Fear in Video Games

There’s something about sitting in a darkened room, guiding your character through an eerie forest at night just waiting – hoping – for something to jump out and scare the hell out of you. There’s something very attractive about scenarios that make you feel like you could die at any moment. It’s a stark contrast to what a lot of top selling video games promote. Where many FPS games will cast you as a rugged, heroic, killing machine, horror games usually make you feel very vulnerable indeed. They touch you on a very primitive level.

I figure the horror genre is so popular because it manages to consistently provoke emotional responses from the audience, whereas  action genres seem to have a tougher time to get us to sympathise or empathise with the protagonists, especially after so many years of desensitisation from explosions, bullet wounds and instances of heroically saving the man that was left behind.

The past decade has seen some excellent horror video games, the stand out ones for me were Alan Wake, Dead Space, Condemned and F.E.A.R 2. All of these managed to completely immerse me in the ongoing story, with great characterisation and original mechanics.

I just wish that other genres of games were as interesting.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare – Quick Review

Alan Wake was a triumph in videogaming. It had emotion, excellently written and performed dialogue, and also offered a new, twist on the horror genre. How does American Nightmare stack up?

As an Alan Wake fan, my expectations for this were quite high. The original had a compelling story that left me wanting more, and an uncompromising level of dread and tension that didn’t let up until the credits rolled.

So, is Alan Wake’s American Nightmare any good?

The answer is yes. If you liked the original.

AWAN is more of the same in terms of game play, with a few tweaks to the camera and a slight increase to the pacing of firefights with Taken. There are loads of guns to collect, which alter your play style significantly. You will want the enemy up close when you use a 12 gauge, but will want to whittle them down from a distance with the pistol. The new weapons allow for a more action oriented experience.
The light mechanic that worked so well in the previous game makes a return, so you will need to use light to destroy a Taken’s darkness shroud before you can dispatch it with whatever you have handy.

There isn’t as much tension in this entry to the series, but it’s obviously going for a different mood, with a grindhouse feel to the area and narrative as opposed to the claustrophobic environs of the first game.

The storyline is a little tricky to explain, but you should play Alan Wake before this if you want to make sense of it. Let’s just say it will have you confused at least once. I don’t want to spoil the game for anyone, so I’ll just say that this is more of a spin-off than a sequel.

A new feature outside of the story mode is arcade mode, which challenges you to stay alive for ten minutes against increasingly difficult enemies. Chain successful attacks and dodges together to earn multipliers to increase your rank on the leaderboard. This gets tricky as new enemy types come into play. Again, I don’t want to spoil anything here, so I won’t go into too much detail.

There’s a fair bit of replay value to be had if you like the game, too. Unlockable weapons, story snippets and flares all await the explorers amongst us. Add that on top of the lengthy 6-7 hour campaign, and you’ve got great value.

All in all, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is an excellent game and easily worth the 1200 points. Get yourself a flashlight and get comfy. It’s going to be a long night.