It would be more than a year since I made a thread about beating Alan Wake for the Xbox 360. It was a pretty damn good 'thriller'-esque title, and it tried some things I haven't really seen in a videogame since Haunting Ground. So then, after ebating Alan Wake, I went on to tackle Alan Wake's American Nightmare.
Story
Unlike Alan Wake's episodic format that goes through at least five or so episodes, American Nightmare is focused on one central episode themed after the Night Springs tv segments in the original game. Wake's pitted against Mr. Scratch that's essentially ruining his day in the most groundhog-day esque way possible. For better or worse
Dialogue
Unlike Alan Wake, the protagonist doesn't really get the shine of light for me in this game, but rather most of the actual dialogue came from Mr. Scratch. And that is fucking amazing. Again unlike the first game where I just skimmed through most of the TV segments, American Nightmare had me glued to the TV to see what the hell Scratch was doing. Being a polar opposite compared to Wake, I was really pleased with seeing such an exciting, eccentric individual in the game's cast of dull characters.
Presentation
This is where the game compared to Alan Wake takes a nosedive--presentation is really lacking in American Nightmare compared to AW. Some of the levels are really drab and dull, and their drabness and dullness are reinforced when you have to play the levels over and over and over for the story to actually progress.
Gameplay
Gunplay took a HUGE overhaul, which I really liked. I got the idea that it was a much more combat focused game compared to AW, which I didn't really mind. Shooting enemies, dodging enemies feels a lot more snappier compared to AW. My only gripe with the gunplay was that with that added overhaul the difficulty of avoiding enemies, and the enjoyment of finding flares and flare gun ammunition were pretty much removed. It's so easy to stock up on ammunition, that I kind of regretted playing on the average difficulty.
But, American Nightmare is pretty good. I think it's a solid continuation of the AW story, and I'd love to see more of the series. And perferably more of Mr. Scratch.
Story
Unlike Alan Wake's episodic format that goes through at least five or so episodes, American Nightmare is focused on one central episode themed after the Night Springs tv segments in the original game. Wake's pitted against Mr. Scratch that's essentially ruining his day in the most groundhog-day esque way possible. For better or worse
Dialogue
Unlike Alan Wake, the protagonist doesn't really get the shine of light for me in this game, but rather most of the actual dialogue came from Mr. Scratch. And that is fucking amazing. Again unlike the first game where I just skimmed through most of the TV segments, American Nightmare had me glued to the TV to see what the hell Scratch was doing. Being a polar opposite compared to Wake, I was really pleased with seeing such an exciting, eccentric individual in the game's cast of dull characters.
Presentation
This is where the game compared to Alan Wake takes a nosedive--presentation is really lacking in American Nightmare compared to AW. Some of the levels are really drab and dull, and their drabness and dullness are reinforced when you have to play the levels over and over and over for the story to actually progress.
Gameplay
Gunplay took a HUGE overhaul, which I really liked. I got the idea that it was a much more combat focused game compared to AW, which I didn't really mind. Shooting enemies, dodging enemies feels a lot more snappier compared to AW. My only gripe with the gunplay was that with that added overhaul the difficulty of avoiding enemies, and the enjoyment of finding flares and flare gun ammunition were pretty much removed. It's so easy to stock up on ammunition, that I kind of regretted playing on the average difficulty.
But, American Nightmare is pretty good. I think it's a solid continuation of the AW story, and I'd love to see more of the series. And perferably more of Mr. Scratch.