Backlog Raider #3: Alan Wake: American Nightmare

After having a hard time realizing I’ve been a notorious swine when it comes to impulsive buying of games on Steam, I’ve decided to approach the whole thing differently. I will dig deep in my Steam backlog and every now and then find a game that’s been lying there, all alone and forgotten. And then I’ll play it and you’ll have something to read.

That’s about it. Join the Backlog Raider group on Steam here.

ALAN WAKE: AMERICAN NIGHTMARE

I don’t know about you, but I surely do like Stephen King. And I also find Hitchcock’s and Lynch’s works of art pretty interesting. When Remedy Entertainment released info about Alan Wake, it sounded like a jackpot. Let’s be honest, not only because those people were making part action, part survival horror game greatly influenced by King’s work, but you know what else they’ve developed? Max Payne. Yup, that’s right. One of the best, if not the best single player experience of all times. I could play it over and over again. Don’t need no multiplayer, no sandbox multi choices world. Just a bottle of painkillers and Max’s rage to the max.

Alan Wake was a good game. It had its set of flaws: it was a bit too long, a bit too hard at certain points and a bit too boring by the end, but it was an honest hommage to one of the greatest living authors, with its story line, characters, ideas and moody atmosphere that haunted the player even after finishing the game. Basically — it was Twin Peaks digested by Stephen King. Add some nasty black birds for Hitchcock’s own personal enjoyment.

So after finishing up original game and two DLC episodes, I’ve realized I also own Alan Wake: American Nightmare, stylized as Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (AWAN from now on) is not a sequel, but a different game with similar mechanics (use a light source to weaken your opponent, use your shotgun to blow his brains out) . It doesn’t spoil the fun of playing the first AW game, but it surely provides enough references so you should probably play this one second. Don’t listen to Remedy Entertainment when they say it’s a great starting point for a new players right there on AWAN Steam page because it isn’t.

Unlike Alan Wake, AWAN is more action and adrenaline oriented game, with less storytelling, less characters and less plot twists (if any). Alan went from mentally scarred writer suffering from writer’s block to gun wielding one liner super hero. Usually, I don’t like these kind of changes, but the whole game is reskinned, settings and atmosphere are changed, and it blurs the reality and fiction in a strange way, so at the end you might ask yourself: is Alan dreaming? Is this real? Maybe, just maybe you are playing Alan’s scenario for a Twilight Zone’s inspired show The Night Springs?

It took me approximately four hours to finish the game, I’ve collected almost 3/4 of manuscript pages, so if you’re into collecting you’ll probably need some more time to find all the weapons, radio and TV shows. Game also has some pretty good cutscenes that pop up from time to time and main antagonist Mr. Scratch — Wake’s doppelganger, is sooooo ridicolous, but it fits the whole Arizona setting nicely.

After you’re done with Story Mode, you can try your luck and skills at Arcade — in Arcade mode your objective is to survive until dawn (read: sunrise). Can you make it? Do it in style, don’t let ‘em touch you, collect points, guns and skulls of your enemies so you can place your ass on leaderboards and see how you compare to your friends. It’s a fun mode, but believe me, only for a few rounds — unless you have fanatical friends who love playing it all over and over again. I don’t.

The best way to think about Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is this: if original Alan Wake title was a Stephen King’s book, then Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is Stephen King’s movie. You know how they usually chop down his movies, twist ‘em around, skin ‘em alive and dumbify them as much as possible? Yes, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is King’s version of “The Shining”, “The Night Flier” or “The Thinner”, but you just LOVE those cheap shots at silver screen glory. If you’re coming from Alan Wake and you’re expecting the same kind of rich storytelling — don’t, because you don’t want to end up disappointed. Leave this short game for one boring weekend and get ready to shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot. Wait. Reload. Shoot again. OK, they’re all gone.

Now, cross those little fingers of yours and let’s all hope Alan Wake 2 will become a reality.