Alan Wake’s American Nightmare – VGBlogger.com

Contest: Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Steam Giveaway

Matt Litten — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:51:35 +0000

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, the standalone spin-off to the original Alan Wake, is out this week for PC, only a few short months after its initial run on Xbox Live Arcade. To celebrate the launch, we’re giving away a Steam code to one lucky gamer out there. If you’re game for some pulse-pounding pulp arcade action, grab your nail gun and enter now for a chance at the prize. Mr. Scratch is waiting!

Contest Details:

Prize: 1 Steam download code for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. Game valued at $14.99.

How to enter: Do at least one of the following: leave a comment below; follow us on Twitter @vgblogger and retweet this message; come ‘Like’ us on our Facebook page and then ‘Like’ and comment on this post, or email us at contests@vgblogger.com with the subject line “Alan Wake Giveaway.” Only ONE form of entry is required, but entering through multiple channels will increase your odds of winning.

Entry Period: Friday, May 25 – Monday, May 28 at 12:00 PM EST. Contest winner to be selected at random and announced after entry deadline on Monday, May 28.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is available now on Steam and GOG.com. Keep up to date on all the latest Alan Wake news and updates by following developer Remedy Entertainment on Facebook and Twitter. Also be sure to read our review of the original Xbox Live Arcade version here.

Screenshot Saturday: Crysis 3, Halo 4, The Last of Us & More

Matt Litten — Sat, 19 May 2012 21:54:36 +0000

Three HUGE gaming blockbusters dominate the spotlight in the latest edition of our weekly screenshot round-up. Prepare to be shocked and awed by gorgeous new shots from Crysis 3, Halo 4 and The Last of Us.

Anything else to care about? You bet! Loads of games were immortalized in screenshot form this week. Other featured galleries include: Gravity Rush, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, Batman: Arkham City’s Harley Quinn’s Revenge DLC, Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, Rayman Origins 3DS, One Piece: Pirate Warriors, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare for PC, Pokédex 3D Pro, Pokémon Black Version/White Version 2, Smart As, Sound Shapes, Madagascar 3: The Video Game, Mercenary Ops, Lollipop Chainsaw, Waveform’s Eris DLC, Worms Revolution, Fray, Dungeon Gate, NASCAR The Game: Inside Line, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD and Final Fantasy XIII-2’s final DLC set.

Crysis 3 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360):
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Halo 4 (Xbox 360):
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The Last of Us (PS3):
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Gravity Rush (PS Vita):
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Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, PS Vita):
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Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy (Nintendo 3DS):
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Batman: Arkham City – Harley Quinn’s Revenge DLC (PS3, Xbox 360):
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Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown (PSN, XBLA):
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Rayman Origins 3DS (Nintendo 3DS):
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One Piece: Pirate Warriors (PSN):
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Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (PC):
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Pokédex 3D Pro (Nintendo 3DS eShop):
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Pokémon Black Version/White Version 2 (Nintendo DS):
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Smart As (PS Vita):
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Sound Shapes (PS Vita):
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Madagascar 3: The Video Game (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360):
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Mercenary Ops (PC):
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Lollipop Chainsaw – Juliet Starling Bonus Costumes (PS3, Xbox 360):
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Waveform – Eris DLC (PC):
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Worms Revolution (PC, PSN, XBLA):
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Fray (PC, Mac):
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Dungeon Gate (PC):
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NASCAR The Game: Inside Line (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360):
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Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD (PSN, XBLA):
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Final Fantasy XIII-2 – Final DLC (PS3, Xbox 360):
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Alan Wake’s Pulp Action Spin-off Shines Light on PC This Month

Matt Litten — Wed, 09 May 2012 02:14:27 +0000

It took two years for Remedy Entertainment to port Xbox 360 thriller Alan Wake over to PC. Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, the standalone pulp action spin-off adventure first released on Xbox Live Arcade in February, won’t make PC gamers wait nearly that long.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is scheduled for a PC launch of May 22nd, bringing with it “stunning high-resolution graphics and enhanced PC features.” It’ll be released digitally through Steam and GOG.com, and at retailers in Europe courtesy of Nordic Games. Both sites are offering 10% off pre-order deals, in addition to discounts of 25% for existing owners of the original Alan Wake or customers who buy both games together. Alan Wake just so happens to be on sale at 50% off as Steam’s Midweek Madness deal, which, as of posting time, ends in just under 40 hours.

