What dream's may come
Alan Wake's American Nightmare reviewed by Doc D Strange
Story/Gameplay
As an Alan Wake fan this game is kind of a weird step in a direction that only Remedy Entertainment knows where it will go. I love the over arching story of Alan Wake's plight as a whole even if I really don't know what the hell is going on sometimes. So American Nightmare start's (spoiler free hopefully) as fan's of the first game know there is a TV show in the Alan Wake universe called "Night Springs" which is a imitation of "The Twilight Zone" where Wake is transported into the show. This certain episode of Night Springs takes place in Arizona and deals with Alan Wake's fight against the darkness. Mr. Scratch, Alan's doppelganger/serial killer alter ego from the second DLC "The Writer" from the first game, has been running a muck all over the small Arizona town of Night Springs. Alan has to use the light to fight Mr. Scratch and his army of Taken (people infected by the dark force). The gameplay hasn't changed much from the previous game, use the flash light to bleed away the darkness from your foes/objects and then pump them full of lead with you weapon. The big difference in gameplay is 3 new "Taken" types and a hand full of new weapon's. Personally I am a huge fan of the cross bow, it's just badass! Aside from the main campaign there is also an arcade mode ala a wave based horde mode which is in almost every fucking game now days. In the arcade mode the tag line is "fight till dawn" waves of Taken come out from spawn points and you will have a certain amount of time till the sun rises to increase your score by killing them and dodging there attacks.
Graphics/Sound
American Nightmare is a great looking game for it being an Xbox Live Arcade game. Smooth frame rate most of the time but I did notice the frame rate chuggin' during some arcade mode matches. What makes the Alan Wake games so genius in ways, is Remedy's use of FMV (Full Motion Video). Almost all the part's with Mr. Scratch are all FMV and I can't get enough of that. I hope in the fourth coming Alan Wake 2, just make the game 70% FMV and 30% game. It's a very cool idea. This game has great audio, the soundtrack is creepy with a grindhouse flair, not to mention the band "Old gods of Asgard". Voice acting can be campy but in all the right ways. If you pick this game up stop and listen to the radio broadcast's they're really good.
Multiplayer
Alan Wake's American Nightmare has no multiplayer to speak of which is perfectly fine with me. Rocksteady's Batman games didn't have any multiplayer and those games are fantastic, so what I am leading to is every fucking game doesn't need an online component to be good.
Is this game any fun
Now this is where my review score for this game comes into play. If you are an Alan Wake fan and want to keep the legend going then hell ya pick this shit up! But there are point's in the game that I thought was kinda a cop out, no spoilers just see for yourself like half way through the game then repeat that over 3 times. The arcade mode of American Nightmare is really cool and can get you to keep playing this game if you are a fan of horde mode play. Having said that, wait for this game to go on sale and you might appreciate the game more.
Beer of the Review
For this review I would like to shout out New Belgium's Ranger IPA. I know, I know all my beer reviews have been IPA's but dammit I love IPA style brews. Ranger is a beast of an IPA at 8% alcohol. Ranger comes in a bomber, 6 pack bottles and 12 pack cans. This IPA is a clearer based brew than my previous IPA reviews so it has a cleaner finish. Other beer's like Modus and Mojo have a stronger bite. New Belgium brew's are a more commercial beer company which means you might be able to find it outside of Colorado. Please check them out at www.newbelgium.com
