Alice: Madness Returns is an oddity of a game; the kind where a numbered review score doesn't really help say anything about it. I knew I had to have this game as soon as it was announced and had been looking forward to it immensely. That said, it didn't blow me away. What's odd about that is I'll probably play it more than once and recommend it to a ton of people despite that. The game isn't especially deep or varied, yet there's a lot to appreciate about it.

The premise of the game is that you play as Alice from Alice in Wonderland, but the twist is that Alice has gone insane. The majority of the game takes place in Wonderland, which of course only exists in Alice's mind. Because Alice's mind is twisted however Wonderland is a sick, twisted and violent place. Defeating your enemies and returning peace to Wonderland is a sort of visual metaphor for reclaiming your character's sanity. The idea began with the original American McGee's Alice game back in 2000. The game is still considered a classic by its fanbase. I might add every copy of Alice: Madness Returns for the PS3 and 360 comes with a code to download American McGee's Alice for free. It's a ridiculously good deal.



The story of Alice: Madness Returns revolves around Alice trying desperately to remember the details behind her family's death. Alice has become somewhat more sane since the original game and is now allowed to mingle with the outside world, no longer restrained within a mental asylum. She is by no means well, though. While the original game took place entirely in Wonderland, Alice: Madness Returns allows you to spend brief periods in the real world. There's a certain mystery behind all the twisted imagery that goes on in Alice's mind, and the way the game is presented you often question if Alice is ever in the outside world or simply hallucinating the whole way through. I find the real world segments of the game very engaging, but make no mistake you won't be spending much time there. The grand majority of the game still takes place in Wonderland, with Alice trying to press residents like The Mad Hatter for information on the "Infernal Train" which is running mad through Wonderland and slowly destroying Alice's mind.

I'd like to state for the record that while getting the original game for free is a real treat, Alice: Madness Returns is a huge improvement over American McGee's Alice. While the original arguably had a better story and more variety, it was a kind of confused game. It controlled look a shooting game even though it was clearly a platformer and the level design was highly frustrating. Alice: Madness Returns knows exactly what it wants to be: A roller coaster of visual stimulation with fun controls and little to no frustrations.

Right from the beginning of the game you're given a floating triple jump, a teleport dash and a shrinking ability and set off to go have some fun. The controls are extremely responsive and moving Alice around is infinitely more enjoyable than it was before. The platforming is simple and doesn't really toss many new tricks at you as you go along, but it's well done. You'll be spending a lot of time in this game jumping from platform to platform, finding switches and solving very simple puzzles. The game will give you hints if you get stuck and if you die you'll simply respawn nearby. You'll be spending nearly as much time in combat and it's along the same lines: Fun, responsive but relatively simple and non-frustrating. The game even gives you the ability to become invincible for a brief period if you're low on health. This game doesn't mind cutting you some breaks. If you dislike that, just pump up the difficulty I suppose. The game's main attraction is the story and visuals, and the gameplay itself is still fun and easy to just kind of get lost in. I had no problem with this particular case of hand-holding.

If you really want an idea of how streamlined the game is consider that the game doesn't require any inventory management at all. Every weapon and ability has an assigned button, except that later in the game you'll need to use the D-Pad to switch between your two types of guns. This is one of those games where every single ability you get will be used frequently, but the point is that nothing about the game is especially complex.



This is the main thing that will keep some people from enjoying Alice: Madness Returns. While the game's various areas are incredibly memorable and all the abilities fun to use, it definitely gets repetitive. The game does toss some cool segments at you once in a while to spice things up, but for the most part you'll be jumping, fighting, uncovering a bit of the story and then maybe playing a mini-game. I beat the game in two sittings despite all this. I just never felt the need to stop. Alice is the kind of game you can just keep playing and playing until you're done, and if you happen to be a fan of collect-a-thons you won't be done for a very long time. The game is littered with hidden items and collectibles, as well as a New Game+ mode so you can keep all your items and weapons upgrades.

Alice: Madness Returns is a game that's ridiculously easy to recommend. The concept is creative, you get two games for the price of one and it's well polished. The game excels in providing you incredible dream-like imagery and delivers solid platforming and action gameplay on top. There's no other game out there that provides an experience quite like Alice: Madness Returns. Just consider your tolerance for simplicity. If you fancy yourself a hardcore gamer you might find the game unsatisfying and too long. Don't be afraid to recommend this game to others even if it's not for you, though. I will guarantee you that the game's brilliant concept and ease of play will make it Game of the Year material to a pretty large audience.

I could go into more detail on some of the cool things the game does like the Godzilla-esque segment or the part where you're jumping around on cards in the sky, but I feel like it's unnecessary and I'd best save the game's surprises. There isn't a whole ton that really needs to be said. The fact of the matter is that Alice: Madness Returns doesn't do anything to screw up its own concept, and when the concept is this easy for people to get enthusiastic over that's not a bad thing.