There may not have been many video game happenings this past week at the Consumer Electronics Show, but Microsoft still had plenty to keep Xbox 360 fans happy. Along with various Kinect demos, the company also revealed the next entries in this year’s House Party release schedule, including I Am Alive, Nexuiz and EA’s Warp. But perhaps the highlight is Remedy Entertainment’s return to Alan Wake territory, for the first time since the original survival horror game released in 2000. American Nightmare, though, takes a different cue than the original, though the gameplay still leans heavily on using light to survive against darkened enemies. Rather than following the Twin Peaks-ish pathos that made the first game work so well, American Nightmare is a little more tongue-in-cheek. This time around, Wake finds himself trapped in an episode of Night Springs, the Twilight Zone-esque show that first appeared in the original game. And instead of being all detective-like and figuring out what’s going on in his head, he’s instead fighting in a Southern-ish From Dusk Till Dawn-like world, wearing standard clothes compared to his usual gear and trying to figure out what’s going on with Mr. Scratch, who once again makes a return to stir things up.
Now, American Nightmare isn’t a typical sequel. Rather than taking the retail route like the first game did, this is instead a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game, with a better emphasis on trying to get a high score rather than solving a stirring mystery. That said, Remedy Entertainment has packed a lot into this game, fulfilling the 2 GB space limit almost to the hilt with lots of cool visual effects and nifty little secrets that fans of the series will appreciate. Perhaps the most noticeable new ingredient added to American Nightmare is a survival mode. Not to be confused with any kind of Horde Mode or anything like that, Fight Till Dawn works in its own magical little way. Alan’s put in the middle of a dark area (one of a number of settings) and practically given ten minutes to survive. Waves of enemies come at you, and, like in the original, you’ll need to dispense of their dark shielding using your flashlight, flare or other weapons, then shoot them using more traditional weaponry, including a pistol, shotgun and, new to the series, a fun little nail gun. After each wave, you’ll have the chance to recover your health under scattered spotlights, and refill weapons by running to supply boxes or finding randomly scattered stuff.
Each wave becomes progressively harder, so you might want to save your flare gun and more powerful weapons against stronger enemies, like chainsaw wielding freaks or bigger guys that take a lot more damage to bring down. This new mode fully supports online leaderboards, so you can compare your best scores with others and always try to shoot for a better one. It’s a great new one that complements the story mode, which runs about four to five hours in length. While that may disappoint those looking for the next great Alan Wake mystery, it’s still more than sufficient for a downloadable game, and one that’ll retail for a far lesser price than the original at that. (Besides, there’s always the possibility that Alan Wake 2 will surface sooner rather than later.) Anyway, the gameplay is still quite well balanced. You can switch between light and physical weapons quite easily, using Remedy’s intuitive controls. Aiming is a snap, and watching an enemy burn into ashes is quite satisfying. And once again, the development team included the ability to dodge, and you’ll know you successfully pulled it off, as everything slows down and Alan barely slides out of the way of an incoming attack. (The same button is also used to run, which you’ll nee to do during Fight Till Dawn’s tougher waves.)
Remedy knows what worked so well in the original, and kept it mostly intact here. We would’ve liked to see some melee weapons, but, ehhhh, that’s not really Alan’s style. And even though it’s a downloadable game with more limited space, Remedy hasn’t skimped on Alan Wake’s American Nightmare’s visuals. Not in the least. The lighting remains vividly superb here, whether you’re lighting up something to explore or simply looking around the environment to see how the effect comes off. The animation is very smooth, particularly with the enemies, who come at you like ragged and, in some cases, multiply when you use a certain attack against them. (Watch out for those suckers.) The southern locale may be a slight bit off from the moody Night Springs atmosphere of the original, but it was certainly comfortable – that is, when chills weren’t going down our spine.) The audio’s good too, with plenty of strong voice acting, good sound effects (particularly explosions) and creepy little pieces of music. If you enjoyed Alan Wake in any way at all (just like we did), then American Nightmare is easily required playing when it comes out for Xbox Live Arcade’s House Party next month. We’ll be back with a full review. In the meantime, check out the original and get yourself refreshed. You can even play with the lights on, just in case.
