Alice: Madness Returns

Alice: Madness returns is a direct sequel to the decade old American McGee’s: Alice PC game. The first game, although never brilliant, oozed so much potential that it was picked up by film studios and a game sequel was expected soon after its release. The excitement died away, though, in the early ‘noughties’ and it’s only now that interest in this twisted version of the Alice in Wonderland tale has picked back up again. It’s the same team as last time round, with Mr McGee at the helm of his Spicy Horse development studio and just like last time the focus is very much on the artwork and graphics of the game.

Alice spent the last game in a coma, recovering from a house fire that killed her family. The twisted and dark Wonderland served as her dreamland and does so again for this sequel. Between chapters you’ll explore the dank streets of Victorian London before being sucked back into Wonderland, where Alice uses her hallucinations as a form of therapy to explore her guilt over her family’s death picking up  forgotten memories as hidden collectables as she goes.

The gameplay isn’t poor but much of it feels uninspired. Platforming sections are overly linear. There are some offshoots to find secrets but they are telegraphed so that they are just about impossible to miss. Using Alice’s shrinking ability reveals both invisible platforms and messages scrawled everywhere telling you what’s up ahead and pointing out secret paths and doors. It’s a nice little mechanic but just a bit over-egged, so  you never need to use your brain. The platforming itself has decent enough mechanics although it can take a little while to get used to Alice’s gliding technique. Sometimes platforms are just inches too far away or too high to reach unless you jump perfectly and this feels a bit mean spirited rather than constituting an interesting challenge.

The combat mechanics are much more engaging, mostly due to the interesting weapon designs. You have her Vorpal blade, a hobby horse for smashing stuff, a pepper grinder rail gun and a boiling tea pot  for charging up area attacks in the form of scalding tea. You can also deflect enemy fire with Alice’s umbrella. You can level up weapons and use lethal combinations that work against particular types of enemies. Enemies are varied and attack in very different ways and once you get your timing right you can really unleash hell on them but on harder difficulties it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

The main problem with the gameplay is that it just gets a bit samey after a while. In retrospect I think if the game had been half the length it would have been brilliant. There’s just too much of every level, but we’ve yet to come to Alice’s good bit and it really is good. The graphics, art design and levels are absolutely beautiful. Every level is incredibly ornate, original and just so detailed with some incredible textures. Even when you’re bored of the gameplay you’ll press on to see the next level, which will be completely different from the last in every way. Different colour pallet, different theme, level design, even Alice’s dress will change to fit in with her surroundings. From undersea caverns to jade palaces, from castles made of playing cards to dolls houses, your eyes are constantly roving to try and take in every detail and you often feel you simply can’t see enough of it. It’s just so intricate and multifaceted. Again, though, the impact would have probably been improved if the game wasn’t so bloody long. 12 hours rather than 24 would have felt like a very full and worthwhile experience. As it is everything is stretched to its limit.

Despite it’s failings I cannot in good conscience give Alice: Madness Returns that often damning of scores 7/10. The art design is singularly excellent and is genuinely worth playing the game just to see what they’ve done with it while the combat is excellent and the platforming is simply competent rather than there being anything actually wrong with it. For a visual treat it doesn’t get better than this.