I never played the original American McGee's Alice, so my interest in this particular title was from the games' premise alone: a dark reimagining of the classic Alice In Wonderland starring a grown-up Alice returning to Wonderland to face her inner and outer demons. I'm a big fan of dark (meaningfully dark, that is) stories, so it seemed to be right up my alley.
Having now played through the game's story twice, I think I can safely say that the strengths of Alice: Madness Returns are best emphasized by its biggest flaw: it's too short. The game spans six levels, of which one is a corridor to the last (or, to be precise, only) boss. This might not seem like too little, considering the other levels' lengths, but for a game of this caliber it truly feels like the story needed around two more levels. It's a shame, because the tale of Alice's journey through a defiled Wonderland to find the truth behind the death of her family is really interesting and gripping, filled with clever writing and excellent characterizations of everyone from the heroine herself to the new main villain. It's a story about taking action, but also about knowing which actions to take. Still, even though its good qualities certainly shine through its few hiccups, it shouldn't need to shine through any flaws in the first place.
The gameplay is also very neat for such a story-oriented game; I don't at all agree with the common criticism that it would be one of the game's lesser points. Granted, what makes moving a character from point A to point B fun in one game and dull in another is hard to explain (and will, like everything, differ from person to person), so I'll just say that the game is a solid Platform Game with some quite interesting combat to boot. The story might be more impressive, but nevertheless I did have a very good time actually using the controller as well; special mention must go to level 4, in which both story and gameplay intertwine in a tremendously effective way that is not seen often.
I may love this game far more than most gamers, but I think it's an experience everybody should give a try at least once. It's a very good title that just barely fails at making a homerun.
Far From "All Bark and No Bite"
I never played the original American McGee's Alice, so my interest in this particular title was from the games' premise alone: a dark reimagining of the classic Alice In Wonderland starring a grown-up Alice returning to Wonderland to face her inner and outer demons. I'm a big fan of dark (meaningfully dark, that is) stories, so it seemed to be right up my alley.
Having now played through the game's story twice, I think I can safely say that the strengths of Alice: Madness Returns are best emphasized by its biggest flaw: it's too short. The game spans six levels, of which one is a corridor to the last (or, to be precise, only) boss. This might not seem like too little, considering the other levels' lengths, but for a game of this caliber it truly feels like the story needed around two more levels. It's a shame, because the tale of Alice's journey through a defiled Wonderland to find the truth behind the death of her family is really interesting and gripping, filled with clever writing and excellent characterizations of everyone from the heroine herself to the new main villain. It's a story about taking action, but also about knowing which actions to take. Still, even though its good qualities certainly shine through its few hiccups, it shouldn't need to shine through any flaws in the first place.
The gameplay is also very neat for such a story-oriented game; I don't at all agree with the common criticism that it would be one of the game's lesser points. Granted, what makes moving a character from point A to point B fun in one game and dull in another is hard to explain (and will, like everything, differ from person to person), so I'll just say that the game is a solid Platform Game with some quite interesting combat to boot. The story might be more impressive, but nevertheless I did have a very good time actually using the controller as well; special mention must go to level 4, in which both story and gameplay intertwine in a tremendously effective way that is not seen often.
I may love this game far more than most gamers, but I think it's an experience everybody should give a try at least once. It's a very good title that just barely fails at making a homerun.