Oginam

Nintendo - same old games with a new peripheral.

You want to pull some people away from Xbox and PS3? Gotta compete on specs not on "innovative gimmicks" and get the 3rd party support you severely lack.

You want 3rd party support? You have to give them a reason to design the games on YOUR system and not just port Xbox/PC/PS3 games over - otherwise you just get ports w/ lame touch functionality, not real innovation.

Make the 3rd parties come to you on tech and they will innovate for you on the controller. And then you're not just up-rezzing the Wii and taping an iPad to the Wii remote (well, you still are but it won't suck as much).

Duke Nukem versus The Last Action Hero

Can play the game from either Duke or Arnold's point of view as they destroy each other's worlds. And after each world is destroyed, they try to come into our world - except Chuck Norris is there to stop them.

Lol, I think its just business speak to hold onto the IP. Nothing more.

@MEATBALL: I kind of wrote the pacing off as a problem of the platforming/collectible hunting part of the game, but I see your point.

Once you beat the game, go back and listen to all the memories you've found. Some of them, even from the very start of the game, are far more relevant to the main storyline than they may have appeared.

@halfcirclepunch: Ok, so there is a more direct correlation between the Red Queen and Alice's sister. I can see that. That also makes sense for the Caterpillar who is an analogue for Radcliff. Cheshire Cat is Alice's childhood cat (forgot the name) and the white rabbit is obviously Alice's rabbit doll.

Since I still haven't played the first game, although I intend to, I must be missing who/what the Hatter and Carpenter stand for. Maybe the Hatter is Alice's father? But then who is the Wonderland version of Alice's mother - the crazy lady you have to shoot pig snouts for?

@xombi242 said:

I think I'm going to go in raw and play the game the way it was meant to be played. The DLC is a sham :(

Can't use any of it until you've cleared a level once anyway. So you're first play through has to be "pure". Good on Spicy Horse for such a small distinction, guess someone there played Dead Space 2 and knows how much BS those weapon packs are.

@Rhaknar said:

Alice's platforming is quite good from the 3 or so hours ive played. She covers so much ground (triple jump WITH gliding after each jump) that you really need to fuck up royally to miss a jump. Also, im really glad this game exists, as they are a dying breed indeed.

This.

Also, story is amazing and dark in ways you'd never even expect. Gonna start promoting it as a goty contender for Best Story now because otherwise I fear it will be forgotten.

@C0V3RT: By the end, the platforming felt like it goes on a wee bit too long (although seeing the worlds, in retrospect, is well worth it). But it is worth dealing with for the eventual story payoff.

If you've been paying attention to the coverage for Papa and Yo (the game about a child and his monster friend who's addicted to eating frogs) and how that game is pushing into topics that games rarely touch on; let me just say that Alice touches on far darker things that substance abuse. I'll be real disappointed if this game isn't remembered for best story by the time GB does its awards this year - just so Jeff, Vinny, and Brad have to play this game and have a discussion about how crazy and dark the story gets.

Short Version: One of the best stories in a video game with some very minor problems with combat and platforming (par for course in a platforming game though).

@maskedarcstrike: I agree that the subject matter of this game, when it finally starts hitting you in the last couple chapters, is pretty brutal. I started to realize the direction it was going in just before the game spelled it out. I was thinking they'd just leave it all to metaphorical explanations. But they didn't. They spelled it out and damn it, that is some pretty grotesque stuff for a game.

I don't recall Alice being the one who was raped though. Was pretty sure it was Elizabeth and the Red Queen represents Alice's Hatred for (among other reasons) the one who got away with raping/killing her sister. I think the Mad Hatter and his cohorts are actually Alice's childhood made manifest (They don't care about any of this, they just want to have tea parties.). Still trying to wrap my head around Chapter 2 though and what the Carpenter represents.

I'd also have to agree that I think most reviewers never make it through this game, or don't bother hunting enough of the collectibles to fully understand the story. Not a whole lot of the story is hidden away in the end, but the slow progression of more and more little details in the memories is what eventually makes the ending so dramatic.

Great article. Looking forward to playing this game the more I hear about it.

Nintendo is still Nintendo.

And I just don't care anymore.

Less controller "innovation" (duct taping shit together) and more quality games/new franchises please.