Alice Madness Returns

Played a couple of hours of this. It's not bad but it doesn't really have much going for it.

Basically it's a 3rd person action platformer. The platforming is pretty standard stuff. The only thing to really say about it is that the traditional double jump mechanic has been replaced by a multiple jump / glide combo which takes a little getting used to and it pretty satisfying when you get it working.

The combat is (so far) very simplistic on normal difficulty. Strike, dodge, repeat and you'll take down any of the early enemies, we'll see what happens later.

One positive is that there are a lot of collectibles, which is something I like. There's various Mcguffins, as well as a currency (teeth, for some goddamn reason) which can be spent to upgrade weapons. Again, standard stuff you've seen in a ton of other games.

The design is quite nice. I'm not a big fan of surrealist design because it's a bit too easy, but it has to be said that the game looks pretty nice despite some bad texture pop-in, especially in the prologue.

So not bad. A rental maybe ? What's really missing is some kind of hook to set this game apart from all the tons and tons of similar games on the market.

Yea, gameplay looked quite meh to me. Thats why I havent bought it, even though the insanity wonderland seems like a cool concept.

AnonymousAdam wrote:

Yea, gameplay looked quite meh to me. Thats why I havent bought it, even though the insanity wonderland seems like a cool concept.

It is and it isn't. This is my thing about surrealism. Pick a bunch of random nouns and you have your design. In this case, Teapot Clock Cog. Make them unusual sizes and bang, there's your design. Try - Pillow Dog Flower, just as good. Or Banana Cloud Bottle Cash Register Treacle Zoo Bicycle. It works with anything - just throwing a random mash of shit together slightly twisted, warped and or resized.

I was expecting this game since the first one so yeah.
I enjoyed every second of this game.
And it's not about surealism, it's more about psychology. Every single image, evry little detail is a referecnce to Carol's tale, to Alice's twisted mind.
This game is not about slashing (well yeah...this part is a bit downed, but not on hard) this game is about understanding and realization of one's nightmares and ways to overcome them.

As a fan of Carol's tale and first Alice game, I give this game 8 out of 10.
Yeah, yeah...slasher...I know.

Plot is not the main thing in this game. The atmosphere is more impotant, because its surrealism (feelings' world and thoughts' space). Plot can look simple for people who do not like this style.
One thing I want to apply in the game - more fightings, more enemies at the same time.