[Game Review] Alice: Madness Returns

Right, to start this off, hello. This is Eoin from the Podcast, the guy who yammers on about fighting games and attempts to make jokes. I'll be your resident reviewer for this game that went on sale on PSN very recently. So, let's get things started and delve into another's psyche, while at the same time looking into the good and bad of the game known as American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns. 

So we start off the game with a very stylized introductory cinematic done in a very hand-drawn sort of feel, where Alice is floating on a river having tea with the White Rabbit. He dies from internal hemorrhaging and loss of eyeball, and Alice is dragged into a sea of black tar with hands clawing her face off. All while she and a Dr. Angus Bumby speak over everything that's happening. It's revealed that Alice has been staying at an orphanage with Dr. Bumby as her therapist after she was discharged into his care from Rutledge Asylum in the previous Alice game. She's not very well liked by the other children, who regard her as Bumby's 'pet' for how often she has her meetings with him. 

While out in the streets intending to go to a chemists for medicine, she comes across a white cat and chases it, and hallucinations attack her in a back alley where she is found by an old woman named Pris Witless, who had also worked at Rutledge. Atop the roof of Witless's home with her pigeon coops, Witless transforms into a (more) hideous creature as part of another hallucination, and Alice's madness grips her tight and pulls her into Wonderland. There she is reunited with the Cheshire Cat and her trusted weapon, the Vorpal Blade. During the journey through the forests, she discovers that much of Wonderland is being warped and corrupted, and worst of all destroyed by the Infernal Train that follows Alice wherever she goes. I won't go too much into the story, I'll leave that to be discovered by folks interested enough to play the game and trust me, the story is great. 

From the get go the story is very well stylized, and every major character has a very distinct look to them. Interestingly, Alice is the only character that can really be considered attractive as many other characters have very particular points to make them ugly or disgusting in some way, even if they are or aren't rotten to the core with their personality or motives. 

The game is set in a Victorian-era England and the game does get that feeling across both in the outfits of the characters in the real world as well as their mannerisms and their speech. Wonderland however has less to do with Victorian-era, and is just as crazy to see as you would expect. From the machine-filled madness of the Hatter's domain, to the dark and spooky depths of the ocean where the Walrus and the Carpenter reside, and even the mists of the Mysterious East, every piece of Wonderland is well structured and very well designed to stand out from one another. However, parts where the Infernal Train comes to town are where things get samey, but thankfully these parts are brief. The Cheshire Cat guides Alice throughout Wonderland and helps her in his usual cryptic way. 

Combat is handled in two ways; melee and range. With melee attacks Alice has access to the Vorpal Blade, a very quick and nimble dagger that quickly defeats enemies, and the Hobby Horse, a slow but powerful mace capable of breaking objects and defenses. For range, Alice has the Pepper Grinder, which is originally intended to pepper the pig noses that you find scattered throughout Wonderland, and the Teapot Cannon, which deals massive area damage and destroys objects as well. Alice also has the rabbit bomb that can be used to weigh down switches and distract enemies, as well as the Umbrella which can be used to reflect or negate ranged attacks from enemies. Battles happen very often, and the four main weapons can each be upgraded three times by using the teeth you find throughout Wonderland. 

In terms of time, the game took me about eight hours to complete, at the most maybe ten, but definitely at the least eight. Unfortunately, the game’s linearity works against it. The game is very linear with most of the side options to get extra teeth, memories, bottles or rose paint are never too far off the path. While the game took at least eight to complete, it felt twice that long due to repetitive and boring puzzles.

The Good:

--The story is excellent and excellently told, delving into Alice’s insanity as she struggles against the destruction of Wonderland and the memories of her family’s death that she believes was her fault. The ending is certainly quite... bittersweet, but it’s best you find out for yourselves how I mean.

--Many of the characters are very memorable or very well designed. Alice, Bumby, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter to name a few. 

--The atmosphere. The game is intended to show the harshness of Alice’s insanity and the new Wonderland, and many of the levels really show that. The final level is certainly one of the creepiest things I’ve ever experienced in a game ever.

The Bad:

--Boring combat. Hack, slash, hack, slash, shoot, dodge, hack, slash, shoot, etc. Nothing really interesting about the combat at all.

--The game’s linearity and the length of the game. While eight hours is decent for any game in this generation, the game should feel eight hours and not twice that.

The Verdict:

In my personal opinion, the game is a very well made and well told game, with some of my own personal cripes about it that lessen the score. I would have given the game an 8, but due to the problems of the linearity I cannot give the game more than a 7 out of 10.

Welp, I hope you found this somewhat interesting as a review and I’ll likely get around to making more in future depending on what games I do end up playing in future, but they may take some time. In the meantime, enjoy the podcasts and I’ll see you folks next time.

Eoin “Spudd” O’ Mahony