, primarily, a game for the fans; it not only gives hope that the franchise still has life in it, but also answers several questions while asking a thousand more. It takes the existing fiction and builds upon it by expanding the universe in a wonderfully self-aware, pulp fiction romp through an Arizona desert. Sam Lake, the creator of Alan Wake, and the team at Remedy have crafted a worthwhile experience for fans and new players alike. Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is an exhilarating experience with plenty of content to keep players invested for several hours, and one that is surely worth a try.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare was developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Studios; it is currently available exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).

Playing Max Payne in the dark, aka Alan Wake, made me feel tense, uneasy, because the game was suspenseful, ammo was somewhat scarce (on the higher difficulties), enemies were actually able to kill me and also because I didn't know exactly what was going to happen next because the game DIDN'T REPEAT ITSELF!
So Remedy Entertainment said to themselves, "Hey, Alan Payne...sorry, Alan Wake still doesn't feel quite like a Max Payne game! Let's fix that! Oh, but we don't have another five years to create it... no problem, blame Alan Wake's writing and create three scenarios and repeat them a few times, yup, that will do the job!", and hence, Alan Wake's American Nightmare was born.

Now that I got that out of my system, Alan Wake's American Nightmare is not a bad game, it's just too easy. The dark and suspenseful theme is gone, replaced with a more lot more action sequences, which can be a good thing if you're looking for something different from the original game.

Story
This latest entry in the series is staged in a different universe, even though it has a lot of references to the original game, American Nightmare takes place in Arizona USA, or maybe it happens inside Night Springs (fictional tv show), the actual game leaves that in the open, kinda like it was done in the "Twilight Zone".
Anyway, this latest entry in the series depicts a somewhat comical and over the top battle between Alan Wake and his (awesome) evil twin Mr. Scratch, or a battle between the champion of light and the herald of darkness as the narrator of the game puts it.

Alan Wake was able to escape Cauldron Lake, but it's now stuck in a time loop somehow controlled by Mr. Scratch even though the loop was written by Alan. Yeah, it's kinda confusing. Also, the so called herald of darkness aka awesome evil twin can move freely between the dark place and the real world for some reason.
To get out of the loop, Alan Wake aka party pooper must keep going through the loop, each time getting closer to the true reality.



In the game's many interactions between the two protagonists - through live action short tv snuff videos - Mr. Scratch keeps teasing Alan, giving him news about "their" wife, explaining what he is going to do to Barry, etc. These are definitely some of the game's best moments!

Gameplay
This is the area where the greatest improvements over the original game were done, Remedy was able to introduce in a much shorter game - I finished it in one sitting - a lot more enemy types and a lot more guns to shoot.
The new enemy types mean that you have to change your usual "flashlight until no shield then shoot" killing tactic on some of them, they are not that hard to kill, but the change of pace is always nice and keeps the game combat from feeling as repetitive.

Even though the combat got improved, the easy nature of the game might be a buzz killer for some, ammo seems to be the new thing in Arizona, since it's basically everywhere! The same thing goes for batteries!
This makes you feel almost like...well...Max Payne, since you don't have to run, conserve ammo or batteries at any point during the game and you also have a slow time thingy when you dodge like a pro...yeah, pretty much like Max Payne.



I only died one time during the whole five hours or so that it took me to complete the game, this is a shame since there were some action sequences towards the end of the game that were really well done, they were somewhat harder and death was a possibility, but since I had more ammo than Russia and the US combined nothing actually posed much of a threat. Even the biggest enemies that the game threw at me were nothing compared to the 10 flare gun rounds I seemed to be carrying at all times.

Maybe in the Arcade mode (yes, it has one) of the game I can get a better challenge, but I wanted that challenge in the main game, not some tacked on mode.

Graphics
At the time of its release, February 2012 if I'm not mistaken, American Nightmare was probably the best 3d looking game on the xbla market, but since then Far Cry: Blood Dragon took the crown. Still, Alan Wake is a very good looking game, well above the average when it comes to xbla games.
The lighting is still superb, the game left the gritty, almost black and white look of the original and replaced it with more colorful tones, ranging in-between oranges, yellows and reds. Nice decision on Remedy's part, it simply fits the mood of the story a whole lot better.

The new enemy models look cool, even if they are still always dressed the same, the character animations are well done and the transition between the live action scenes and the actual game are pretty smooth.
You also encounter other humans during the game and almost all of them look good, except for Mr.Scratch, why does he look so bad in-game?! I know that we only see him in-game a few times but it's no excuse, maybe in the PC version he looks a little better, but still, why? You can't blame Wake's writing for that one Remedy...or maybe they can, who knows.



Sound
Wow...what a disappointment. The game starts up and almost instantly you are presented to one of Kasabian's best tracks, and then it is used another three times during the game for like ten seconds and that's it, also I was introduced to another awesome track from Poets of the Fall near the end of the game that played only once for about fifteen seconds and that's it. What a waste....that's all I have to say.

Oh, the voice actors did a decent job, congratulations to Matthew Porreta for standing out among the crowd as both Alan Wake and Mr.Scratch.
Even in the live action scenes he was perfect, except in the last one as Alan Wake, oh boy, was that forced.

Conclusion
At the end of the game I felt I had played a completely different game than I was expecting, the action sequences were presented in much more generous doses, the colors and mood of the story were completely different and the extra action sequences were a really nice addition. Is it a scary game? No. Does it kinda drag toward the end because of the repetitive nature of the story? Yes. Was it fun? Hell yeah!
Even if Alan Wake as a character feels a lot less inspired in this one, there is Mr.Scratch that quickly made it to my top ten list of villains, hopefully in the future we will see him again.

7 out of 10

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Alan Wake was an excellent game with sharp writing and tight gameplay, its a shame the same cant be said for this xbla release that feels more like DLC than a full game.
American Nightmare features 3 environments that you must revisit over and over again in a time loop story that makes no sense.
The gameplay stays the same all the way through its 4 to 5 hour length and the writing feels rushed and sloppy compared to the original.
You meet 3 characters that have terrible dialogue and stiff lifeless models.
The game also features a horde style mode that was supposed to be the full game until the story mode was added, its fun and faintly addictive but lacks a co-op mode.
Overall if you want more Alan Wake you will be both happy and disappointed in equal measure.


6/10 or 68%