Alan Wake's American Nightmare Review
Alan Wake is a third person action shooter brought to you by Remedy. Originally set as a retail game will American Nightmare give fans the story and gameplay expected after the great original or does it fall short?
STORY
Set in Arizona after the original game Alan Wake finds himself in an episode of Night Springs. Alan will again have to use his own words in order to defeat his mental demons and evil doppelganger Mr Scratch.
The story follows Alan in an episode of Night Springs. It’s a great idea but after a while this theme gets boring and repetitive. Remedy has created a game consisting of just three areas. The idea is to make the episode run smoothly in order to gain the best outcome.
This means that after completing the episodes you will have to go back and do it again but each time you do, the story will change slightly for the better. As much of a great and creative idea this is, I think that remedy timed it just right in order to stop the game from becoming too boring and to repetitive.
The manuscripts are back and again very well written. They give explanation and reason for your presence in a slightly better way than the gameplay itself.
The story wasn’t deep enough for my liking especially when the original Alan Wake had such a great one. Alan Wake's American Nightmare is pretty good and has also been left open with a huge possibility of episodic DLC.
GAMEPLAY/CONTROLS
The gameplay and controls are the same as they were in the original Alan Wake. This is great because this mean smooth gameplay and controls that feel well laid out and need little effort to get results.
I personally think that the Alan Wake controls are some of the best for a third person game to date.
This time round Remedy have added a new game mode called "Arcade Mode". Arcade mode is a horde mode where you will have to deal with a constant rush of enemies that gradually get stronger. This is a great addition but single player only. Having arcade mode as a co-op experience would have been cool but hey ho.
Alan Wake Also has a new range of arsenal. By collecting enough manuscripts Alan can gain access to bigger and better weapons. As you walk around Arizona you will see large cases that contain a new gun and if you have enough manuscripts you can unlock it and gain access to the weapon inside. My favourite is definitely the combat shotgun but the uzi is definitely a close second.
VISUALS
Again Alan Wake delivers with flying colours. Not only do the game visuals look identical to the original retail game but they also put some full price retail games to shame.
I think that placing Alan Wake in Arizona was a graphical choice by the developers. I say this because picturing Arizona in my head makes me think of desert and as we all know the desert is very similar and repetitive wherever you go. This made it easy for game design so that visually the game could look at it’s best without having too much clutter taking away memory space.
OVERALL
Alan Wake's American Nightmare was great and finished just at the right time.
The graphics, gameplay, controls, story and setting all fit well and I hope that the developers work on some more episodes of Night Springs for us to indulge in.
The added game mode “Arcade” is a great but as mentioned before, co-op would have been nice.
If you are a fan of Alan Wake I’m pretty sure you will buy American nightmare and for those of you that have not played the original, I would do that first.
8/10
Review By Wicket2961
