Wondrous Things

I've enthused excessively about several games in this blog but now I've got to do the same about another.

Alice: Madness Returns is one of the best action adventure games I have played; perhaps the best.

Alice - Pale and Interesting

Alice herself is as charming as she is supposed to be.  She is a goth / emo type down to the black and white striped stockings, black hair and completely white complexion.  Most of the time she is either sensible or whimsical, perhaps to the point where it is hard to believe in the violence of the game or the possibly criminally insane past that is sometimes referred to.  (This is not a spoiler as I don't yet know how Alice's history is resolved).

The game has faults which only serve to draw the players attention to the fact that some things which games can be criticised for are not important.  What am I talking about?  The fact is that the edges of the world around Alice are only very roughly defined and there are many places where it looks as if she should be able to go but she cannot.  The fact is you soon get used to it as the game is consistent.

Playability is the games primary strength.  I do not think I have got stuck anywhere or got bored at any point.  The play flows smoothly.  It only frustrates me enough to give me a sense of achievement when I do get through.

The distorted Wonderland floats in the background.

There are difficult fights and sequences of jumping between sometimes moving sometimes invisible platforms..  Death in a fight means death but there is never too much to replay to get back to the same point.  When Alice misses a platform when jumping she disperses as a crowd of butterflies and reconstitutes back at the start of the sequence, with time continuing to move forward as this happens.

There is a great variety of enemies; something with American McGee's Alice seemed to lack, though I confess I did not finish it.  They all have there own strengths and weaknesses and modes of attack and Alice needs to use all of her curious weapons to overcome them.  All weapons can be upgraded and are fun to use.

The primary impression I would want to leave you with is that none of this games faults matter as it is great.  Please play it.