Re: Alice: Madness Returns [Multi-Platform]
I played this game for about an hour yesterday and I have to say that it's quite impressive. Although, my full opinion may differ, depending on how the full game turns out, I'll just dish out my thoughts from what I've experienced so far.
Now, I had never heard of American McGee's Alice ever, before this title was announced. What irked my interest in Madness Returns was obviously the gameplay, which was hack-en-slash and puzzle/platforming. After watching so many trailers and videos, I realized this game was a completely bizarre and came from a very twisted mind of American McGee. What we have known of the wonderful childhood fairytale, was turned into this dark and horrific vision our young British lass. Any-hoo, after doing some further digging, I found out that this game was a sequel and the first one had released back in 2000. With very little knowledge of the plot, I have decided to play this game.
Enough with the history lesson, let's get down to business. The sequel takes place 10 years after the event of the first game. Alice is now a young adult and is in an orphanage in London, still haunted by the memories of her dead parents. The intro begins with her shrink, Dr. Angus Bumby, attempting to suppress those memories by hypnotizing her. Unfortunately, it's not easy for Alice to let got of those horrible images, she tries to go off into Wonderland, but even there, things go amok. The doctor wakes her up and tells her to get some pills from the market, where she meets up with Nurse Witless. Apparently, Witless was a Nurse in the Asylum, where Alice was locked down in the first game. On meeting up with her, she has a strange vision and falls back into Wonderland. Here, she is greeted by the Cheshire cat who informs Alice that a new law has taken over the wonderland and must be stopped. From here, we begin our journey.
The gameplay is primarily based on platforming. Alice can jump, double jump and even triple jump. AND yes, she can even float too (
). You can also use dodge/dash ability, which is very useful, both in combat and platforming. Alice also has the ability to shrink her size and traverse into smaller areas. Platforming is mainly spent in jumping across across spinning wheels, large dices, propelling mushrooms, gas pipes etc. Some are time based obstacles and others could be traveling through invisible paths, which are mainly revealed by using your shrunk form. The world offers a lot of collectibles of your memories, random bottles and teeth (for weapons upgrades). For most part, the platforming is decent, but you'll occasionally run into invisible walls and awkward camera angles. As for the combat, you'll obtain the Vorpal blade and the Pepper Gun, right in the first level. Enemies are predictable in terms of their attack patterns and you'll have no trouble finishing them off. I'm playing it on Normal, but trust me, it feels like a level below easy. Till now, no enemy has been able to drain even 2-3 slots from my health bar. My only deaths have been due to platforming falls. So my advice; start the game with anything above normal. You can upgrade your weapons with the teeth you have collected and it's not a complex upgrade pattern, just simple level upgrades. Wonderland offers some secret hidden locations, which are revealed by a flying Pig Snout. Fill them with enough pepper shots and they will reveal the location. When you're in your shrunk form, the world with turn dark blue and some clues will be highlighted in glowing signs. It's useful in finding your way around (if lost), hidden location revelations & finding hidden paths.
Graphics are really gorgeous. We are once again graced by the ever popular, Unreal Engine 3, combined with nVidia's PhysX. From the lush landscapes of the Wonderland forests to the ruined Mad Hatter's domain. Everything is a work of art. The level design is fantastic. The world just begs to be explored. The game runs very smooth using the .ini tweak to 60fps. I have set PhysX to low, for obvious reasons. Speaking of PhysX, has the technology evolved or what. Alice's hair animations, cloth physics, object destruction etc are brilliant. There are some hiccups in the performance though and frame dips at times. Visually, this game looks stunning on the PC. Every bit of effort of taken to provide a dark and beautiful appeal to the game.
Coming to the sound aspect, the soundtrack is fabulous. It's filled with haunting violin and piano tunes. It's not overly dramatic, but soft and subtle. The switch of tune occurs, depending on the situation. It blends in perfectly with the dark and deary set-up of the game. The other sound aspects of the game like weapons sounds, creatures sounds, object & nature sounds are pretty good. Voice acting is absolutely spot-on. Every character has their unique personality and are really sarcastic.
The game offers a lot in terms of content. For people who haven't played the first game, a re-mastered version is available, which has all the recent resolution support and heck, even has 360 controller support. There is an in-game manual, which has detailed information on how to go about the game. It also has a past history guide, in which you can read through the events of the first game. It also allows you to access all the memories that you have collected from the game and view the cut-scenes which have been unlocked. People who have pre-ordered the game from EA, must already have the 'Dresses and Weapon pack' DLC included in the game. These are all the different costumes you'll have access to:
This is just a small gist of what the game will offer. People who love adventure games, this is a good title to try out. Vastly under-rated I would say.
