Alice: Madness Returns

It's hard to believe, but American McGee's Alice was released ten years ago. I'm finding myself constantly incredulous when I realize just how old most video games are. I mean, thinking about it:Half-Life 2, a genre defining game, came out in 2004. Kind of hard to believe, isn't it?It doesn't seem so long ago.

Anyways, we're not here to talk about that but rather about Alice: Madness Returns, the sequel to the 2000 game. Allow me to bring you up to speed: American McGee's Alice depicted a Wonderland that was ravaged and warped when Alice Liddell went insane after witnessing the death of her parents from a house fire. This new Wonderland was a nightmarish hell ruled by the Queen of Hearts who commanded notable characters such as the Mad Hatter and the Jabberwocky to kill Alice. Eventually, she defeats the Queen and brings order to Wonderland and her troubled mind.

Or so we thought!

Alice: Madness Returns is set a number of years after Alice's release from Rutledge Asylum and is now living in an orphanage located at the heart of the lovely, filthy English town of Whitechapel. Having grown into a teenager, Alice suffers a relapse and is driven dangerously close to insanity as the memories of her past resurface. The orphanage's psychologist attempts to cure Alice, teaching her to simply forget her past and it is during one of their sessions she witnesses Wonderland becoming corrupted by an evil-looking black goo called the Ruin. Finding herself back in her imaginary world, the Cheshire Cat reveals that Wonderland is suffering from a scourge which could be Alice's own making. There are moments in the game when Alice returns to Whitechapel, where dark undertones suggest there might be more to the death of her parents than initially believed.

Alice, oh the years haven't been kind...

Alice's adventure in Wonderland is accompanied by old enemies and new friends who need the girl's help, offering her the information she needs in exchange for aid. When Alice encounters a rehabilitated Mad Hatter, she finds him deposed by the March Hare and Doormouse who have torn off his limbs and used them to drive their industrial engines. The Duchess, who tried to eat Alice in the previous game, offers her advice and a weapon to aid her on the journey. The Walrus and the Carpenter make an appearance and need Alice's help to put on the show for the oysters.

I find myself feeling really frustrated with Alice: Madness Returns. Often, the realms of Wonderland follow a "Go through X, Y and Z before returning to X to finish the level" structure and because many of the levels are really long, the game's pacing is painfully slow. There were several levels where I caught myself saying, "Are we there yet?" like a bored child sitting in the back seat of my parent's car. Compounding the frustration is the game's extensive platforming sequences, which brings back memories of when platformers, while fun, could be really, really annoying. It's been a while since the last time I had to actively study floating platform patterns and time double jumps, both are mechanics that make this game feel pretty old. Just as Duke Nukem Forever has been criticized for playing like a twelve year old game, Alice: Madness Returns has that same problem.

A typical cutscene

Throughout the adventure, Alice will be confronted by both the Ruin and Wonderland's fierce creatures. The Vorpal Blade returns and functions as Alice's primary weapon. As you progress, you'll pick up a pepper mill machine gun, a hobby horse (a heavy, two handed shield breaker) and a tea pot grenade launcher. All of these weapons can be upgraded by spending the loose teeth (ew!) that are scattered throughout each level. There are other collectibles to be found, such as memories and bottles, but the latter are pointless and don't offer any insight to the game world like the memories do.

Combat is, at best, an annoyance. The game's initial set of enemies aren't that difficult to overcome, but eventually Alice must contend with larger foes who can block attacks and dish out severe punishment. As if the game's pacing wasn't slow enough, having to fight the second and third tier enemies drags the game down to a crawl. Although upgraded weapons promise a significant increase in power, the hulking Ruin brutes need to take lots of damage before they go down. And don't get me started on those flying Ruins....

Anything is possible in Wonderland

Making things worse is when the game decides to throw swarms of enemies at you all at once (including nests that spawn infinite enemies until you destroy them). You can lock onto a single target, but this prevents you from seeing enemies that can and will charge you from behind. Alice can dodge these attacks, but if you're locked on, your ability to do so is dramatically reduced. Should Alice's health meter reach a dangerously low level, pressing a key at this moment will engage a Hysteria mode, which grants Alice a boost in attack power, but enemies will not drop items.

