Ever have one of those days were you get caught in a time loop chasing your evil doppelganger while stuck in a television program you’ve written… in an alternate reality. No? Well that’s because you’re not Alan Wake.

That, friends is the essence of the story in Alan Wake: American Nightmare. Mostly convoluted and wholly entertaining the story of American Nightmare is presented in pieces to the player, with some of these pieces needing to be actively sought in order form a more complete picture. Yes, that does mean collectable story pages are back (thermoses are not).

To call Alan Wake: American Nightmare a “survival horror” game would be a complete misnomer. First off, it’s not at all horrifying, a little creepy perhaps but definitely not horrifying. Secondly, survival is not a problem, heal spots in the form of bright overhead lights that are constantly regenerating are plentiful and ammo is strewn about like candy and puppies at a NAMBLA meeting. Alan Wake: American Nightmare is a fetch quest focused action game. Fetch quest focused might be putting it lightly, fetch quest only is more appropriate. The open world-ish environments with multiple active objectives help you feel like you’ve got more control over your progression, but a fetch quest is a fetch quest and everything you do in American Nightmare is a… yeah you get it.

The action works well and is fun. Lighting up your foes to burn off the darkness before blasting them to death with a shotgun, pistol, or SMG is a fun twist on the standard third person shooter combat we’re used to. Combat that works well is an especially good thing when considering the other half of American Nightmare, the non-campaign side, is a new arcade mode. Fight wave after wave of ‘Taken’ in an effort to survive until dawn. There is a trend in games these days, the horde mode/fire fight trend, and Alan Wake: American Nightmare offers an entirely solo version of this. American Nightmare’s arcade mode is fun… for a time, after a while it gets tiresome and the addition of a multiplayer option would have gone a long way to give it some legs.

All in all Alan Wake: American Nightmare is enjoyable and worth a look for fans. With no previous experience required American Nightmare stands firmly on its own two feet and is a fine entrance for those who missed the original ‘Alan Wake’. American Nightmare is available now for 1200 Microsoft Points.