Alice: Madness Returns Review
The long awaited sequel to American McGee's Alice has finally arrived and you will find yourself once again in the shoes of Alice, who is desperately trying to put together what has happened to her past. There are memories locked away, and her family has all perished. Alice will have to return to Wonderland, but there's a nasty new piece to the world that must be fought in order to help Alice regain what she has lost.
Graphically the game looks amazing, sure there are a couple of texture issues once in a while, and sometimes the camera angle decides to go into very unique angles, but overall this game looks good, and the enemies and levels that you'll have to go through definitely tell of a twisted Wonderland, that only the darkest of thoughts would dream up. There's also the costume changes done to Alice for each stage which definitely adds a little extra flair to what you get to see.
The music and sounds of the level definitely fit the type of game you're playing. I do have to say that there were more creepy sounds than I care to remember, but that's what the game needed and they delivered. You will notice that if there are any speaking pieces that there's an actual voice added to the mix, which to me makes the game that much better.
The controls of the game get more complicated as the game progresses. The amount of controls equals how many weapons you have at your disposal. There's also going to be the use of the buttons to play random music pieces in the game in order to advance.
Having not played the first of game of the series I really didn't know what to expect. What I can tell you is that this is not your Disney Alice in wonderland. This is a much darker and bloody version. You are Alice, the orphan, ex-mental hospital patient, and more. The lines between reality and that of Wonderland continue to blur throughout the game. You'll get to meet the Caterpillar, the replacement to the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter, and of course the Cheshire Cat. The majority of your enemies will appear from blobs of what looks like tar or ink. Take then out as fast as you can, some of the can deal some serious damage to you if you let them show you what types of attacks they have. You'll have the Vorpal blade, a pepper grinder, a teapot, explosive white rabbits, and the Hobby Horse to help deal out different types of damage. You'll also be on the look out for pig snouts that will unlock hidden treats. Through about 2/3rds of the game I was enjoying the flow and found the story very interesting, but after that point I just got really fed up with the amount of time sequence platforming you have to do to get through levels. The game become steadily more of a strictly platforming game and less about the action. Though I will say this, when they finally remembered to put the action in they decided to add waves of enemies and make sure you have to fight for your life, and hopefully come out the victor.
This isn't the best game I've played, but there's something about it that had me wanting to keep playing it until the very end. I think this game is probably best served as a rented game, but it is definitely something that needs to be checked out. This game gets a 7.9 out of 10.
