To read Part 1 of this review of Alice: Madness Returns, click here.
It would be easy to end the discussion with the game’s art and design, oooing at each character’s presentation, aaaahing at every level’s aesthetic, staring with wide-eyed excitement at the stylish animated cut scenes; such is the game’s rich artistry and sophisticated storytelling. Readers and gamers would be well-rewarded by tracking down a copy of The Art of Alice: Madness Returns, which explores the game’s artistic evolution. But this is a game, after all, and while the quality of the art is beyond question the game’s greatness in terms of gameplay washes out in a mix of brilliance and nuisance, with enough of the former to mitigate frustrations with the latter.
On the brilliant side are the weapons and combat, which are simplified almost to the point of intuition. Instead of the vast arsenal of weapons Alice wielded in the first game, she is provided with four unusual and imaginative weapons, divided into one of two classes: melee and ranged. Among the melee weapons are the vorpal blade, which delivers a satisfying snicker-snack, and a fiery hobby horse wielded like a mallet. For ranged attacks, Alice can draw on the rapid-fire pepper grinder and the slower but more powerful teapot cannon, which lobs steaming bags of tea at enemies. Each mouse button is dedicated to a weapons class, the left being assigned to melee and the right given over to ranged, which means that players can, during combat, effortlessly switch from one to the other – especially useful in fights that involve both grounded and flying enemies. Keyboard controls cycle the weapons for each button, and also offer the player the means to dodge and deflect attacks. Unfortunately, a discrepancy between combat modes means that dodging and deflecting aren’t universally available, leading to control issues that can aggravate the otherwise seamless and smoothly animated combat gameplay.
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Also clever are the way enemies are presented as puzzles, with players required to identify weaknesses to defeat them. While this might not offer the sort of real-time combat against an enemy with artificial intelligence hardcore players might enjoy, the decision to deliver opponents with clearly defined strengths and weaknesses makes combat strategically challenging but tactically accessible to players with no interest in the button-mashing task of confronting programmatically unpredictable foes.
Where the game becomes a nuisance is in the level design, that is, the way in which levels are laid out for Alice to journey through. American McGee’s decision to forego open-world exploration in favour of a relatively stringent linear experience has the benefit of streamlining gameplay for the sake of accessibility. It also fits in to their narrative approach to telling Alice’s story, to some extent. But, the decision ultimately offers a confused experience in which the collecting aspect of the game favour lingering and exploring nooks and crannies while the linear aspect, strongly defined by challenging platform jumping, creates momentum to quickly propel players forward in the game. Add in an autosave feature that doesn’t allow players the opportunity to reload at earlier points in the game as well as the sealing of cleared areas, players cannot hope to gather all the game’s collectables – fragments of Alice’s memories, pig snouts (for rewards from the Duchess), teeth (to upgrade weapons), and roses for health. The most egregious example of dubious level design comes early during the Deluded Depths chapter, as Alice navigates artic terrain that recalls Georges Mélies to reach a wooden ship captained by the forlorn Mock Turtle. Walking the trail to the ship brings on the end of that particular segment, which is a problem for players who hoped to explore a branching path leading to goodies before moving on to the next level.
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A related shortcoming is the overall length of the levels, some of which go on longer than is necessary or entertaining. While always chock-full of eye-candy to appreciate, a feeling of restlessness does creep in from time to time when it becomes clear that the level is straying from the allegorical descent into Alice’s psyche. This is particularly evident in the dollhouse level, which dips into the underground not once but twice, with the effect of blunting the surprise that initially comes across from braving the barbed-wire dungeon below the brightly coloured fantasia.
Deviations into alternate modes of gameplay, from side-scrolling action to slides and memorably bizarre sequences in which Alice is transformed into a doll’s head players propel throughout toy-like mazes with the help of cannons and wooden flamingo mallets, achieve similarly mixed results in an attempt to provide players with a richer, more diverse gaming experience. For the most part, these diversions are fun and cleverly integrated into the larger game, particularly the side-scrolling journeys through animated Japanese paintings as Alice makes her way through the Caterpillar’s Oriental domain. Others, such as the slides with their deadly obstacles and frequent gaps, often prove more irritating and fussy than not.
Perhaps the strangest, and most unfortunate, missed opportunity – the inescapable consequence of not having an unlimited budget – rests in the London scenes nestled between Wonderland chapters that reinforce those elements of Alice’s story that occur in the real world. These serve to anchor how the destruction of Wonderland relates to her shattered existence and the mystery of her family’s death. While Alice obviously can’t run, jump, or fight in the real world as she can in Wonderland, gameplay jettisons even realistic movement option and restricts Alice to walking about seedy London neighbourhoods. The rationale ostensibly involves “moving the narrative forward,” as McGee told casualgamer.com (http://casualgamer.com/2011/06/18/american-mcgees-alice-madness-returns-interview/) and providing a moment for players to collect themselves before rejoining the fray. While the London scenes do accomplish this, the player is boxed in with nothing to do but move Alice from point A to B, an expression of the same linearity that proves so contentious elsewhere in the game. Forget, then, puzzle solving or elements of adventure gaming that might have offered a logical, realistic contrast to the fantastical combat and platform jumping of Wonderland. What is particularly regrettable is not only that the game misses out on an opportunity to offer a supplementary mode of gameplay that doesn’t, like the slides, feel contrived, but also misses out on the opportunity for gameplay-driven character drama. In one of the later London scenes Alice has very unsettling visions in which she is made to wander the halls of an asylum in a very sorry, frightening state. The limited controls and absence of puzzles makes perfect sense given the context , begging the question as to how much more unnerving a straightjacketed Alice’s restricted movement would have been had players been given greater control and more to do in previous real-world settings.
It’s a shame, of course, that the gameplay doesn’t consistently embody the same quality of inspiration that underlies the art and story. Yet for all the detractions, none are so significant as to dampen the thrills of what genuinely works about playing the game. And if the price for experiencing phenomenal art and storytelling is gameplay that is fun but somewhat flawed, well, it’s a price more than worth paying.
For more information and to purchase the game, visit Electronic Arts’ Official Alice: Madness Returns website.
For American McGee’s website, visit http://www.americanmcgee.com/
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Mr. Sisa, Assistant Editor of thefrontpageonline.com, may be contacted at fsisa@thefrontpageonline.com
His blog: www.inkandashes.net
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