Check out our previous reviews for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare on XBLA and Alan Wake PC. Both games are stellar — you should buy them.

Review: Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

Matt Litten — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:47:44 +0000

By now I think everyone knows about Alan Wake’s long and winding development cycle. Remedy Entertainment, the acclaimed Finnish studio behind Max Payne, had the game in development for half a decade before it finally shipped as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2010. Then, when it finally did ship, it wasn’t initially met with the rousing retail reception it deserved despite mass critical praise, becoming one of many games to be swallowed up by the hyped launch of Red Read Redemption.

This month, the name Alan Wake has vaulted back into the picture once again, this time without a bunch of other games to hog away the limelight. Remedy launched the long-awaited PC port on Steam just last week, where it has maintained a high spot on the “Top Sellers” list. (Our review is in the works, so stay tuned.) And now this week, as the second act in the Xbox Live Arcade “House Party” promotion, Xbox 360 owners are treated to a standalone spin-off successor to Mr. Wake’s Bright Falls thriller.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is not a direct sequel, and thus newcomers to Remedy’s twisted universe can approach without any previous knowledge. Returning fans are in for a treat, though, as the game does pick up on plot threads from the original game while simultaneously shifting the narrative style to more of a pulp action experience with a B slasher movie attitude, opposed to the oppressively dark atmosphere, episodic TV show structure, and psychological thriller storytelling style of its predecessor. The bold new approach works out incredibly well; surprisingly it doesn’t clash with the original’s style as I feared it might.

This time, the story unfolds as an episode Alan wrote for the fictional TV show Night Springs, in which Mr. Scratch, a boogeyman serial killer straight out of urban legend, is on a supernatural killing spree across the arid canyons of Arizona, Alan’s wife, Alice, targeted as his prize kill. Mr. Scratch is Alan Wake’s evil twin, a herald of darkness to Wake’s persona as the “Champion of Light,” so Alan is the only one capable of unraveling this twisted reality and putting an end to Mr. Scratch so he can reunite with his dear wife.

Despite the attitude adjustment, symbolism and strong themes of light versus darkness remain at the heart of the story. However, narration and foreshadowing no longer play a prominent role. The Night Springs TV host narrates in spots, mostly during cutscene transitions between levels, but his performance isn’t as prevalent or engaging as Alan’s from the first game, and I did miss that. Alan does read aloud manuscript pages you happen to collect, though, and like before the voice acting performances and soundtrack are superb. Actor Ilkka Villi deserves special recognition for his live action portrayal of Mr. Scratch. Villi puts on the perfect villain’s performance, marrying a sadistic humor and camp with the creepiness and calculated rage of a ruthless serial killer. Although the game is rated ‘Teen’ and thus refrains from displaying obscene violence, I couldn’t help but think of Christian Bale’s character in American Psycho as I watched Mr. Scratch casually laugh and dance around, taunting his prey before the kill.

My issue with the campaign is how unabashedly padded out it is. Seemingly in effort to combat potential criticism of the game being “too short,” Remedy decided to build the story around a time loop plot device that sees the player reliving and replaying the events of the three main acts a total of three times apiece. The three stages—a motel and diner rest stop, a mountain observatory, and a drive-in movie theater–are spread thin across nine acts, and each time through the loop you are tasked with rewriting reality in order to put an end to the cycle and stop Mr. Scratch. I didn’t mind going back through the same levels a second time, as events play out somewhat differently and tougher enemies present themselves. But having to do so for a third time felt unnecessary and anticlimactic. The time looping structure makes perfect sense within the context of the story, but Remedy’s storytelling and design approach around the concept could have been a little tighter. Of course, I’m sure developing for Xbox Live Arcade limited their options.

Anyone who has played Alan Wake will feel right at home behind the controller of American Nightmare, and new players should be able to grasp the approachable third-person shooting controls without issue. The health system has been simplified to a more clearly defined three-block health bar, with each block capable of recharging as long as the bar doesn’t drop down to the next tier. But other than that small change, the light-versus-dark combat mechanic has you shining Alan’s flashlight and waving flares to penetrate the Taken’s shroud of darkness same as before, softening them up for subsequent pistol, shotgun and assault rifle bullets, crossbow bolts, and nailgun spikes.

