Alice: Madness Returns - Review

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A LONG JOURNEY IN THE LAND OF WONDERS

Il gameplay Alice can be easily explained in a few terms: action/shooter e platform. The third-person view, which can be changed first to zoom in on specific details, allows us to check the exact position of our fairytale girl at any time. When we don't have to deal with platforming sections, which we will talk about in more depth later, we will have to face the enemies that McGee's mind was able to give birth. Unlike the first chapter which offered more than a dozen weapons, in Madness Returns we'll only have six, of which only five are capable of damaging the enemy. The umbrella will provide us with protection and mirror reflection ways and will allow us to send the recipient a shot that we should receive. This is joined by pothe Bomb White Rabbit, a small robot armed with TNT that Alice can throw in front of her both to blow up destructible walls and to keep weight on a platform. To these two weapons / non-weapons are added Alice's real weapons: Lama Vorpale, Pepper mill, Cavalluccio and Teapot. All four weapons are upgradeable in four different levels that increase the power and range of the shots that we can unleash. If Vorpal Blade and Seahorse are weapons suitable for hand-to-hand combat, Pepper Mill and Teapot turn out to be ranged combat weapons with the former acting as a Vulcan submachine gun and the latter as a grenade launcher. With the use of these weapons we will have to basically face three types of enemies: inferior, normal and boss. The first enemies can be killed easily without specific moves, while the second always have a first armor that must be destroyed with the Seahorse or ranged weapons. The third type of enemies, the bosses, instead have specific points to hit first to destroy various levels of armor and the heart then to kill the boss, all to be repeated in a sequence that is always identical to itself.

At the stage action/shooter which always differs thanks to a large amount of enemies all different from each other, there is the platform soul of McGee's creature. Here, to be honest, the game suffers from a certain repetition as basically all puzzles require the exact same approach: shrink to see the platforms with the "shrinking sense" and jump and then float in the air thanks to the wide skirt. by Alice, an action that will allow us to always reach our destination. To differentiate everything a bit, there are the wonderful settings of the six chapters of the story and some interlude game phases in which, for example, we will become giants or run around inside a Japanese-style painting like old 2D games vertical scrolling. To these will also be added moments in which we will have to survive, play chess, answer riddles and much, much more. Each world is best thought out offering the player always different logics and alternative ways that diversify the pace by mitigating repetitiveness.
Even the simple platform soul is modified from time to time: in the world of dolls, for example, everything is made complex by the presence of "Stinging swings", while in the underwater world it is above all the sharks Alice's big problem. To give a second touch of negativity to this aspect we think the difficulty of some puzzles, especially the timed ones, in which we will have to use the explosive white rabbit to keep some weight on a platform in such a way as to keep a mechanism active or lower a platform by raising another in a game similar to the arms of the scale.

We can therefore say that the fights are similar to each other and are the platform sections repetitive? The answer is nì. Players who are not captivated by the style and story of Alice: Madness Returns, and those who only aim to complete the story, will suffer the most from this feeling of repetition. On the contrary if you have already loved the first chapter, love the style given by American McGee and you will dedicate your time not only to the story, but also to the collection of secondary schools, the feeling of repetition will be largely mitigated, so much so that he hardly gets to hear himself.
A multiplayer sector is missing which honestly is hard to imagine for such a game. However, 100% completion of the game will take many hours, about twenty five, half a dozen less if our intent is only to bring the plot to fruition.

CORRUPTION NOT ONLY IN THE WORLD OF ALICE

On a technical level Alice: Madness Returns uses the power ofUnreal Engine 3, but it doesn't do it at its best. In addition to the chronic defects of the graphics engine that we do not consider, the game suffers heavily especially on console versions, of popups and inexplicable drops in framerate on occasions where the action on the screen is not particularly heavy. Defects aside, the game shows unique graphics in the style, halfway between a gothic and a cartoon and with the two aspects that blend in a truly intriguing mix. Alice's London is a sick world full of strange characters with particular shapes and characters. In the same way it is the World of Wonders, a place that if at first shows itself at its best, after a while it begins to corrode. The vivid, bright colors and the marvelous expanses are slowly transformed into dark worlds made of decidedly strange objects and enemies.

Ottimo instead the audio sector which offers a complete dubbing in the Spanish language, not always precise in the lip, but excellent in the characterization of the various characters. The sound effects are more than sufficient, but the same cannot be said for music that is excessively repetitive if you tend to stay in a level longer than necessary.

CONCLUSION

Alice: Madness Returns is a game that put us in trouble. The style used for the title has intrigued us perhaps excessively and this leads us to not objectively see all the defects of the game. The technical sector is not excellent and the gameplay tends to be too repetitive, whether or not you aim at 100%. With a plot that ends perhaps too abruptly then, American McGee's latest work leaves us with more doubts than certainties.

In conclusion Alice: Madness Returns is a good, long-lived game, with an intriguing plot and a more unique than rare style, but recommended only if you are a true lover of platform games in which balance, jumps and platforms are aspects you deal with on a daily basis. . However, the offer is improved by the fact that you can download American McGee's Alice for free by purchasing Madness Returns on console.

Alice: Madness Returns is an action / shooter platform developed by Spicy Horse and distributed by Electronic Arts as of June 17, 2011 for Playstation 3, Xbox360 e PC.

Vote: 7 SU 10