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Alice : Madness Returns
By Reardon Jones Alice : Madness Returns
follows on shortly after the striking ending of the original game, in
which Alice has been released from Rutledge Asylum and now living in
Victoria London, still haunted by the death of her family who perished
in a house fire (caused by a black cat).
Madness Returns sees
Alice needing to retreat back into her Wonderland to get away from the
broken memories that continue to haunt her. Upon arriving she begins to
realise that Wonderland isn't what it used to be and it isn't long
before her own madness begins warping an already insane world.
Add
to this the fact that The Mad Hatter has fallen to pieces, The March
Hare and Dormouse have taken over the Steampunk Domain, the Cheshire
Cat playing mind games and puzzles - and you've got yourself a world
Wonderland characters (but not we knew them) and one intense gaming
experience.
Madness
as an Action-Adventure game plays with relative ease. Alice travels
through different stages of Wonderland and Victoria London having to
save each section as she goes along. Former allies turning into enemies
also makes for some interesting and unexpected story twists.
Madness
Returns plays out like a real-life Lewis Carol novel. If you ever get a
chance to read any from the series you will realise how freaky the
source material for Alice in Wonderland actually is, it's pretty messed up actually, hardly the fun and games that Walt Disney delivered all those years ago.
Alice
battles her way through Wonderland with some amazing weapons : the
famed Vorpal Blade, her Pepper Grinder that acts like a Gatling gun,
the heavy duty Hobbie Horse that can break through cracked walls and
floors (which also helps in bashing some of the crazies occupying
wonderland).
Sadly, the game does get repetitive, which often
steals gamers away from the story and the potential it holds. The
graphics and development are, at times, inconsistent but overall what's
on offer is visually stunning.
I love the Wonderland worlds,
as each level represents a different theme, from Oriental to Under the
Sea and the Red Queens decimated kingdom, there really is something for
everyone's tastes.
Alice and her design also change with each
level, altering her costume and appearance, which really takes the
gamer on the journey - in fact, sometimes it even feels like you are
wandering through a real life pop up story- book.
The game
itself, while pretty long, has a relative ease to it. Considering that
it is quite repetitive this can make difficult sections incredibly
frustrating as you feel you should be able to pass it easily. The
melee fights are pretty easy and almost predictable (all you seem to do
is jump onto platforms and air geysers), while the ability to shrink to
find hidden areas and recover repressed
memories is initially cool but ultimately a little boring.
That said, controlling the large Alice is pretty awesome,
stomping around and crushing resurrected card guards and cannon towers
makes for a change of pace. In
fact, it's that quirk that really makes the game work. My own love of
the weirdness and craziness of the Wonderland books certainly wins
brownie points with me when it comes to the game, however I get the
feeling that hardcore gamers without an attatchment to the source
material won't feel quite the same way.
Seeing Wonderland as a
reflection of her splintered and fractured mind, watching it warp as
she begins to unravel more of the mysteries surrounding her families
death is a genuinely fun experience - weird, but enjoyable.
Yes, it's true, the Madness has returned! Game: Alice : Madness Returns
System: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows
Developer/Co-Developer: Spicy Horse
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Rating: 75%
(Ratings
Key/Explanation)
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