Alan Wake's American Nightmare (Xbox 360) review"While there’s still undeniably appeal in the Alan Wake franchise – the story is interesting for those players willing to read between the lines, and the combat is still a blast in moderation – American Nightmare is an underwhelming follow-up that simultaneously feels abbreviated and spread too thin." |
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is legit. That doesn’t mean it’s great, but simply that, for a fifteen-dollar downloadable Arcade title, it feels like the real deal. It looks as good as any Xbox 360 game you’d pull from a store shelf, which means the series’ typically phenomenal lighting effects once again greet us with dancing shadows as the titular protagonist points his flashlight around very dark places. The setting has moved from the forests of the Pacific Northwest to the deserts of Arizona, and while the scenery is new, the game’s old-timey locations – a quaint motel here, a drive-in theater there – channel vintage horror just as effectively. Developer Remedy has dropped the Stephen King act and is now in full-on Twilight Zone mode – with an appropriately Rod Serling-esque narrator to boot – and it still feels like an Alan Wake product, for all of the claustrophobic combat and labyrinthine plot points that this implies.
Featured community review by Suskie (February 25, 2012)
Mike Suskie is a freelance writer who has contributed to GamesRadar and has a blog. He can usually be found on Twitter at @MikeSuskie. |
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