American Mcgee has returned to wonderland, the follow up to 2000’s PC hit Alice is finally on store shelves and those who know the original are wondering if the eleven years that has passed between the two entries has improved the franchise. Time to take a trip down the rabbit hole…

THE BACKSTORY

American Mcgee a game designer who fashions himself the “walt disney of gaming” entered the gaming world with the original Alice eleven years ago to great success. The game was a hit and brought the classic tales “Alice In Wonderland” and “Through The Looking Glass” into a dark and macabre fantasy world where a young Alice’s mind is warped by the tragic death of her family. Alice battled through a corrupted wonderland that mirrored her own struggles within an insane asylum. The game was a platformer that controlled like a first person shooter (under the heavy metal FAKK2 engine) and featured brutal combat and grisly graphics. The game was a hit and launched Mcgee to fame, following Alice Mcgee released “Bad Day LA” a game that was not critically or commercially well received. It seems for Mcgee a trip back to the Alice franchise was necessary to relaunch his icon status and so it has.

THE STORY

Madness Returns takes place years after the original game. Alice has moved out of the asylum and is now living in foggy old London under he guidance of a new doctor who encourages Alice to forget her troubled past. Alice faced with the moral decay of the city and some haunting fragmented memories retreats into wonderland in an effort to save her sanity and remember the truth of her families tragic deaths. Alice is greeted by the Chesire cat in wonderland and he will act as her guide throughout the game offering advice and cryptic foretelling of Alice’s fate. It seems wonderland is being torn apart by the horrors in Alice’s reality and she will have to travel throughout her fantasy world and piece together the identity of wonderlands destroyer just as she pieces together fragments of her memories in reality. There is a strong thematic story under laying this game and drawing parallels between the two worlds Alice frequents is no easy task but is one that developer Spicy Horse has done extremely well.The story is told both through in game cine-matics and motion comics (which are starting to become off putting in their popularity). The cine-matics are well done and the writing can be quirky, touching,creepy or darkly funny. The setting tells the story as well as any of the dialuoge and works well to immerse the player in the games themes, when you see a grimy bar you immediately know what Alice will be thinking and experiencing when she walks in. Some people may find the dialogue to get a little too creepy and cryptic but those who hang in for the games final chapters are in for a treat. Over the course of the story I actually felt Alice’s character grow; escaping the horrors of insanity,exploitation and become more self reliant and heroic. The story is quite dark and will not be suitable for kids, it features rape,child abuse, terrible asylum fare and some truly macabre visuals it is most definitely an M rated game. The story in Alice Madness returns will probably be a little easier to get into for fans of the first game but newcomers who did not play through Alice (like myself) will not be mystified by returning characters and references to past events (as they are explained rather well). The story in Alice is the deepest I have seen in a platformer since I played 2008’s Prince Of Persia.