14 DAY TRIAL // 
American McGee's Alice impressed a whole generation of gamers back in 2000, offering a gritty take on the popular fantasy tale written by Lewis Carroll. Now, 11 years later, a sequel has finally emerged, with McGee and his new studio, Spicy Horse, offering gamers Alice: Madness Returns.
Alice is once again thrown into her magical wonderland which, after being saved, just barely, at the end of the original, is now being destroyed by a giant train, ruining all the land and Alice's sanity along with it.
She must now descend back into an even darker and more twisted fantasy world, navigate its tricky environments, defeat many enemies in order to uncover the truth and finally get things back to normal.
So, is Alice: Madness Returns a proper way to continue this original take on the novel or should it be forgotten in the deep recesses of the industry? Let's find out.
Story Alice in Wonderland always had a pretty creepy narrative, but American McGee elevated the plot to new heights with the original Alice. Now, with Madness Returns, things are even more hectic, as we finally get to uncover the source of the heroine's torment, who continues to blame herself for the fire that killed her family.
In order to do this, Alice now goes back and forth between a very gray and gloomy Dickensian London to an even more twisted vision of Wonderland, now devastated because of the dangerous train.
During her adventures, she once again meets famous characters like the Cheshire Cat or the Mad Hatter, while slowly uncovering the truth about what actually happened when her family's house burned down.
The narrative is well written but the pacing is a bit off, largely because the length of the game, which reaches around 15 hours over its five full-pledged chapters, plus a smaller sixth one. This makes the whole experience tedious, largely because new gameplay elements are introduced extremely slow and far in between.
The length also makes following the story a bit hard, especially for those who didn't get to experience the first game or who got way too tired before reaching the end and uncovering the major reveals.
Gameplay Alice: Madness Returns is much more polished than its original, but bear in mind that 11 years have passed since then, so improvements are more than expected.
The platforming is streamlined and much easier, thanks to Alice's new triple jump ability, and the many environment themes are enough to keep it pretty interesting. Unfortunately, like I've said above, the game is quite lengthy so, after reaching level three or four, you've pretty much done all that is to do in terms of platforming, and the cracks start to appear. The camera is pretty decent, but it does have moments when it swings wildly into a certain direction, leaving you running into falls or falling into bottomless pits.
When you do die, the game teleports you to the nearest available platform, which comes in handy because it eliminates the stress of doing all sorts of actions before reaching the place where you died.
Another interesting gameplay mechanic is the fact that Alice gains the power to shrink herself early in the game, allowing her to squeeze through key holes or see things that are hidden to her normal self, like unique platforms or drawings that signify where to go or what to do next.
Combat is also improved, as Alice can now lock onto enemies, while her arsenal has also seen an overhaul. You can still wield the trusty Vorpal Blade, but she now also gets to use the Hobby Horse, which attacks a bit slower but does more damage. Long range combat is handled through a pepper grinder which is used as a machine gun by Alice, while a teapot cannon acts like a mortar, firing goo in the form of projectiles. You also have a rabbit-shaped time bomb that can be used not just to distract enemies but also to weigh down certain buttons or platforms to unlock new areas.
Enemies are pretty varied, but the game does have a fascination with creepy doll faces, throwing at you many opponents decorated with such things. Certain boss units are also a part of this collection, even if other types, such as the Card or Wasp ones, are a bit more interesting. Some enemies require certain attacks, other have specific patterns, while some are only vulnerable to a few weapons, so combat doesn't get all that boring, at least not until the end of the campaign.
There are a few changes in terms of gameplay through the story, including portions where Alice controls an underwater ship in a sort of side-scrolling shooter mode, others where she embarks on a colorful 2D platformer adventure, times where she becomes a giant and rampages through the remains of the Red Queen's castle, or a particularly creepy portion where you guide the disembodied head of a doll through a 2D obstacle course.
There are also a few other activities like playing different musical instruments with the help of Guitar Hero-like music sheets, playing chess or solving picture puzzles, but the last two can easily be skipped, without any sort of penalty, if players don't want to deal with them.
Just like any platformer with adventure elements, there are a wide variety of objects hidden throughout nook and crannies in the game's levels. These range from bonus teeth, which can be used to upgrade your weapons, to extra bits of Alice's memories, which share more details about her backstory, or bottles that serve to unlock extra items like cinematics that can be viewed from the game's main menu.
Graphics and Audio Alice: Madness Returns keeps and improves upon the Gothic visual style seen in its predecessor, but the Unreal Engine doesn't exactly help the aesthetic stand out, largely because everything feels washed out and gray even when Wonderland is filled with all sorts of powerful colors.
The style does serve to highlight the madness gripping Alice's Wonderland but the unpolished nature, alongside the choppy textures make the experience not so pleasing.
Sound-wise, there isn't much to tell, as most of the voice actors do their jobs in a decent manner, although Alice seems a bit too aloof of her situations. Even as her whole Wonderland is falling apart or during crucial plot sequences, she retains her normal voice, talking like everything's fine and thus ruining a bit of the experience.
Conclusion Alice: Madness Returns is a decent platformer with hack and slash elements that will no doubt entertain fans of the original for quite a long time. It's pretty repetitive, however, wears out its welcome by its halfway point and the overall presentation isn't anything to write home about, but it still delivers a fair experience that will be enjoyed by quite a few players.
