Alice: Madness Returns: A briefly brilliant adventure into Wonderland
Formats: Xbox 360, PS3 and PC
Developer: Spicy Horse
Publisher: EA Games
Release date: June 17th
Age Rating: 15 BBFC
Price: £49.99 RRP (Xbox 360 and PS3), £34.99 (PC)
After an eleven year gap, American McGee has returned to his most successful franchise, making a sequel to the cult classic Alice.
The new game, Alice: Madness Returns picks up where the original left off, with Alice out of the insane asylum, but with her madness still not cured and the cause remaining a mystery, she sets out to find who or what triggered her descent into insanity.
The gameplay is a mix of platforming and third person action. The combat is seamless and very responsive and the platform element sees Alice jump, hover, and shrink to get to the next area.
It’s not just a typical platformer though; there are also plenty of hidden areas to find to collect items to get an increased completion percentage for the perfectionists amongst you.
American McGee and his team at Spicy Horse have taken elements of Carroll’s world and warped them to great effect, creating the dark and sometimes sinister new Wonderland.
Graphically it is brilliant; from starting off in a gloomy Victorian London you see the familiar tumbling down into Wonderland where you are met with a wall of colour.
It is one of the better looking game environments I have seen and the contrast with a dull, grey, poverty stricken London only highlights that.
Also, Wonderland is massive, in fact it could be said it is too big. What starts off as an interesting game quickly becomes tiresome and even a bit dull at times, as you travel through a large area broken up by intermittent combat scenarios and mini-boss fights.
Characters from the novels that made an appearance in the original game also return, such as Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Mock Turtle, the Caterpillar amongst others.
The Cheshire Cat makes an appearance, offering guidance and cryptic clues throughout the game.
Overall, an impressive re-imagination and take on a classic story has been let down by repetitive gameplay and simply being too long winded for my liking. It’s a good game which turns into a slog far too quickly.
