{Yetichan said she enjoyed posting her last guest post and wanted to do another.  Alice: Madness Returns is one of her favourite games. – Ed.}

Despite being fairly repetitive, Alice: Madness Returns is one of my favourite games I have ever played.  Alice wanders around the bleak setting of Victorian London in 1875, falling into different versions of a crumbling Wonderland.  Each level offers the usual platforming elements of jumping on moving blocks, killing enemies, minigames, and solving puzzles.  As the game progresses, Alice picks up a range of different weapons from the Vorpal Blade to a giant hobby horse, which can all be upgraded.  New abilities such as shrinking and the ability to see hidden blocks unlock as you progress, adding a bit of replayability to earlier areas.  And for the 100% completionist, there are a range of different non-essential bottles and scattered memories to collect, and flying pig snouts to pepper.

Snicker-snack!

So why do I adore this game so much?  In short, because this game is as beautiful as it is dark.  In a world where many people still dismiss gaming as ‘something for kids’, it is refreshing to play a game that explores the darker side of a fantasy story.  How awesome would it be if Nintendo made a haunting, dark horror installment in the Legend of Zelda series to appeal to the grownup fans who have followed the series since they were kids?  But I digress… {Ah, but it is something we’ve discussed at length, and I too would love to see it! – Ed.}

When I first stumbled from the bleak, dark streets of London into the vibrant, colourful Wonderland, I just wanted to spend my time running around looking at all the scenery.  (I loved it so much I purchased ‘The Art of Alice: Madness Returns so I could see all the related concept art).  It didn’t take me long to become completely absorbed in the unravelling of Wonderland as Alice’s repressed memories in the real world are revealed.  The imagery of this game ranges from fantasy violence, to quite disturbing psychological horrors.  In fact some of the images in the art book are so disturbing I really don’t like looking at them.  Don’t let this give you the wrong idea though – I love that American McGee has created this dark and disturbing world, and hasn’t sugar coated it to appeal to the masses.

Expect to be disturbed about two seconds after the start of this part of the opening cutscene…

Another aspect of the game I love is Alice herself.  She looks totally awesome.  Similar to Bayonetta, when you dodge attacks or die, you do it in a cloud of butterflies.  Alice’s character outfits are all breathtakingly beautiful, and change in theme depending on the level (my favourite being Chapter One’s Steampunk dress, which I would love for a Cosplay outfit).  It’s a different kind of love to that I have for ass-kicking Nariko (Heavenly Sword).  Alice is messed up, and you must help her through her internal struggle.

If the in game collections weren’t enough, I recently purchased the series of Alice: Madness Returns collectable figurines which now have pride of place in my ornament cabinet.  The set consists of the classic blue dress Alice, Cheshire Cat, and a Card Guard, along with the ‘Hysteria Alice’ figurine (in your death throes, Alice will switch to her ‘hysteria’ mode, where she is temporarily invincible and her attacks are stronger, in a blood spattered white dress).

Hysteria. Just not the Def Leppard kind.

I feel like I must add my other criticism at this point – this game leaves you feeling cheated of boss fights!  When the story builds to a certain point and introduces a large nasty being of some sort that Alice needs to overcome, it is a little disappointing to take a back seat and watch it play out through a short cut scene.  Having said that though, I am currently working on my second playthrough, aiming for 100% completion.  I am up to my favourite level, Chapter Four ‘Queensland’, and loving it just as much as the first time around.  A definite must-play for fans of dark fantasy.

Oh and did I mention the Cheshire Cat has a voice like Alan Rickman – What’s not to love?

No purple and pink fluffy Cheshire in this game!

Editorial

Hi there, it’s Tehkella here, just jumping in with my thoughts, of which Yetichan will be both appalled and aghast over.  I started playing Alice: Madness Returns this week, at Yetichan’s insistence (she bought me the game actually).  I was excited to play because I love dark fantasy, and had seen the Artbook and was amazed by the disturbia within.  Thought it would be fun to delve into that part of the psyche for a couple of weeks!

However, I have a confession to make to you – I don’t really like it!  I started playing it, after several false starts having to delete my save and start again because I kept accidentally skipping cut scenes and it doesn’t let you go back to them (though I can see you can view the major ones).  I also don’t like how easily you can die, and how fiddly the camera is.  Also, the enemies are bitches and I’m only in chapter 1.  Plus the saving is unpredictable.  I appreciate the dark fantasy elements, but I’m not overly impressed with the game mechanics!  I’m definitely going to continue playing it though.  I like the concept very much, and the opening sequence was so freaky (blood and gore and giant baby arms, oh my!)  I’m playing on Normal difficulty and I think I might downgrade to Easy because it looks like it’s going to ramp up in toughness very soon!  I’m going to run through it without a walkthrough and then go back through the second time to collect everything.

Hopefully I’ll take more of a shine to it after a while – I’m sometimes picky about games when I start them but when I persevere, it gets better

A bit later…

Okay, so I thought I’d add a bit more to my editorial, because I actually started playing the original American McGee’s Alice (and finished it in just a few days!)  I wanted to play it before getting into Madness Returns.  I played on Easy (which was a good choice in hindsight) and I was surprised to find that I quite liked it.  The things I mentioned disliking about Madness Returns (ie dying easily, fiddly camera controls) are present in the first game, but I forgive them more easily because the game is over 10 years old.  Also, practice really does make perfect, and after playing a few chapters, I got used to the controls and I’m sure I will with Madness Returns as well.

The Pale Realm has been my favourite chapter so far

American McGee’s Alice is twisted and dark, frustrating at times, but fun to play.  There are different weapons (I think) to the second game including an excellent set of demonic jacks that I just got which are proving very useful for killing off the clockwork contraptions that are too dangerous to get close to.  The game is also quite generous with powerups, with every enemy dropping health for you to collect and replenish after battle.  The boss fights are good fun (except for the Jabberwock!) and offer a diverse range of win requirements to let you utilise the full complement of your skills and weapons.

There is a bit of resemblance I think to early Tomb Raider games, with climbing and (shudder) rope swings, and actually Alice’s voice is very Lara Croft-esque too.  The Cheshire Cat does, as Yetichan mentions, sound very much like Alan Rickman, so that’s a big drawcard!

Rather than entering Hysteria mode, you can collect Demonic Power vials which turn Alice into a demon. Your attacks are more powerful, and any will-based attacks temporarily don’t affect your will meter

So in closing, I am prepared to retract my earlier scathing comments about Madness Returns because the story is just so good.  If you’ve played neither, I do recommend starting with American McGee’s Alice just to get the background story (and become more forgiving of the controls you’ll have to master in Madness Returns).  Both games offer dark twisted fantasy, and a delightful romp into the nasty corners of Alice’s mind.