We're revisiting Wonderland again, another journey through the looking glass but once again things are not quite right.
Let's have a look at what's happening in Wonderland this time as we help Alice search through her mind to find out the truth about her past.
"I've not come back here looking for a fight."
No time is wasted in getting into the story as Alice starts her adventure in an office, being 'cured' by trying to forget her past but failing at doing so.
A Victorian London is presented to us as it is where Alice lives and where the story takes place between each chapter with the chapters themselves being held in various parts of Wonderland.
"My mind is in ruins!"
The story isn't the games strongest point but it is told well, even if the pacing is rather slow at the beginning, and kept my interest the entire way through with help from the characters who most of us already know to be in it.
The main basis for the adventure is an interesting one which has Alice searching through her mind to find out what caused the fire that burned down her house and killing her family with it.
The London sections tend to deal with the death of Alice's family whilst the Wonderland sections tend to deal with helping herself rather than searching for the cause of the fire, although at some point in each world you will come across a door labeled 'Liddell' that will reveal a piece of the puzzle.
The main character, Alice, is very similar to how she was in the original Alice game but for those who haven't played it, Alice was and still is depressed, slightly insane and looking for a way to control her past.
There aren't many other major characters this time around with the exceptions of the Cheshire Cat who offers you hints and advice, though vague, and Dr. Bumby who plays a vital role to the story and tries to help Alice forget her past so she can move on with her life.
"Off with her head!"
The game play suits the game very well with your weapons consisting of the returning Vorpal Blade which is your main melee weapon in both this and the original Alice, a Pepper Grinder which is a chain gun like weapon, the Hobby Horse which is essentially a stronger but slower melee weapon and the Tea Pot which is a grenade launcher like weapon.
You also have defensive options which include dodging, which takes the form of you turning into butterflies and appearing in a spot a few meters away, and an Umbrella which can block melee and ranged attacks as well as deflect them back at the enemy.
Something quite unique about this games gameplay is Shrink mode - a mode that allows you to shrink and see things you cannot in your bigger form.
This fits into the gameplay as when you look for collectibles and ways to progress you will have to shrink to see hidden passeways, fit through keyholes and see platforms, etc.
Everything is slightly tinged with purple when shrunk but the hiccuping and bubbles that appear from Alice are a nice touch.
You can string combos together such as going from Vorpal Blade to Hobby Horse and back to the Blade or doing a combo with one weapon and finishing it off with the other melee weapon.
You can upgrade all your weapons, by collecting teeth which work as currency and obtained by destroying enemies and items, to become more powerful, quicker and to increase your ammo so you can take more shots before letting your ranged weapons cool down to be able to use them again.
Though being a platformer at heart, arcade type mini games have been included including sections when you have to steer a ship through a side scrolling section to avoid sharks, mines and crabs with guns replacing claws, 2d side scrolling sections played on an animated oriental scroll along with several other things that may surprise you.
Puzzles are also included such as getting two pieces on a chessboard to the designated places with the catch being the pieces mirror each other and other pieces block your path and try to destroy you.
Another puzzle which I found to be quite boring after the third or so time of doing it was collecting puzzle pieces from the surrounding area so you could then rearrange the puzzle to carry on.
"The man in the moon is the engineer."
Gone are the blacks and greys (mostly!) of many games on the market at the moment and in are a variety of bright and dark colours that compliment the fantasy world they're in.
London is dull to match the tone of Alice's life, depressing and boring, by being mostly grey, black and cloudy but it looks amazing and stunningly Victorian especially with the random characters on the street wearing corsets, suits, pocket watches and other items you don't see so much nowadays.
Wonderland is where the graphics shine the most though with the big things such as the Hatter's Domain which I had to stop and stare at for a while before carrying on to the smaller things such as the stream of colour that follows an attack from the Vorpal Blade and the butterflies that appear when Alice dodges, jumps and twirls.
All locales look absolutely amazing and unique with each world being completely different to the last, hosting different characters and costumes for Alice to match the section of Wonderland she's in for example a Steampunk dress for the Hatter's Domain.
The costumes shouldn't be overlooked though as the detail in them is amazing, down to the different ribbon on each dress and the quality of each dress such as the costume being frayed and torn in the Dollhouse world which is where Wonderland is reaching peak insanity.
There are many gruesome sights in the game though such as giant owls with their innards hanging out, dead fish people being hung from hooks on the ceiling, a surprising amount of blood spurting from enemies as you slice through them and little children with mechanical pieces around their head forcing their mouths and eyes open.
It's all rather unsettling when playing it but that is a compliment to American McGee and Spicy Horse studios as being inside the head of quite an insane person would be unsettling and unstable just like Wonderland has become.
With the gruesome sights come the prettier sights though such as the colours in the sky reflecting off of the ice, cards forming bridges for you in the bright and cloudy sky, sections when you talk to the Cheshire Cat that has giant marbles and toys floating around you which is one of obviously less unsettling sections of the game and when you first enter Wonderland when not much has seemed to have changed.
The pop up storybook type cut scenes are really well done and befitting for the game as it's highly focused on a fantasy world. I also like to think it pays homage to Alice in Wonderland originally being a book and that American McGee and Shiny Horse wanted to include this just as a reminder of how it all began.
I do have to state that the art is what makes the graphics so spectacular as the game does suffer from slight pop up issues, not looking as detailed as some other titles and the way her hair and other things sometimes vanishes into her clothing.
"We're all mad here."
The audio perfectly reflects the insanity and unsettling aspects of the game as it sounds so dark and twisted, sometimes mixed in with noises such as children laughing or crying.
The soundtrack stood out for me but not as much as the original Alice's did as I found that to be much more fantasy sounding and much more twisted as it consisted of using noises from toys to make the actual music whilst in this one it's more orchestral which though it sounds better in quality it doesn't bring the same feelings as the music did in the original.
The voice acting is spectacular though with Susie Brann doing an amazing job with capturing Alice's desperation in her voice, especially in the high pitched parts, and in general conversation with other characters.
The other stand out voice actor is Roger Jackson who voices the Cheshire Cat as he captures the teasing but slightly sinister tone that the Cheshire Cat has, making him seem like he wants to help but has fun in not doing so.
The weapons all have really good sound effects with the Tea Pot being the best as you can charge it for stronger shots and the longer you charge it the more it rattles and whistles.
The Pepper Grinder also stands out with the noises it makes whilst being rotated to shoot and the high pitch sound it makes whilst shooting.
The melee weapons are pretty standard with the swishing and crushing sounds they make whilst the actions are carried out.
"Here comes the train with its shiny cars."
The game, on consoles, also comes bundled with a remastered version of the original American McGee's Alice game so that also helps to extend life as that is also and amazing game.
To conclude my review through the looking glass I'd like to congratulate Shiny Horse, American McGee, Chris Vrenna and the rest of the people who helped to create a game with such awe inspiring music, art and characters.
Also, for those trophy and achievement lovers out there, it is a pretty easy Platinum/1000 GS score respectively!
My overall scores for Alice: Madness Returns are:
Story: 8
Characters: 8
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 9.5
Audio: 9
Lasting appeal: 8
Overall: 9
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