Alan Wake's American Nightmare- Xbox Live Arcade

Following on from last weeks WARP review, we're into the second week of the Xbox Live House Party phenomena that sweeps the interwebs every 12 months. This week: Alan Wake's American Nightmare. I aim to have a review for every installment of the month long festivities, so strap in!

American Nightmare is not really a follow up to the 2010 original, neither is it a follow on. It's more of a side project. American Nightmare is to Alan Wake what Undead Nightmare is to Red Dead Redemption. It bears its name, true, but it's not a full installment in the series. What it is, however, is a fun, kind of addictive, entry in the series.

Released last week at the measly price of 1200 MS points, Alan Wake's American Nightmare follows Alan Wake, an American writer. In this weird Twilight Zone pastiche, Alan has written a story for the ever popular Night Springs television show, and has somehow got himself trapped in the episode. In the episode Alan's twisted doppelganger, Mr Scratch, has trapped Alan in a strange time loop, and has threatened to take everything Alan holds dear, wife included. Alan must successfully navigate his way through three areas, helping the people he comes across, in order to save them, and ultimately save himself.

That story may sound difficult to understand in this "synopsis" form but trust me, it's so much more complicated in action. The dialogue is so...assuming. It's an onslaught of detail at breakneck pace that demands your attention. Your full attention. And in this modern age of iPods and typewriters, it's difficult to offer it. And, now don't judge me, but...

I haven't actually played the first game, Alan Wake. This may sound a bit strange, considering I'm reviewing this game in particular, but I felt it necessary to mention this before I dive into the bulk of the review. But THERE WE GO.

American Nightmare features a horde-type mode that seems to be featured in every game released from here on in. You're given 10 minutes to build up as many points as you can. Your point multiplier builds up the longer you remain untouched. You're basically playing for leaderboard positioning and acheivements. There are several maps to play through. It's actually brilliant. It's really really fun in that horde mode way. It would've been cool for some form of co-op to be added, but, really, that's not a problem.

American Nightmare is a gorgeous game. The characters looks really real. As unprofessional as it may sound, it's true. True facts. Facial expressions, the movement of Alan, even the movement of the enemies Alan faces, all move with a real sense of fluidity. It's amazing to see, especially from an arcade, downloadable title. The environments are sprawling, yet empty. They're filled with details most XBLA titles would only dream of. In my experience, the best looking arcade titles opt for a more stylized look (Bastion, Limbo), but, and I think I said this last week, but this is up there with the best looking titles available on the service.

Alan Wake is billed as an atmospheric psychological thriller. I'm not sure how that translated in the first game, but that certainly doesn't come across in this. There's a handful of NPCs that populate the areas, and adds to the feeling that Alan's alone in this world, however you never feel as if Alan's in any real danger. The enemies he faces progressively get more difficult to kill, but they aren't particularly difficult in the first place. And it's a shame, because the combat, while simple, is pretty awesome.

The enemies you face are concealed in darkness, which make them invulnerable to your attacks. Alan has the ability to utilize light, via a torch, flash grenades, flares, and street lights, which weaken your attackers and make them kill-able. And every enemy you face will go down in the same way: stun for a few seconds, pour on the lead. it's a simple, yet innovative, combat system, that isn't particularly utilized as well as it could be. Again, I'm not sure how this worked in the first game, but I feel there's a real opportunity to create some really cool puzzles that Remedy have missed here.

I wanted to do a section on the soundtrack. All I can say really is it's very ambient. End. OH, Kasabian are on it. And I like Kasabian.

American Nightmare is a brilliant title. It lasts about 6 hours, the arcade mode will keep you coming back, and it's brilliant value. It's not without a few flaws, but at the low low price of 1200 MS points, I can't help but recommend this to anyone looking for a quality time killer. It might just be a time killer, but it's a damn good one.

FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10

I'm watching Scrubs right now, and apparently the next XLHP title's released tomorrow, and that title iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssss... Nexuiz. I don't know what that is. Probably watch a few trailers and buy it tomorrow. There'll be a review of that game BY next Wednesday, which is when I Am Alive is FINALLY released. UNTIL THEN, MY LOVE.

WARP- Xbox Live Arcade

WARP is a strange beast. On the surface it's a puzzle game cut from the same cloth as Valves exceptional Portal series. It's setting, it's premise, all reek of Apature influence. Yet spending little more than 5 minutes with WARP suggests otherwise. It's an odd game to review, but I'll do my best.

Kicking off this months Xbox Live House Party, WARP is 1200 MS points. That's more a comment on the extortionate prices of a certain military shooters DLC bundles, but I digress.

