Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (Xbox 360)
Reviews"It's gonna be like that again, huh?"
Posted 21st February 2012, 8:38pm in Games / By Michael J Fax
But Alan's (or 'The Wake' as he's not known ever by anyone) classic gameplay remains untouched – shine the light from your torch or flares and flash-bangs on to the eerie black deadness of the Taken to strip their powers before pumping bullets into their remains. This time, Alan is on the tail of his murderous doppelganger Mr. Scratch and his missing wife Alice, as he's trapped inside a story of his own creation. He Alanwakes up in Arizona inside an episode of Night Springs, the Alan Wake world's very own Twilight Zone and must re-write the story to suit his needs, while he lives it. And re-lives it.
Despite being a stand-alone game, it does help if you've played Alan Wake before, particularly its DLCs 'The Signal' and 'The Writer' in terms of narrative – this is, in essence, a direct sequel to 'The Writer' and, with no recalling of the story, things can feel a bit muddled. But, never fear, the Rod Serling-a-like narrator is ready to ease you into things and, if you're familiar with the Wakester on any capacity, it should be a dawdle to pick up. Alan himself even says “It's gonna be like that again, huh?”, and there's very little gameplay change.
Although, there's a sincere switch from the claustrophobia of Alan's original outing to a more arcade run and gun effort here. Consisting mostly of fetch missions and collecting manuscript pages (which you use to unlock weapon crates, as well as hear Alan's droning voice piece together the story), it's never more apparent when the plot introduces a 'time loop' that sees you having to replay the same segments over and over again with small tweaks to the tale. It works in the context of the story, but there's not enough meat to the sparsely inhabited environments or simple arcade gaming to justify revisiting them.
While the original Alan Wake was an atmospheric Stephen King-esque smalltown yarn, American Nightmare goes all-out Twilight Zone, in a good way; set-pieces like the observatory and the drive-in theatre are wonderfully eerie. However, Remedy's attempts at creating a quirky number don't always pay off, particularly when it means trundling through the same bits again. Alan's half-arsed jog of a run soon becomes an irritant. Being hot on the heels of Alan's serial killing alter ego, Mr. Scratch, is great, particularly when meeting those who've already encountered him, but there's little actual substance or threat from the character himself.
What can be applauded though is the game's frustrating but addictive survival arcade mode in which Alan is bombarded with waves of Taken for ten minutes. Unlockable weapons from the main story and a Nightmare mode can turn even the most sceptical gamers towards what, in Alan Wake tradition, shouldn't really work, but does. There's no multiplayer though, which would've pumped the game's tense arcade mode into overdrive.
All in all, Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a curious eyebrow-raiser of a game that doesn't always work the way you want it to. Starting well, it falls into a trap of its own design by enlisting the lazy re-usage of set pieces that, although impressive, will ultimately bore you. The story isn't half as complex as it thinks it is but, in true Twilight Zone style, it claps its hands at itself for being so clever. Mr. Scratch is an irritating antagonist rather than a threatening one and the game, sadly, suffers from poor pacing and some atrocious voice-acting. Nevertheless, at its heart, there's a great adventure here and it's a pleasure to be back with Alan and his melodramatic chin-less-ness, so when it does work – like when the ghostly darkness throws cars and rocks at you like a poltergeist having a tantrum – there's a lot going for it. There's a signpost up ahead, and all directions give a thumbs up for Alan Wake 2. Next stop – the proper sequel.
Alan Wake's American Nightmare is available to download from 22nd February for Xbox 360.
Rating: 7/10
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