In this typically slow pre-Christmas news week, the studio had decided to whet player appetites for 2012 with an extended trailer for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare as well as new promotional screenshots.

As the name implies, the extended trailer, is just a lengthier version of the trailer for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare that was unveiled at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards.

However, despite similar in-game campaign footage, the new trailer essentially reveals that not only will Alan Wake’s American Nightmare offer players a new installment in the series’ story, the XBLA title will also feature a new Arcade-style game mode.

Check out the extended trailer for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare below:

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Here’s the official word from Remedy about the new “Fight till Dawn” Arcade Mode:

At first glance, the “Fight till Dawn” Arcade Mode is especially reminiscent of the “Mercenaries Mode” familiar to Resident Evil 4 and 5 fans - given the horde-style gameplay in confined settings as well as combo multiplier mechanics. The trailer, also features new (and larger) enemy types as well as new weaponry for Alan Wake to wield (including an Uzi).

Check out the new enemy types and Arcade game mode in the Alan Wake’s American Nightmare images below:

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As for what players can expect from the single player, it’s safe to assume that Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is going to offer an experience that’s closer to the original Alan Wake DLC add segments, “The Signal” and “The Writer,” which presented exaggerated and twisted nightmare scenarios as opposed to the near-realistic settings and interactions in the title’s main campaign chapters.

It’ll be especially interesting to see if Remedy can successfully balance a batch of diverse and warped set-pieces with the more straight-forward, but exceptionally compelling, story mechanics featured in the first game. While the original Alan Wake was often criticized for all-too similar environments and repetitive gameplay, should the studio abandon the core storyline in favor of diversifying environments and combat for the XBLA offering, die-hard Alan Wake fans could ultimately be disappointed by Alan Wake’s American Nightmare.

Hopefully Remedy manages to deliver a game that’s the best of both worlds - with fresh and intriguing combat tweaks as well as the engaging storyline that has made the original game a cult-classic.

Tune into Alan Wake’s American Nightmare when the game releases in Q1 2012 on Xbox 360.

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Source: Remedy Entertainment