Alan Wake's American Nightmare

[Metal Ghost]

Anyone planning on picking this up? I believe it drops on Wednesday. It's definitely a buy for me....I'm just not sure if I'm getting it upon it's release, or sometime after.

 

It's actually a tough call for me. I had kind of wanted to finish Alan Wake, along with both DLCs, prior to buying AW:AN. However I've just finished The Signal Special, and I have Deus Ex: The Missing Link DLC already bought. So I thought that the fiscally prudent thing to do would be to play that and then buy/play The Writer Alan Wake DLC a bit later, and then by American Nightmare.

 

But then again, since when are gamers always 'fiscally prudent'?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfY_7gahx5g&feature=player_embedded

[bloodreptile]

I am going to get it next week. I have played and beaten Alan Wake and the two pieces of DLC. I was actually hoping for a bit more DLC that they actually released.

 

I would be getting it today but I just bought some sort of a meditation game so I am going to give that a shot for a while...

plus I have yoostar 2

and Death smiles

[moycon]

but I just bought some sort of a meditation game so I am going to give that a shot for a while...

 

Leela??

 

No Alan Wake for me right now. I still need to finish the first one. It's in a HUGE "to play" pile!

[Metal Ghost]

I'll tell you what: I figured that 'The Missing Link' DLC for Deus Ex would be a relatively short playthrough, then right onto American Nightmare (figured I could always backtrack to The Writer DLC), but I was wrong....that Missing Link DLC is huge, IMO. Didn't help that last night I found out I had to backtrack a good chunk of the level. I was not happy about that. I keep thinking back on whether the game gave me a good indication that I should have gone to this one place before proceeding, and I don't really think it did. But I guess that's behind me now! Otherwise though, brilliant DLC, plus I got it for half price a few weeks ago (like 600 points maybe?). Well worth it.

[bloodreptile]

but I just bought some sort of a meditation game so I am going to give that a shot for a while...

 

Leela??

 

No Alan Wake for me right now. I still need to finish the first one. It's in a HUGE "to play" pile!

Oh yeah I gave it a quick go and it was hilarious.....something like plant the tree of life but it needs water to nourish it....

well at least its better than yoostar.... which is probably quite good if there are a load of you playing it....

[Austin]

Has anyone tried this? Is it worth picking up?

 

On my days off this weekend, I finally got around to starting Alan Wake, and finished it last night. Overall I thought it was an okay game (or "typical" modern-day game) that happened to have a fantastic story. The action seemed to get repetitive--kill a few guys, find a generator or a switch, run (or get lost) in some woods, watch a story-progressing cutscene, rinse and repeat. I was more addicted to wanting to know what happened next in the story and the environment around me than the gameplay itself. I loved all of the similarities to Max Payne, like the radio shows and the "Night Springs" faux TV series, but the gameplay itself got old quickly, especially those times I got lost in the forest areas, haha.

 

Also, while I'm at it, how are the original two DLC packs? I've already read the synopsis for both, so I'm not sure if I will check them out or not (as I will probably play them once and that will be it).

[Metal Ghost]

Haven't gotten American Nightmare yet myself, though ironically enough I was just thinking to myself that I needed to not more than an hour ago! It's just that after I played Alan Wake and then the first DLC (The Signal I beleive it was...came with my Alan Wake game) I wanted to take a bit of a break. I'm pretty sure though that either once I get through Enslaved or maybe one more backlogged game after that I'll jump back in my first playing the 2nd DLC (The Writer I think it's called) and finally American Nightmare.

 

I too would love to hear people's opinions on American Nightmare though. I've read that it's quite different than the original boxed AW.

[FastRobPlus]

It was not as good as the full game. They use a "time is repeating itself" narrative to explain why you play one game level over and over.

 

It does give some closure to the story that ended in a cliffhanger in Alan Wake. This is a good thing, as AW ended with "Alan Wake will return" and then a short while later Microsoft Game Studios announced "no plans to continue Alana Wake..."

 

It sort of reminds me of what's happening with ME3 right now. The game ended on an unfavorable note so the team at Bioware is busy making an expansion that lets you have better closure.

 

Interestingly, after the "better ending" in Amercian Nightmare, the game again closes with "Alan Wake will return."

[Austin]

Yeah, the cliffhanger at the end of the original game made my head spin, haha. I mean, I figured there wouldn't be a happy ending (that's a point they were making throughout the entire game), but still.

 

Maybe I will stick with the "cliff notes" version on Wikipedia for now, and maybe snag the expansions and American Nightmare if they ever go on sale.

 

Remedy has apparently stated that American Nightmare is not the last we'll see of Alan Wake, and they claim the overall story is massive. I'm intrigued to see where it can go, to say the least..