English
Gamereactor
previews
Alice: Madness Returns

Alice: Madness Returns

Despite the madness that fuelled its creation, Spicy Horse's Wonderland is rather uniform in its design: third person action adventure with the crumbs of a platformer stuck to its body.

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ

While rendering ever-more realistic cityscapes is a feat that grows more impressive with each generation of console, it's the power to create fantastical landscapes as yet unseen by the human eye that can truly excite players. Perfect then for a new Wonderland, where the abstract and the bizarre blend together seamlessly.

Such then is the interest in Madness Returns, sequel to the cult hit original that offered a more sinister twist on the Carroll classic back at the turn of the millennium.

The story for the sequel sees Alice's mind (and time) fracturing between real-life London as she continues to deal with the loss of her family, and the twisted and macabre Wonderland borne from her psychologically-scarred delusions.

Alice: Madness Returns
This is an ad:

As with the original source material, there'll be no logical progression to Alice's adventures, as she flits between levels offering different scenarios and challenges. Variety then, is the design of Spicy Horse Games.

That's the idea anyway. Today however we're limited to a run through of one level: The Hatter's Domain.

Based as such on the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, the stage sources crockery for its background and enemies. Broken dining sets house strange teacup men wielding silverware, and over the walls of crumbling castles crawl spidery teapots with flaming eyes. All this spread across checkered platforms connected by spinning cogs, both of which float in dream space.

While the potential for tinkering with the Alice's powers, such as they are, was huge, the developer has stuck to some pretty conventional uses that are natural for a third-person action adventure.

This is an ad:

Along with the large butcher's knife Alice uses, we see a pepper-grinder doubling as a gatling gun, a teapot utilised as a long-range grenade launcher with a generous arc of fire, and a hobby horse swung with all the force of a hammer - the arsenal is something you'd see if Pixar ever strayed into Grindhouse territory.

Alice: Madness Returns

Despite the generous number of weapons at hand, the game doesn't jump down the rabbit hole of combo tunnels. The enemies rarely require anything more than a few well-timed swipes to take out with the exception of a shield-holding tea cup man, whose attacks need to be dodged with a press of a button and attacked from behind.

It's the platforming that proves tricker, and even that isn't much of a challenge, once you've worked out the timing double-jumps and glides between platforms via skirt-billowing steam plumes.

While the move sets seems fairly straightforward given the opportunity afforded the developer with Alice's world, you've got to remember that Alice is restricted by the rules covered by the source novels.

The only concession we get is the shrinking ability, which not only lets Alice through small cracks in walls, but also for some reason allows her to spot previously-invisible platforms as well as graffiti on the walls (the former's important for certain sections in the level at hand, the latter - not so much). You can also jump into flowers while you've shrunk your body mass to recharge your health (no, I don't remember that from either book either).

Alice: Madness Returns

The demo's relatively brief, the screen fading out after the first encounter with the spider-like eyepot, before flashing a hefty montage video of the larger bosses and levels you can expect to see later in the game.

Of note was the different costume designs Alice is decked out in. The reason for which, creator American McGee explains later (in an interview to be published later this week) is less for the visual and more to represent the different gameplay mechanics and abilities Alice will earn (learn?) over the course of her adventure, with other dresses will be available as DLC.

Such abilities and their impact on gameplay is something I'm eager to see, as from this brief lobotomy slice into Alice's I'm left with the impression of a game that, despite it excellent imagery, offers too little in its gameplay mark it distinct from others in the field. I'm hoping later, more extensive hands-on will prove me wrong.

Alice: Madness ReturnsAlice: Madness Returns
HQ

Related texts



Loading next content