Mr. Wake’s arsenal has expanded greatly this time around, as has the variety of his foes. The Dark Presence manifests itself in many new forms, including creepy-crawler spiders, giant hillbillies armed with circular saws, Taken that can shapeshift back and forth between physical form and a flock of crows or divide into two separate beings when light shines on them, and fountains of darkness that constantly spew forth enemies. Action has clearly taken over in American Nightmare, and Remedy has tailored the weapons, enemies and level designs to compliment the refocused gameplay (no more driving sections, thank God!).

All told, the story mode can probably be completed in a single sitting if you decide to power through, avoiding the collectible manuscript pages, radio shows and disturbing TV messages left behind by Mr. Scratch. Hunt for and view all of these collectibles–which do add meaningful narrative value, by the way–and you’re looking at a campaign comprised of a good five to six hours of material. I’d say that’s pretty substantial for a $15 downloadable–and amazingly the story mode is only half of what this game has to offer.

By collecting manuscript pages, weapon crates containing more powerful firearms can be opened, both within the campaign’s missions and in the separate arcade mode. Fight till Dawn is the other key component to the American Nightmare package, a single-player survival mode challenging players to survive escalating waves of the Taken until the break of dawn—in game terms that means keeping Mr. Wake upright for 10 straight minutes while building up a high score to be proud of in the process.

With successive kills and successful dodges, a point multiplier rises. However, between kills the multiplier gradually lowers, and if at any point you should sustain damage the multiplier resets completely. So posting a good score requires a deft balance of attack and escape tactics, as well as ammo conservation and a constant awareness of your surroundings when it comes to identifying the locations of weapon crates, ammo stations, health recharging spotlights, explosive barrels and potential choke points and dead ends.

The Taken are sneaky-good at flanking and creeping up from behind when least expected, which makes surviving all the tougher. While an option for a radar display of enemy positions would have been a friendly way of broadening accessibility, I appreciated Remedy’s approach to emphasizing player skill and awareness. The only way to keep from being blindsided is to remain in motion at all times, constantly pan the camera around, and watch for Alan’s subtle head movements which indicate when and from where danger is approaching.

Five maps make up Fight till Dawn’s 10 challenging missions of self-preservation, a cemetery, ghost town, oil field, cave and trailer park serving as backdrops while players fend for their lives against a never-ending onslaught of dark beings. Up to three gold stars can be achieved on each map–stars are needed to unlock subsequent stages—and online leaderboards provide an outlet for bragging rights against those on your friends list or other survivalists around the world.

When I stopped playing last night, I was actually ranked #2 on the overall score leaderboard. Of course, that was only out of 145 total players—now that the game is publicly available, I’m sure my ranking has already plummeted. Still, once you reach the ‘Nightmare’ challenges the difficulty ramps up considerably, so I’m proud being able to say I’ve not only successfully survived all 10 missions, but also earned the maximum star count on all but two stages. Now it’s time to improve those high scores!

I’m still holding out hope for a true Alan Wake sequel someday—and wouldn’t expect anything less than another mercurial, 5-year development cycle—but, for the time being, American Nightmare more than capably fills the void in its place. In many ways, American Nightmare feels like a full retail gaming experience. While the story may not be as strongly emphasized or as well paced as the first game, the delivery is just as memorable and the action runs full throttle all the way through. Existing fans will no doubt love how boldly this game stretches the narrative established by the first game, but whether you’re versed in Alan Wake or not, American Nightmare’s pulp sci-fi mentality and action-heavy gameplay is sure to please.

Pros:
+ Intense and tightly focused action
+ Compelling pulp horror storyline
+ Challenging survival mode and collectibles aplenty
+ Mr. Scratch is an awesome villain

Cons:
– Time loop plot structure has you replaying the same areas multiple times
– The first game’s narration-based storytelling is missed

Game Info:
Platform: Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Release Date: 2/22/2012
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
ESRB Rating: Teen
Players: 1
Source: Review code provided by publisher

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Alan Wake’s American Nightmare First Developer Diary and New Screenshots

Matt Litten — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:51:49 +0000

Three members of the Remedy Entertainment dev team sit down for a roundtable discussion about Alan Wake’s American Nightmare in this first video developer diary episode. Once you’re done viewing, peek down below for a new batch of screenshots.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is the standalone spin-off successor to the original Alan Wake, taking the experience in more of a pulp action horror direction with a Quentin Tarantino flair and a steeper slant towards arcade action. The Xbox Live Arcade title, scheduled for a February 22nd launch as part of Microsoft’s House Party promotion, will contain a full story mode as well as a brand new “Fight till Dawn” arcade-style survival mode.