Imagine a world covered in darkness. A world where you and everything you know is not what it appears to be. A world where a ruthless doppelganger of your former self is hellbent on tearing apart the very fabric of space and time. Light is your only weapon against the dark presence. You must find the source of light and defeat this evil before it envelops not only you, but the entire world. This is the danger you will encounter in Alan Wake’s: American Nightmare. That was my best attempt of narrating as Rod Serling. (Rod Serling is the narrator/writer for The Twilight Zone)

The Backwoods Boys

Our story takes place right after the events of the original Alan Wake. Our hero/word bender is again trapped inside the story he’s written and he must utilize the resources within his modified reality to alter the ending. Alan Wake’s alter ego, Mr. Scratch, is harnessing the power of the darkness to reek havoc on the small town of Night Springs. If you’ve played the original game you know that Night Springs is a television program with a shocking resemblance to Twilight Zone, that Alan use to write for before hitting it big as an author. His success as a writer morphed him into a shallow and deplorable version of his former self; this is the side of Alan’s personality that Mr. Scratch feeds on. As I so elegantly mentioned above, the objective of the game is find your evil twin and stop him from destroying the world. Which, if you ask my editor, is nothing compared to proofreading my work. Ba-Zing! Who am I kidding though? I don’t have an editor.

You will see a lot of this guy.

Story telling plays a major role in shaping the theme of Alan Wake’s: American Nightmare. Like the last game, it’s very episodic. You are first introduced to the world via a very Rod Serling-esque narration of current events. The dark and haunting, Steven King style of the original game is now substituted for a more retro, pulp-horror style approach, which I felt did a great job of creating a solid theme. Your hero throws out his blazer and dress shoes and adorns himself in his finest southern attire, including his clean pressed flannel and and a 4″ belt buckle. Very fitting considering you will spend a great deal of your time battling giant, deformed, hillbillies wielding giant cement saws and let me tell ya, there’s nothing more horrifying than a working man with nothing to lose.

$14.99

As far as Xbox Live Arcade downloads go, American Nightmare is incredibly solid. For the 1200 Microsoft Points ($14.99) you get several hours of engaging story as well as a pretty fun survival mode that plays like your standard “Horde” mode. It takes many elements from the original game and let’s you relive some of the classic storytelling that makes the Alan Wake series so great. The addition of the arcade survival mode adds hours worth of content if you feel the need to slay wave after wave of darkened southern folk. If you are looking for something to tide you over until the full fledged sequel is released, I would definitely recommend picking up this fantastic download.

A Solid Arcade Title