Alan Wake - American Nightmare

So, this game was like the first one in only the game mechanics... mostly.  There's a couple small changes in how the light effects the bad guys, the weapons selection and the types of bad guys.  But, the changes are good for action-based game play, which this game is more of.  Where Alan Wake (AW) was all about the atmosphere and building tension... and really just creeping you the fuck out, American Nightmare (AN) is a stand alone game that has more in common with slasher flicks action than the Hitchcockian 'what-you-don't-see' sort of psychological horror.  Everything in this game picks up the pace. 

yes, those are big fucking spiders.

AN is more all about F'd up things happening (see above).  That much is obvious with the types of Taken that become the staple of this game.  With AW and it's DLC, it's so creepy that I will not play it until it's night time and I've turned off all the lights.  AN obviously works well at night and has it's ultra-creepy moments, but for the most part has this sort of over-the-top schtick going on where the villian is SO evil that it starts to become funny, and playing in the day-time takes nothing away because it's just not as scary as AW.  I mean, for example, here's a live-action trailer feature the main villian, Mr Scratch, and evil doppleganger that first appeared in AW. 

LOTI (laugh-on-the-inside).  I mean he's so evil he not only murders people and controls supernaturals monsters, but he steals from the company snack bar if no one is looking.  It's hokey, but it completely works in this game.  And there's stuff like this:

I mean... it's silly and disturbing at the same time.  That brings me to the amount of live-action cinematics.  Way more.  And they are really well done too.  Ilkka Villi does a really good job playing Alan Wake and Mr Scratch.  But, it doesn't feel like a game where you're just watching cut scenes... the live-action is overlaid in the game play similarly to the first one in that it's happening in the background as you're playing. 

Poets of the Fall are back as The Olds Gods of Asgard, and they've cut a new single: Balance Slays the Demon.  It's is so friggin' power metal, it's re-god-damn-diculous.  There's a new DJ on the radio as this game takes place in Arizona, but he's not a very integral part of the happenings in the game.  There's a new score by Petri Alanko as well as new pop songs brought in throughout the game.  In AW, the songs came on the radio and at the end of an episode, but this story is episodic because it is an episode of Night Springs. 

Night Springs is a TV show from the first game and happens to be one of Alan's first writing gigs as a professional writer.  AN is one of his episodes, rewritten in the dark place as Alan tests ways to try and get out of the dark place.  So, it's not a sequel, it's not DLC, it's a stand alone game that relates to the main storyline.

All the same attention to detail that was apparent in AW is in AN, like the Old Gods of Asgard symbolism and the style of their banners.  This version of 'Night Springs' is very simlar to a Route 66 town in Arizona that was built in the 50s and had the highway move away from it, killing off the business and leaving a sort of ghost town. 

There's not much else to say though, it's just a fun game more action than horror, so don't jump into it expecting the same sort of experience as AW.

With that said, here's the trailer: