September 28, 2011

Video Game Review: Alice - Madness Returns

Alice: Madness Returns is a version of Alice in Wonderland like you’ve never experienced before. It is a gothic tale set in a nightmarish Wonderland where Alice isn’t so nice. If you’re a fan of the series, this is one game you want to play.


Game Description
Alice: Madness Returns delves deep into the dark and violent side of the imagination, creating a nightmarish Wonderland where Alice must face the demons that haunt her visions. Visit the grim reality of Victorian London and then travel to the beautiful yet ghastly Wonderland to uncover the root of Alice’s madness and discover the truth behind a deadly secret, kept hidden for years.

Eleven years ago a horrific fire took Alice’s family from her and left her mind horrifically scarred. Afterwards she was confined to Rutledge Asylum, where she struggled to confront her demons by slipping further into her fantasy world of Wonderland. Now, after ten years, she has finally secured her release—yet she still bears the heavy psychological burden of that tragic event.

With her mind in tatters, she is unable to resolve the fear prompted by her strange memories, dreams, and visions. Perhaps she’ll do better in Wonderland. She always has. She travels there, seeking what the “real” world can’t provide: security, knowledge, and the truth about the past. But in her absence, Wonderland too has suffered. Something has gone horribly wrong, and now a great evil is descending upon what once was her beautiful refuge. Can Alice save Wonderland—and herself—from the madness that consumes them both?

KEY FEATURES
• Intense 3rd person action: Use multiple upgradeable melee weapons, including the explosive Teapot Cannon, the punishing Hobby Horse, and the classic Vorpal Blade.
• Explore a dark and shattered Wonderland: Encounter familiar but now strange characters, including the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar and the Red Queen.
• Magical abilities: Obtain peculiar abilities in Wonderland such as floating with Alice’s dress, shrinking, or growing to towering sizes in order to crush enemies.
• Interactive puzzles: Intuitive and rewarding puzzles such as transforming obstacles, musical memories, chess, and picture blocks.
” – Alice: Madness Returns


My Thoughts
Alice: Madness Returns is the sequel to the original game, American McGee’s Alice. I played that game about ten years ago, and was quite excited to play the sequel. I love the story of Alice in Wonderland, and these games really add to it.




My biggest annoyance in the game is maneuvering around in the world. It seems like the game was really meant to be played with a controller for the PS3 or Xbox 360. Moving around with the controls on a keyboard and using the mouse is not fun. Most games that I play on the PC don’t have all the issues this game has with it, so I’m not really sure why they made it so difficult.

The graphics in the game are so beautiful, and the storyline is quite interesting. These two things really pushed me to play the game and not give up on the controller issues I was having. It is a very fun game, and I enjoyed playing it. I do hope to be able to play it on a console version sometime in the future though, because I am sure that it is much more enjoyable on there.

Overall, this is a really great game that was well designed (with the one exception of the controller issues). The scenery, locations, characters, and items are highly detailed and quite amazing for the game. This is one game that any fan of Alice in Wonderland would enjoy playing just because of the storyline and graphics. I highly recommend giving it a chance, even if you also have the issues I had with moving around, it is worth it to push through – it is well worth it!









* Thank you to the publisher of Alice: Madness Returns, Electronic Arts, and Gamers Gate for providing me a digital copy of this game and allowing me to review it. All experiences and opinions expressed are my own.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks like a really visually appealing game to play. Can you hook it up to a computer controller?

Alexander said...

Thanks for sharing this information! I can not wait to play it!!!!!!!!!