I skipped the Xbox 360/PS3 era, and I’ve unintentionally been experiencing a number of those games recently. I was surprised to find so many similarities between two well known games of that time: this and Uncharted. Both games attempt big things with their stories (Alan Wake has bigger ambitions in this department, and largely succeeds). But both games are held back by fairly simple combat and enemy variety that had to be glaring even back then. The games simply throw more and more cannon fodder at you, which is rarely fun. Fortunately the story is still engaging and an impressive amalgamation of media and influences that Remedy continued refining. In the end, even my frustrations didn’t deter me from immediately starting the DLC and buying American Nightmare.