Video Game Review: Alice- Madness Returns

You guys, I have come across a video game that was so awesome, so deliciously dark and gorgeous and creepy, that I knew within the first twenty minutes of playing it that I wanted to write a review. Allow me to introduce you to a very dark Alice in Wonderland themed masterpiece called:

Alice: Madness Returns






Game Type: Single Player, Platform

The game takes place in two different worlds- reality and wonderland. You play as a character named Alice Liddell, who has been living under the care of a hypnotherapist who specializes in stifling the unpleasant childhood memories that make children go mad. As this game is a sequel, the story picks up eleven years after Alice's release from the insane asylum, where she was sent after her entire family died in a house fire.

After Alice is sent to the store for some medication, she begins hallucinating and soon falls completely into Wonderland, which in this case is a direct reflection of the instability of her mind. A potentially beautiful place is being demolished by a terrifying train that leaves all sorts of destruction in its path. This ain't yo mama's Wonderland. (LOL. Sorry. It was too fun not to.)

Searching through Wonderland and trying to kill off the things that are ruining Alice's mind is fascinating. Visually speaking, the game is stunning- more than once I found myself spending minutes just looking around at the scenery and taking in the creepier aspects of it. At the beginning of the game, I was much more sold on the visuals and game play than the story. As the story went on, though, I started developing theories and getting more eager to uncover the next clue as to what really happened to Alice's family.

I completed this game on the Hard setting, and I have to say that the battles definitely lived up to the name. I had more than my fair share of dying, but it never got hard enough to switch it back down.

The fighting in this game was delightfully similar to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the good ole N64. Enemies can be targeted and destroyed using various weapons Alice acquires in her journey, although some enemies can only be killed by certain items. The enemies themselves are vicious- teapots that shoot boiling tea, doll heads that tear you apart, etc. etc. etc.

There are four different weapons available for Alice to use: the Vorpal Blade (my personal fave,)the pepper grinder (to season your enemies, of course,) a hobby horse (great for smashing through things,) and of course a teapot cannon (boiling tea does wonders to an undead Queen of Hearts card soldier.) There are also mad hatter bombs and a pretty little umbrella that makes for one hell of a shield. You buy upgrades using teeth that are collected while exploring levels and killing enemies.

As this game is a platform, there is a lot of skilled jumping to be had, and it's a damn good thing Alice's various (and AMAZING) Wonderland dresses all have skirts that help make long, floating jumps possible. You are also able to shrink at will, allowing you to climb through keyholes and see otherwise invisible clues to bonus items.

There are many classic Wonderland characters seen in this game- the Mad Hatter, the caterpillar, Cheshire Cat, Queen of Hearts, even Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Seeing the dark and twisted character designs was so inspiring and interesting.

Needless to say, I think I have found this year's Halloween costume.

(For some horrible reason, Blogger isn't allowing me to attach images to this post.)