What prevents me from turning my back on the game out of frustration is how stunningly beautiful the game is. I feel comfortable in saying this, without having seen any other version, the PC copy is the one to get. The warped Wonderland may have looked creepy in 2000, but the advanced graphics of 2011 make Alice: Madness Returns a sight to behold. The game's cutscenes are rendered in such a way that all of the characters resemble Victorian paper puppets. Wonderland itself is a picture of glorious, beautiful insanity - a stark contrast from the portions of the game that see you guiding Alice through the dark, dingy and dangerous streets of Whitechapel.

The Vale of Tears is the first major location of the game and good lord is it gorgeous, a real blast of color and texture. When you venture deep through the Vale, you'll see - in real time - Alice's madness take over as the beautiful blue, partly cloudy sky suddenly shifts to swirling, dark brown storm clouds.When Alice enters a different realm, her appearance changes to reflect it. For example, her blue and white dress is replaced by a steampunk ensemble when she traverses through the Mad Hatter's world. During her stay in the Caterpillar's Chinese-inspired world, her dress very much resembles a cheongsam.The game's enemies, as frustrating as they are to fight, look just as great. The high-res textures show off a lot of little, intricate details that would surely be lost on the console versions and a liquid effect is given to the Ruin, making their bodies and remains look like fresh oil splatters that reflect the light.So far my most favorite visual treat was the transition from a 3D world to a 2D side scrolling Chinese painting that causes Alice to look and move like a paper doll.

I shouldn't be aroused by this, but damn...that's one fine looking ant.

Nine Inch Nails member Chris Vrenna returns to the score the game's soundtrack and unfortunately, its a bit of a disappointment. American McGee's Alice had such a distinct, creepy and enjoyable vibe and its a shame that the music for the sequel is such a let down. For the most part, the generic ambience somehow makes the game that much more of a slog to get through. Weird, I know.

So, as you can tell, I'm felt feeling pretty divisive about Alice: Madness Returns. I really want to like it because the game is so pretty, but the aged gameplay, slow pacing and long levels combined with uninteresting combat makes the game a bit of a chore. What's that you say? Me bashing a game for being too long? I can appreciate Madness Returns for being a lengthy title in a time where your average experience is anywhere between three to five hours long, but I feel this goes slightly overboard.

I experienced a fair number of glitches on the PC version, most notably unresponsive controls during a side scrolling mini-game that sees you controlling Mock Turtle's ship in a strange homage to R-Type. The game told me to use the Left and Right mouse button to fire weapons, but they didn't work and I was unable to rebind them to different keys as the option was not available. Thankfully a trip to the Internet revealed that I could use the keyboard, but still - it's a frightening oversight. One last combat gripe: what really bugs me is that it wasn't designed with a keyboard and mouse in mind. I feel like I'd be much better off using a game pad.

Once more down the rabbit hole

So...there you have it. While I'm pleased to see a return to the world American McGee built, I just wish it had a bit more polish. I'd say consider it a rental or wait until it gets cheaper.

ADDENDUM: The game's save system is broken.

Okay, I'm really upset with Alice: Madness Returns. So, as is the custom these days, you can't quick save any time you want and instead, the game has a serviceable amount of checkpoints. I was showing off the game to a friend, assuring here that there is some good in the game, when I started up an earlier level. I got the "If you do this, you will lose all current progress."

"No big deal," I thought since I figured I can just go back to the chapter and pick up where I left off.

After showing off a few levels as well as the tired and frustrating mechanics, I decided to show her a part of the game that really disturbed me. I go back to the level select screen and discover that the chapter I left off from was not listed on the screen! What the fuck! And I was an hour in to that level! This means I have to go all the way back to the last level of the previous chapter, play through that garbage and redo about an hour's worth of progress just to get back to where I left off.

Of course, that's what I'd be doing if I wasn't so pissed off at the game. Why the hell does it not save progress properly? PC gaming is dying because of shit like this. I'm putting off finishing Alice: Madness Returns until the day I can look at it without getting pissed off (or at least until I find a trainer).