Looking at my pile of games I bought on the cheap and have no time whatsoever to play, I decided to start up Alice: Madness Returns. From all the reviews I have glanced through, I initially got the vibe that the game play didn't stack up to the awe and wonder the world that American McGee had created. From my 5 or so hours into the game, these initial impressions are for the most part correct.
First of all, the game is a treat to look at. In some areas where the graphics lack polish, the art style makes up for it. I'm a sucker for the dark art and when it's added to Alice in Wonderland, I can't help but be intrigued. One thing is for certain though, if your not a fan of Alice in Wonderland, this game is going to do nothing for you. But then again, why would you be playing it?
The game does seem like it can get repetitive and some areas seem like that they go on just a tad bit longer than you would expect. While not game breaking, some of the platforming can get frustrating. Jumping from platform to platform can be a bit troublesome because its hard to pinpoint where Alice is going to land. This didn't take away my enjoyment of the game too much but I can easily see somebody not heavily invested in the Alice in Wonderland fiction just give up on frustration. There's no penalty for falling from a cliff either other than starting back on the first part of the area. No health is lost, so the only loss is the time it takes to do a segment over again. There are some areas though, where I will die over and over again but I just keep chugging along because I could not wait to see what was around the corner.
Another area where I found a bit frustrating is the combat. While fighting just 1 or 2 enemies isn't all too bad, fighting a group of up to 7 enemies can really get tough. Occasionally I do find enemies that act like they pop a fuse and get confused on what to do and just stand in place waiting for me to attack them. Also, there are times when enemies will just disappear in thin air while attacking them. These encounters don't happen too often and most of the time it makes me laugh rather then make me want to throw my controller.
The story seems a bit weak at first. I often thought to myself what my purpose was carting Alice around all these levels was for. Now it could be my attention span but everything started to fall into place around the 2/3 mark of the game. There are collectibles scattered around the levels that hint at the story a bit, which helped a bit, but there are times when I would still be a bit lost. Most of the time too, if you paid enough attention to the detail, you could find hints in the level design itself in regards to the story itself which I thought was really well done. Overall though, once the story wrapped up, I found it too be quite good. Defiantly wouldn't mind playing through actual dlc - not skin packs - if the folks at Spice Horse would develop any.
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