From the Evil Dead-styled posing, jittery, unsteady camera effects, and the faux projection markings, it is immediately evident that Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is moving into new territory. Gone is the eerie, mysterious sense of foreboding, and in its place is a Grindhouse take on the Alan Wake universe.

Pulp Grindhouse Done Right

Opening in the desert of Arizona, we see Barry Wheeler, Alan’s best friend and business partner, falling asleep before an episode of Night Springs, the series’ homage to The Twilight Zone. Immediately, American Nightmare introduces a healthy distance between itself and the original game with its defining use of color. The night-time, Pacific Northwest setting of Alan Wake reduced the color palette to a range of ominous blacks, grays, and dark shades to great effect. Here in Arizona, the chief tones we encounter are reds. Red sands and burnt sunsets serve to suffuse the game with a color unmistakably associated with strong emotions and of course, blood.

“I’m going to tell you a secret: There are places in our world where fiction and dreams can come true…”

Alan’s explanation of the world around him is just as involving in the first game as it is in this XBLA outing. In terms of story though,  American Nightmare feels expressly marketed to fans of the first game and its DLC. There isn’t enough plot exposition to fill new players in on who Alan Wake is, why he might be here, and what may be going on within Night Springs. This is worsened by the story being significantly shallower than that of the first game. Granted, it is a smaller title, and though it may be unfair to compare it to its bigger brother, it is the first port of call when trying to relate American Nightmare to anything else. Despite my gripes with the shallow plot, if you were a fan of The X Files or Twin Peaks, you will adore the plotline of American Nightmare. If you’re looking for a story to really sink your teeth into,  you are going to be left hungry.

The landscape is sprawling, arid, and unfriendly. A perfect move for Alan Wake.

What you might not adore so much, though, is what happens between the story.  Survival Horror as a genre is predicated on — in many ways defined by — a reluctance to engage in combat. While Alan Wake may skitter on the borderline between Survival- and Action-Horror, its clunky combat system was redolent of the survival horror genre.  Too often you will find yourself trying to avoid engagement, or rapidly bashing the dodge button, trying to stay out of harm’s way. In saying that, the combat is not particularly difficult, and is vastly ameliorated this time around by providing an abundance of ammunition and flashlight batteries.

While the Energizer product placement is no longer found, in-game advertising fans can still get a chance to enjoy a totally out-of-place Kasabian spot. The poor implementation of this moment is further amplified by how brilliant the music is everywhere else. Key highlights are Poets of the Fall’s ‘Psycho‘, Mr Scratch’s personal theme, a return from the Old Gods of Asgard, with ‘Balance Slays The Demon‘. Accompanied by Mr Scratch dancing on screen, and generally reveling in his complete moral turpitude, it is a moment that brings a smile to your face, and that may remind cult film fans of Mr Blonde’s unforgettable scene in Reservoir Dogs.

For a man whose manuscript pages never cease espousing how much he loves and adores his wife Alice, there is something telling that the only two males in this game are Alan and Mr Scratch, who is essentially the bad parts of Alan made flesh. The other three characters are not much more than blank-page females – Emma, Rachel, and Serena – that all seem to be either attracted to Alan, Mr Scratch, or both. What’s worse is that these three characters are so paper-thin as to be needless. Their sole purpose within the game is to serve to advance the plot. Their bald design goes further than character, too. In terms of animation and detail, Alan is leagues ahead of his counterparts.

I Told You I’m A Psycho

The sole exception is the game’s antagonist, and Alan’s doppelgänger, Mr Scratch, whose maniacal smile and behavior are strongly reminiscent of American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman, right down to the edge-of-sanity smile he cracks whilst addressing Alan directly. In fact, the more that I played, the more I came to realize how similar voice actor Matthew Porretta even sounds to Christian Bale. The voice performance and character development are outstanding here, and you ought use every chance you get to watch his home-video recordings to Alan, all of which were my favorite parts of the game.

Mr Scratch easily is the best thing about American Nightmare.

The level design is initially exciting in its novelty. For a downloadable title, it is pleasing to be pitched in the middle of a small town in Arizona, ready to investigate what particular brand of weird happens to be festooned in its environs. Unfortunately, the three areas — a motel, an observatory, and a drive-in theater — turn out to be claustrophobically petite, a far cry from the sprawling, lonely forests of Alan Wake. This is further drilled into players through a necessity to play through these three locations three times each, with objectives streamlined to detract from the inherent repetition. As the game progresses, players are encouraged to focus increasingly more on combat. This game just does not do combat well. The question begs why Remedy focused such a great fiction universe as Alan Wake on its weakest component.

A Lackluster Extra

Which brings us to ‘Arcade Action’ mode.  If Remedy was looking for players to enjoy the combat, this was not the right way to approach it. A single-player wave-based combat game is every bit as lonely and disinteresting as it sounds. It features ten maps, five of which are ‘Nightmare’ versions of the main five, which are unlocked through high-score performances. You can unlock some new and interesting weapons, too. The crossbow was my favorite, annihilating anything it met in a single shot. Unfortunately, you will spend most of your time running around, desperately trying to either find ammunition or health. As a single-player outing, there is little strategy beyond the requisite ‘Survive for eight minutes’. If you’re into bragging rights, there is a leaderboard in which you can compare scores with your friends and the world at large.

'Arcade Action' mode is just not very enjoyable at all.

In summary, if you enjoyed the original game, or if you are a fan of pulp horror, there is a lot of fun to be had with Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. At 1200 Microsoft points, I think it’s a little bit much for those who may be on the fence about it, particularly given the game’s relatively short lifespan. However, by the close of the story mode, I was ready to sign up for a regular outing of this brand of content, and I think many will feel the same. If Remedy were willing to construct a new episode every couple of months, I will be first in line. Next time, though, let’s go for more story, and less combat, eh?

A code was provided for review by Nordic Games.

Written by Christopher Floyd  (71 Posts)

Christopher Floyd is VGW’s resident Brit. Ever the champion for gaming underdogs, he is more likely to be found covering Triple-eh? than Triple-A. With keen interests in popular science, speculative fiction, and great story, he is most fond of science-fiction games with narratives that blow themselves wide open. Each Sunday, he welcomes the VGW faithful to the Sunday Sidebar, with popular reflections on the gaming world and life within it.