Alan Wake's American Nightmare

This is what I hope the future of downloadable games will be; top notch AAA production values in the form of small $12-$15 packages. Alan Wake's American Nightmare is an excellent game, which will surely whet the appetite of fans of the original for the sequel.

If you want a hard-core and challenging game this isn't probably for you, but if you're looking for a good story to be lived as an interactive movie with great graphics and sound, this is surely a good buy.

Despite the complaints that I mentioned above if you are a fan of Alan Wake then you should really play this game. It is a beautiful looking title and Remedy has raised the bar for XBLA games going forward. You really should play the original first though so that you can properly grasp what is going on and what Alan is fighting against.

A bite-size chunk of great downloadable action and horror.

For as great as Alan Wake's American Nightmare starts out, it ends in an unsatisfying, cliffhanger fashion. I loved the setting, loved the action, but felt Remedy didn't tell their story to the best of their abilities; confounding story twists, half-ideas and a quick resolution hold this game back from making an impact.

Strange in that it straddles the line between traditional DLC and a stand-alone game. While it's not a direct continuation of the original's story, fans of the first game may find some value in reading through as many manuscript pages as possible, though the lack of any real answers may also be frustrating. On the flip side, those new to the franchise might feel lost, thanks to the surprising absence of any backstory or exposition.

A downloadable spin-off that, while reasonably good value for money, manages only to underline how shallow and repetitive the combat was from the first game.

A great direction for the franchise, although I do I hope that we get to see Bright Falls again! The story was amazing and I was very satisfied with the ending.

Good and bad sides, review on bottom + Good combat/gameplay + Good addition to Alan Wake's story + Good antagonist - Not so good story - Repetitive - Edgy and odd dialogue If you don't like alan wake 1 you won't like this Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a strong spin-off that you should play if you liked Alan Wake 1. It improves gameplay elements but lacks story. It's more of an action game set in Alan Wake's world. Gameplay wise American Nightmare is much better. It's enchanted version of Alan Wakes 1, combat. Core elements are there, point your light at the enemy and then you unload your clip at them. But there are many more enemy types, I won't tell them all but for example there is one enemy which consists of birds and flies in the sky and then comes down as an enemy. There are many more guns, like nailgun, 9mm, rifle and many many more. Dodging has improved too, it's not so clunky anymore. The strongest element of this game is combat/gameplay. My favourite moment in the game is the third time in the observatory you go inside there and it was just a hell yeah moment. I won't spoil it but I loved it. The story in this game is not so good. You play 3 maps 3 times but with little differences. You chase your evil twin Mr Scratch around America. I won't tell you more about the story cause I can't without spoiling it. Warning, this game has some very edgy and odd dialogue. The atmosphere isn't that good, but this tries to be more action game than horror game and it fits very well. There is this one big “twist” which relates to Alan Wakes being trapped in the dark place. The environments in this game are good in my opinion, they look interesting and are fun to explore. It's very different from the main game and looks very American. (it's set in America so that explains) The side characters are all somewhat interesting. There's only 2 of them but every conversation is interesting to follow. But the best part about this game except for gameplay is the antagonist Mr Scratch. He has just some charm and it's very interesting to watch. He mainly appears throughout television screens and does some psychopathic with some monologue. Also music in some of scenes are just thrilling, in example last time you are in observatory happens something very cool. In the end, Alan Wake’s American nightmare is a great addition to Alan Wake's story. Go into this expecting better gameplay but somewhat edgy dialogue and some not very good story.

The game all in all was good, story was interesting as well. Though at the time made me realize Alan Wake 2 was nowhere in sight. With the added blow this story wasnt canon but a "what if" scenario.

Meh. Looks like a prototype for Control, but w/o all the visual flare and with B-movie style writing instead, it feels off.

This is an example of someone who has a decent story idea and then implements it so poorly with game design. Horrible camera, very annoying combat, graphics don't utilize any modern graphics enhancements (kind of caps out at mediocre 1080p-ish), and poor character control too. The atmosphere is good and the story is decent, but it definitely isn't worth the supreme annoyances from so many of the other parts of the game.