Eleven years ago a horrific fire took Alice’s family from her and left her
mind horrifically scarred. Afterwards she was confined to Rutledge Asylum, where
she struggled to confront her demons by slipping further into her fantasy world
of Wonderland.
“…plays enjoyably with magical grace and beauty” 82/100 –
PC Gamer
“Amazing environment and character designs, Overall satisfyingly creepy
design and story…” A- Game Revolution
“…Beautifully dark and creepy version of Wonderland” 7/10 –
Gamespot
Now, after ten years and release, with her mind in tatters, she is unable to
resolve the fear prompted by her strange memories, dreams, and visions. Perhaps
she’ll do better in Wonderland. She always has. She travels there, but in her
absence, Wonderland too has suffered. Something has gone horribly wrong, and now
a great evil is descending upon what once was her beautiful refuge. Can Alice
save Wonderland-and herself-from the madness that consumes them both…?
Features:
- Intense 3rd person action: Use multiple upgradeable melee weapons, including
the explosive Teapot Cannon, the punishing Hobby Horse, and the classic
Vorpal Blade.
- Explore a dark and shattered Wonderland: Encounter familiar but now strange
characters, including the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar and the
Red Queen.
- Magical abilities: Obtain peculiar abilities in Wonderland such as floating
with Alice’s dress, shrinking, or growing to towering sizes in order to crush
enemies.
- Interactive puzzles: Intuitive and rewarding puzzles such as transforming
obstacles, musical memories, chess, and picture blocks.
Review by PC Gamer
"Set more than a decade after her adventure in American McGee’s Alice,
Alice: Madness Returns finds the titular heroine receiving psychiatric care in a
depressing Victorian orphanage, so it’s no wonder that she’d decide to duck
out of grim reality and return to the Wonderland that she fought to restore to
verdant beauty as a girl. But when a gooey black “ruin” begins coughing up
baby-faced monsters, Alice’s refuge turns into a series of phantasmagoric
prisons that she must traverse to find its source—in her own fragile
psyche…its strong-est feature is its extravagant, vision-ary art direction,
which gleefully loots not only the sinister underpinnings of Carroll’s novel
but everything from twelfth-century Japan to the grotty visions of the Brothers
Quay as Wonderland’s six sprawling domains gradually descend from whimsical
dreamscapes into horrifying nightmares.
Within them, Alice breezily walks into paintings that transform the game into
a delicate-looking 2D platformer. She restores an underwater theatrical
production resembling Pirates of the Caribbean crossed with Glee. She rides
teacup trolleys, fires a pepper-loaded minigun, collects the body parts of her
friends, and mercilessly, furiously stomps tiny card-soldiers under the soles of
her boots.
But even in its darkest moments, Madness Returns plays enjoyably with magical
grace and beauty—even Alice’s spirited pirouettes from one platform to
another shed blue and teal leaves. This is the real triumph of Madness Returns:
you could blot out the game’s dialog and narrative, and the demented sets and
gorgeous visuals would tell a mesmerizing story on their own."
THE VERDICT: Despite unrefined combat, Alice: Madness Returns delivers a fun,
unforgettable journey in color, design, and images. 82/100
