I was fearing about this game because I was getting a bit sick of indie physics-based platformers, but in the end it is a nice surprise... Both puzzle and platform parts are rather good. The platform part is very simple although easy to handle. The puzzle part is simple to understand, but hard to master. The only real problem is the high precision required when you use telekinesis. Fortunately the difficulty curve is quite progressive, it's possible to rush some levels and go back later to perfect them: collectibles, secrets are hidden all the way and you have to explore to find them all, but if you just want to "end" the game you'll find an acceptable challenge, with interesting situations. The game is quite nicely done, with a very good general overlay (localization in French for me, menus, achievements), beautiful musics and a nice 3D engine. Overall I wasn't blown away but I would recommend it to anyone seeking for an efficient and original indie platformer, even if it gets much too hardcore sometimes.
Myst V is very close to Myst I in terms of consistency, mystery and riddles design. It is less ambitious than Riven, but far better than Exile, Revelation and Uru. This game is a perfect combination between atmosphere, story, and riddles. The riddles are amazing, resolving them is a great relief and i was just left KO by the genius of some Ages. The 3D graphics are nice and are useful to solve riddles, in a very clever way. Some sceneries will just blow your mind like you've never felt it before. Playing Myst I, i just felt getting back to the first episode but with modernized gameplay and visual. This is a wonderful ending for the series, you'll keep thinking about it long after you finished it, even if you disliked Uru (like me). AWESOME.
Pick up everything that made the strength of Alan Wake: good story, ambitious staging, beautiful scenery. Nothing of those are in American Nightmare. First, the story: this is for sure one of the laziest settings I've ever seen in a videogame. Alan Wake is taken in a TEMPORAL LOOP! Okay, nice. Except you have to perform several times the same meaningless and boring actions in a purpose Alan Wake is the only one to get. You have actually to perform 3 times the same game. At the end of the third time, you win. You don't get a single clue of what happens and why. You just accomplish boring and repetitive objectives. You find incredible items like batteries and you get power back. Secondly, the staging: Because Alan is taken in a time loop, the cut scenes are each time the same, with music and stuff. There are some original FMV to keep you entertained but they fail to install an atmosphere. The characters you meet are bland, there is no sensation of mystery, and you don't get a single clue of what happens. Third, the scenery. The game is set in a desert. So it's empty. And large. And empty. Cool story. At last there is the combat system. It could be nice, but there are munitions and batteries absolutely everywhere. The new enemies are a bit crappy as if they were rejected ideas from Alan Wake 1. The spiders for example don't fit at all. It took me 3 hours to finish the game. The game just gets more boring along with time. The story is incredibly bland, lazy, generic. There is no fear, no stress, no mystery. Just a very poorly designed game wrapped in a (not so) fancy cinematic shaping. Whether you are a fan of Alan Wake or not, this game doesn't deserve your time and your money.