WARP places you in the shoes of a weird alien thing named Zero. As the game begins, you witness scientists performing surgery on Zero, ridding him of his unique warping abilities (THAT'S WHERE THE TITLE COMES FROM!!!) and making him miserable, and downright lazy. As he reclaims his powers, he seeks revenge on the scientists who've wronged him, and escape the facility, aiding any and all aliens he may come across.

It may sound straight forward on paper, but it's not. The warping ability offers a fresh opportunity for puzzles, but that opportunity's not taken. Instead, we're offered a pseudo-Metal Gear Solid sneak combat type thing. If you get spotted, you're gonna die. Your ability to attack is limited to warping into your enemies, and blowing them up from the inside, by wiggling the right stick as fast as you can. It's satisfying to watch, but unsatisfying to create. Let it be noted that the game is possible to complete without killing a single soul. An achievement is your prize for doing so, so consider that when you're thinking about watching a hilarious explosion animation.

You have the ability to upgrade Zero using grubs that you collect on your adventure. You can make him faster, for example, so it's worth seeking out the grubs just to stop Zero moving at snails pace.

WARP's a bit of a looker, certainly in the top tier of arcade titles in terms of aesthetics. the facility is clean and shiny, Zero looks...almost liquid like. The scientists are very cartoon like, which adds to the hilarity of the explosions. All the scientists wear masks, however. Which I suppose is a way of getting around creating separate faces for each individual.

On the hole, then, WARP is a fun game. It's a fun game in general. The combat may be a bit grating at times, but the pay off is worth it. It's a great way to kick off the House Party season.

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is coming up within the next few days. Imma grab some pizza before I sit down with that one.

Thanks for reading. If you liked this, tell your friends, co-workers, family, local MP, Vicar, manager at your local Tesco etc.

Batman: Arkham City

PLANS ARE GOOD, AREN'T THEY? I'd planned to cover the UKs premier gaming events in full, but only covered Modern Warfare 2.5. It could've been massive. Ah well. Onwards, eh? Let's review a game that's been out for a couple of months...CUTTING EDGE

It's been just over two years since Batman: Arkham Asylum stunned the world by turning out to be one of the, if not THE, best superhero game ever committed to disc. It won huge applause and many caps were doffed as it walked by. It was, even, the runner up in "game of the year" category at the prestigious Tommy Awards in 2009.

The problem with it being THIS popular, and THIS brilliant, is that, if you're going to do a sequel, you need to make sure what you put out is every bit as good as the original, and then some. The Force Unleashed II is a good example of how NOT to do a sequel. Arkham City is a good example of how to get a sequel spot on.

Taking place roughly one year after the events of Arkham Asylum, Arkham City (literally) throws Bruce Wayne in the big house. The inmates of the asylum have been transported to a sectioned off part of Gotham City. As Batman, you must track down various Batman Villains, solve various puzzles blah blah blah...You basically do what you did in Arkham Asylum. BUT, the storyline is much tighter, and much more believable. The actions and the motifs of the villains are much deeper than that of The Jokers in Asylum, thus allowing the player to understand them on a deeper level.

Mark Hamill reprises (for the final time, he says) his role as The Joker, and Kevin Conroy returns as Batman. The cast as a whole is well above par, and the villains are voiced so well, it's not inconceivable that they're all potential main villains in the inevitable sequel. The one sour note comes from Nolan North, who voices The Penguin. He goes for a cockney accent, but, in practice, it's comes off more Australian. And, considering the man's voiced more video game characters than I can name, that's not really good enough. The Penguin is quite a sinister character, with an appaulingly dark back story, and he goes for a faux-cockney voice.

Batman starts City with a lot of the gadgets he ended Asylum with, with only a handful of new additions to his arsenal. And for this decision, I praise Rocksteady. It gives the impression of real development in Batman as a character, and allows veteran Arkham players to transfer their skills into the sequel seamlessly.

Content-wise, City is filled to the brim. Over 400 Riddler trophies and riddles scattered across the map, plus some very, very fun sidequests, PLUS several Riddler challenge maps, PLUS New Game+, as well as the 10-12 hour story mode, BatFans are going to be very, very busy.

A lot of fuss was made over the Catwoman missions at E3 and so on. Well, they aren't that great. they're slow, they take you out of the action entirely, and, ultimately, all they're only there because it's another character to tick off the checklist. AND they come on a FUCKING ONLINE PASS CODE. Don't hype up a game mode, allow it to fall flat on its face, then force the player to buy it (if they went preowned) just for the achievements! Online codes are the epitome of all that is evil, and i want them dead. The only companies that aren't going with that are Nintendo and Activision! LEARN FROM THEM!!!

