Platformer Madness – Alice Returns – in 3D with PhysX

Conclusion

The Good

Alice: Madness Returns has spectacular artwork and great level design that keeps the player pushing on for more and more.  The enemies are just varied enough to make battles both exciting and memorable and there is a sense of accomplishment is getting to the next challenge.  PhysX adds immersion to the game with great effects.

The Bad

Alice: Madness Returns is a frustrating platformer with imprecise controls and lacks anytime save; it is difficult for the sake of being difficult.  Texture pop-in and poor textures are an occasional annoyance and Alice will occasionally get stuck on small changes in elevation or fall off a platform she was solidly on previously.

The framerate cap really needs to be changed for any capable PC and having to edit game .ini files is something that a gamer should never have to deal with.

The Ugly

Alice: Madness Returns is a platform game with all the weaknesses inherent to its console heritage.  The sameness of ideas repeated over and over is ugly.  So are the imprecise controls and changing camera views just for the sake of making a puzzle more difficult.

Overall it is a beautiful game and only the enemies and insanity of Alice’s mind are disturbingly and necessarily ugly.  The story although difficult to take, is handled maturely.

 The Verdict

With 3D Vision, the post processing motion and blur effects are turned off and it gives a good visual experience generally – even over playing in 2D.  However, the added illusion of 3D “depth” doesn’t help with the jumping and aiming where it sometimes helps to turn 3D off to complete each long sequence of jumps.  Turning 3D Vision on and off is a easy as pressing a button and is nearly instant.

In this reviewer’s opinion, Alice: Madness Returns is an above-average platform-puzzle game with solid action that gives it a solid 7.5/10. It’s a “B” in 3D Vision and we definitely look forward to further adventures of Alice in Wonderland as the franchise develops.

Be aware however, that this game is a platformer.  If it is scored as an action-FPS, it would get a 6 or lower due to the intense frustration level with imprecise controls and repetition of ideas and the general lack of feeling of progression.  Lack of anytime save is an irritation but true to a platform game’s roots.   Alice: Madness Returns is cautiously recommended as good by this editor and is a decent follow up to the original American McGee’s Alice.

Please stay tuned for our upcoming Mega-3D Vision/Surround review. In the meantime, easily enter our muvee contest to win Reveal 8 (a $80 retail package) by creating a 1 minute video with the demo and posting it on Youtube.

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