THE VISUALS

Alice is a stunning game, the visual while technically average are artistically superb. Running on the extremely popular Unreal engine the game is capable of the standard lighting, shading and post processing hum drum and while models, textures and effects are clean its their design that sets them apart from other similarly powered games. Characters are unique and feature distinct personality, the most notable of which is Alice who appears a broken and troubled girl in reality with baggy eyes, haggard hair and worn clothes but when Alice enters wonderland she becomes almost like a dark goddess of her own warped reality with pearly white skin, long dark hair and a wardrobe that changes chapter to chapter. Alice’s many looks while in wonderland are wonderful (pun intended tee hee) her look changes based on her locale; while in the Japanese woodcut inspired levels she wears a dress that bears a striking resemblance to a Japanese kimono and while in the queens (the queen of hearts) castle she wears something very regal almost like royalty. The games environments are fantastic and feature fantastic design and a constant artistic theme that changes along with the games six chapters. Enemies feature clever designs and are all animated well, I only wish that there was a greater bevy of enemies. There are a nice handful of enemies but some of them will be fought throughout the game and while new enemies are introduced it happens very slowly and enemies introduced right at the start will be fought right till the end. While Madness Returns is an artistic triumph it does have a lot of low resolution textures and spotty effects, graphical glitches are frequent but are not egregious enough to ruin the visual fidelity.

THE SOUND

The things you hear in madness returns are pleasing but also very inconsistent. Effects are tight and sound exactly as they should; the weapons are distinct and sound exactly like the strange objects that serve as their inspiration (such as a huge pepper grinder that Alice uses like a chain gun) or the disturbing sounds of enemies as they are slashed to bits. Voice work is mostly strong as well with Alice sounding appropriately horrified or familiar with the inhabitants of wonderland, though some characters seem a little goofy with their crazy cockney British accents that reminded me a little of fable. The music is the most disappointing aspect of madness returns, the tracks are quite good but there are far too few and all sound quite macabre, minimalist and uninspired. While the music is fitting it never quite rises to meet the action or flow with an intense action sequence like it should. Strong voice work from the main characters and well done effects make for a great audible experience in madness returns.