Enough of that, though. IT'S THE CONCLUSION.

Arkham City is a graduate of the Assassin's Creed II school of "how to be a brilliant sequel". It takes the framework of Asyulm, and builds straight up. And keeps going. It improves on pretty much every aspect of Asylum, and adds things you didn't even know you wanted. In a year of big blockbusters, I wonder whether or not it'll be able to stand its own. But, if it does go down, at least it'll go down with several other games. This is a superb video game, one that not even the weight of expectation can crush. And I look forward to the sequel.

*DISCLAIMER: No actual sequel has been confirmed, this was Tom being trying to be hilarious. He's deeply sorry if he's mislead you. It won't happen again. Until the next review NO, DON'T SAY THAT.*

9.8/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Preview

After a spirit breaking 90 minute wait, the Gohma team finally got into the sectioned off Modern Warfare 3 booth at GAMEfest. Interest in the game was at an all time high, considering it had the largest booth by a mile, and was the focal point of advertising for the event. The Call of Duty francise is bigger than Jesus at the moment, and it was time for the fabled Modern Warfare trilogy to meet its end.

Upon entry, we were welcomed by a 65" screen playing various trailers, getting the attendees pumped for what was in store. Moments later, myself and Sam Veasey were playing spec ops survival mode.

Forged in Gears of War and popularized in Call of Duty: World at War's Zombie mode, The "survival mode" has become what multiplayer options once were; a tick on the back of the box checklist.

Truth be told, it's a pretty standard affair. You start with a pistol, and earn point for every kill you get and every round you survive. You can then spend that money on new weapons, upgrades for said weapons, ammo, perks ect. As the game progresses, the enemies grow in numbers, become much stronger, and you even come up against packs of dogs, and the hallowed juggernaut.

In the heat of battle, when the pressures up, when people in the queues are watching you, judging your skills, it's a strangely exhilarating experience. When you've got the headphones booming, your team mate barking orders at you, and you're just trying to survive the round for ammo in the next, it's quite the experience.

The biggest flaw is that it will always be compared to Zombies. Where Zombies has taken an incredibly deep, easter egg hunt driven route, this is much more old fashioned, straight up survive.

In all, then, it's typical CoD. You run, you gun, you walk away satisfied. Survival is a worthy addition to the plethora of online options available to CoD fans currently, and will no doubt ensure people come back to Mod3 time and again, much like the past. This is another sure fire hit, and one I personally look forward to picking up at some point. Maybe not release, but certainly at some point.

EXCITE-OMETRE SCORE: 7/10

GAMEfest and Eurogamer Expo 2011- The Aftermath

Both event have finished, I spent some time reflecting on my experiences and collating my thoughts. I'm trying to figure out a way to deliver my coverage of the events, so I guess in the forth coming weeks and potentially moths, I'll do a piece based on every game I played, giving a comprehensive hands on report of each of them. Stay glued to the blog for a preview of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which will be the game that kicks off the season of previews. I'll post a list of what games I'm (and possibly other people) previewing soon, if I can be bothered. So, stay glued or whatever I said.

GAMEfest and EuroGamer Expo 2011; WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?

In the next two weeks some of the biggest games of the year will be tossed to the proverbial wolves that is the gaming public. Being the well respected journalist that I am, I'll be at both, looking for interviews, playing games and that. Any way, EVERY SINGLE GAME either myself or the indie developer I interviewed Bobby Bailey  will receive a full on preview report type. So, I want to know what games you want to read about. Obviously there are certain games I'll play just for me (HELLO SKYWARD SWORD), and even they will get the reports they deserve. Imma leave links to the line up of each expo below, and if you'd be so kind to leave what games you want to read about. Also, QUESTIONS FOR PETER GARZA. Peter Garza is the overseas producer for Team Ninja, the group that are developing Ninja Gaiden 3, and will be available for interview at EuroGamer Expo. The only problem is, I've never played a Ninja Gaiden game in my life. If you have, and want to get the inside scoop on the game, leave your questions in the comments section. END.

GAMEfest Lineup: http://events.game.co.uk/gamefest/exhibitors/

EuroGamer Expo Lineup: http://www.eurogamer.net/expo/whats-on#show-floor

Interview With Bobby Bailey

I recently interviewed Indie Video Game developer and self proclaimed expert Bobby Bailey to discuss the state of video game release dates. Here's the results...