I played this game for about an hour yesterday and I have to say that it's quite impressive. Although, my full opinion may differ, depending on how the full game turns out, I'll just dish out my thoughts from what I've experienced so far.
Now, I had never heard of American McGee's Alice ever, before this title was announced. What irked my interest in Madness Returns was obviously the gameplay, which was hack-en-slash and puzzle/platforming. After watching so many trailers and videos, I realized this game was a completely bizarre and came from a very twisted mind of American McGee. What we have known of the wonderful childhood fairytale, was turned into this dark and horrific vision our young British lass. Any-hoo, after doing some further digging, I found out that this game was a sequel and the first one had released back in 2000. With very little knowledge of the plot, I have decided to play this game.
Enough with the history lesson, let's get down to business. The sequel takes place 10 years after the event of the first game. Alice is now a young adult and is in an orphanage in London, still haunted by the memories of her dead parents. The intro begins with her shrink, Dr. Angus Bumby, attempting to suppress those memories by hypnotizing her. Unfortunately, it's not easy for Alice to let got of those horrible images, she tries to go off into Wonderland, but even there, things go amok. The doctor wakes her up and tells her to get some pills from the market, where she meets up with Nurse Witless. Apparently, Witless was a Nurse in the Asylum, where Alice was locked down in the first game. On meeting up with her, she has a strange vision and falls back into Wonderland. Here, she is greeted by the Cheshire cat who informs Alice that a new law has taken over the wonderland and must be stopped. From here, we begin our journey.
The gameplay is primarily based on platforming. Alice can jump, double jump and even triple jump. AND yes, she can even float too (
). You can also use dodge/dash ability, which is very useful, both in combat and platforming. Alice also has the ability to shrink her size and traverse into smaller areas. Platforming is mainly spent in jumping across across spinning wheels, large dices, propelling mushrooms, gas pipes etc. Some are time based obstacles and others could be traveling through invisible paths, which are mainly revealed by using your shrunk form. The world offers a lot of collectibles of your memories, random bottles and teeth (for weapons upgrades). For most part, the platforming is decent, but you'll occasionally run into invisible walls and awkward camera angles. As for the combat, you'll obtain the Vorpal blade and the Pepper Gun, right in the first level. Enemies are predictable in terms of their attack patterns and you'll have no trouble finishing them off. I'm playing it on Normal, but trust me, it feels like a level below easy. Till now, no enemy has been able to drain even 2-3 slots from my health bar. My only deaths have been due to platforming falls. So my advice; start the game with anything above normal. You can upgrade your weapons with the teeth you have collected and it's not a complex upgrade pattern, just simple level upgrades. Wonderland offers some secret hidden locations, which are revealed by a flying Pig Snout. Fill them with enough pepper shots and they will reveal the location. When you're in your shrunk form, the world with turn dark blue and some clues will be highlighted in glowing signs. It's useful in finding your way around (if lost), hidden location revelations & finding hidden paths. Graphics are really gorgeous. We are once again graced by the ever popular, Unreal Engine 3, combined with nVidia's PhysX. From the lush landscapes of the Wonderland forests to the ruined Mad Hatter's domain. Everything is a work of art. The level design is fantastic. The world just begs to be explored. The game runs very smooth using the .ini tweak to 60fps. I have set PhysX to low, for obvious reasons. Speaking of PhysX, has the technology evolved or what. Alice's hair animations, cloth physics, object destruction etc are brilliant. There are some hiccups in the performance though and frame dips at times. Visually, this game looks stunning on the PC. Every bit of effort of taken to provide a dark and beautiful appeal to the game.
Coming to the sound aspect, the soundtrack is fabulous. It's filled with haunting violin and piano tunes. It's not overly dramatic, but soft and subtle. The switch of tune occurs, depending on the situation. It blends in perfectly with the dark and deary set-up of the game. The other sound aspects of the game like weapons sounds, creatures sounds, object & nature sounds are pretty good. Voice acting is absolutely spot-on. Every character has their unique personality and are really sarcastic.
The game offers a lot in terms of content. For people who haven't played the first game, a re-mastered version is available, which has all the recent resolution support and heck, even has 360 controller support. There is an in-game manual, which has detailed information on how to go about the game. It also has a past history guide, in which you can read through the events of the first game. It also allows you to access all the memories that you have collected from the game and view the cut-scenes which have been unlocked. People who have pre-ordered the game from EA, must already have the 'Dresses and Weapon pack' DLC included in the game. These are all the different costumes you'll have access to:
This is just a small gist of what the game will offer. People who love adventure games, this is a good title to try out. Vastly under-rated I would say.
therefore cant be sure...)
