While Sean was getting a hands on with Ubisoft’s I am Alive (coming soon), I happened to run into a familiar face in Microsoft Sr. Marketing Manager of Xbox Live Michael Wolfe. He was overseeing
the four House Party titles that will be available later this year on Xbox Live, of which I am Alive and
Alan Wake's American Nightmare will both be a part of. Mike asked me to take some time and play a bit so they set it up in “arcade mode” to give it a test run. For anyone that has played Alan Wake, this will be like riding a bike. The look and feel will be just like the original, so controls will be second nature. In the survival mode test I played, the premise is to make it to dawn (which is about 10 minutes) without getting taken out by the zombie hordes. You have flashlights, flares, weapons and your acrobatic skills to assist you. One thing Mike cautioned me on was being smart with your flashlight batteries, as the light from that and the flares are your best defense to incapacitate the zombies by temporarily blinding them so you can take them out.
I quickly learned that you do not want to get cornered anywhere the deeper you get into your wait for the sun to get up, you simply won’t make it. After playing for about 10 minutes, this game looks to be very fun and should appeal to Alan Wake fans, those that like the Black Ops zombie mode and anyone that digs a good old fashioned survival game. There is more to the title, but that was all I was able to experience today. The best part is that the game looks and plays like a full retail copy and not something you expect to find on XBLA. Check out the 2:00 minute video snippet that shows off some of the gameplay and has a faint overview from Mike about the game and the arcade survival mode if you listen carefully.
In addition to Microsoft Game Studio’s Alan Wake's American Nightmare and Ubisoft’s I am Alive, THQ’s Nexuiz and EA’s Warp complete the four House Party titles. There was no pricing or availability info announced, but they should be coming sometime in the near future.
