Alice: Madness Returns

No achievements. Config file setting locks out the full game. Config fille setting locks the game to 30fps ....ON PC....FOR NO REASON. This is one of the best examples of a great game, owned by a company that seems to be trying their best to make us hate it. Edit the config, mod the game, do what you gotta do, and play it. It's good. The company that owns it needs to be dismantled, and the games need to go back to their rightful creators.

“I’ve not come back here looking for a fight. -- Really? That’s a pity. One’s certainly looking for you.” The Steam version is technically two games in one, American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns. It's possible to enable the first game via community patches, so I will review both games. Do not play American McGee's Alice. It's an archaic platformer with clunky controls, even after patching it. One could argue it simply aged poorly, but by its release date, we had great platformers that still hold up today, like Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, etc. It's no excuse, it shouldn't be this much of a boring slog. Can't lie, the atmosphere and soundtrack are nice, the game has soul, there was an idea here. But apart from Alice's story, the dialogue and the aesthetic, it's a nothing burger. By far one of the worst platformers I have ever played! To show how polarizing the original game and Alice: Madness Returns are, the latter became my favorite platformer of all time! It looks stunning, almost like a dream. The combat gameplay feels like Devil May Cry, that's how great it is! Maybe less polished, but it works perfectly, since it's mainly a 3D platformer with jumping puzzles. I wasn't expecting disturbing visuals, at least for something based on Alice in Wonderland, especially in Chapter 5. The maps are very detailed with a lot to see! In a game like this, it's a huge feat when you can't point out a specific part that's annoying to repeat in future playthroughs, and this is the case during normal gameplay. But it's not a perfect game: the gimmicky mini-games were a nuisance. The 2D platforming was alright and the side scroller shooter part was mediocre, but the sliding puzzles are terrible enough by themselves, and there's a 30 second timer on top of that. The hilarious part is that those can be totally skipped simply by pressing "Skip" at the failed screen, as if the game itself knew they're annoying. I love this game even more due to that! It's so sad to know that there will never be a new Alice game, at least supervised by American McGee, since EA are unwilling to sell or license the IP. The original team tried their hardest to convince the vile piece of excrement that is this company, but they wouldn't budge, so any plans for Alice were cancelled. Fortunately, Alice: Madness Returns exists, and it's a beautiful cult classic masterpiece!

It reeks of edgy 2011 goth, and honestly, its the best part about it.

[h2] Absolutely beautiful, a pretty good platformer and a gothic masterpiece overall [/h2] I love this take on Alice in Wonderland, and find the art direction and level design to be such a huge inspiration. The only thing really holding it back is the abysmally neglected state EA has left this in; major improvements can be brought just by tweaking some note files, and there are community guides on it. Return the rights to McGee, you greedy ♥♥♥♥♥, and let him make the third game. Some day I hope to see EA and Ubisoft shackled and tortured in the lowest level of hell!!!

I have no issues with the game itself, but good lord this port is egregious. I have spent nearly an hour fiddling with it and it still shutters constantly and crashes at random. Don't buy this if you aren't willing to put in the time to mod it yourself.

无代餐美术，难度不算高，流程比我想象中长，地图数量好多，超值呀

Alice: Madness Returns is based on source material that almost feels designed for dark and horrific reinterpretations. Starting with Lewis Carroll's alleged—or real—infatuation with children, there has always been an unsettling aura surrounding Alice in Wonderland. I don't want to look into it too much, though, as I'd rather stay in the grey area of speculation. This game is a sequel to a previous Alice title, but not having played the first game does not affect the enjoyment of this one, as you can piece the story together while playing. Wonderland is in shambles because your mind is in shambles after the horrific death of your family in a fire that many believe you, Alice, started. The main goal is to travel through Wonderland and discover the truth, as no one in the real world will tell you what happened, and they seem determined to keep you institutionalised. If you are not used to playing 3D platformers from the early 2010s, some of the controls will feel clunky, and you will fail many times until you get used to the distances required for certain jumps. The combat can also be quite challenging at first, until you get the hang of the different enemies you encounter. Once that clicks, the fights become much easier. Every chapter has distinct visuals depending on the character you are meant to meet. The Mad Hatter chapter begins as a whimsical landscape filled with forests and mushrooms before transforming into a mechanical palace of teapots and boiling tea. Another standout chapter is the Caterpillar's, which leans heavily into the character's Orientalist influences. You fight Samurai Wasps, protect origami insects, and explore environments inspired by both Chinese and Japanese aesthetics. It looks amazing. Alice's outfits also change with each chapter to match the scenery. The art direction is fantastic; even when the game is creepy, it remains beautiful. There were moments when I simply stopped and stared at the screen, taking in the visuals and the creative choices behind each world. The story is not for the faint of heart. As you uncover more of the truth behind the fire, things become increasingly emotional and twisted. Alice: Madness Returns is an excellent game that has aged remarkably well. The clunky controls are only a minor nitpick that you can overcome after a few failed attempts, and they do little to diminish the overall experience. It offers a compelling story, chapters packed with hidden secrets, and a mystery that keeps you coming back because you desperately want to know what really happened to Alice.

This is the most artistically creative game for all the weirdos out there. rich storyline with basic combat, nothing too stressful. Deep topics discussed and wonderfully written dialogue. LOVE IT !

It is possible to play the first Alice game through this one. There is a guide how to do it. And since I played through it all through this one, I might as well review the first game as well. [h2]American McGee's Alice[/h2] A very good action platformer. I love the visual style of it, environments look superb. Combat is pretty good. Platforming controls, the movement in the air are quite interesting, they are definitely unique and I like them quite a lot. Overall the platforming is enjoyable. I love the dialogues, so creative and poetic. 8/10 [h2]Alice: Madness Returns[/h2] Some of the compliments I have for this sequel are the same as in the previous game. It's a visually stunning game. Environments look astonishing. The storyline is very good. Platforming controls have completely changed and for the worse. It's pretty much broken, or perhaps I do not understand how it works. Sometimes you can jump 4 times in the air, or jump 2 times and glide and jump again, but sometimes you can only jump twice and that's it, you cannot even glide. Sometimes you increase the height with each jump, but sometimes only the first jump increases the height, the rest of the jumps add no extra height. It's random and it's very annoying when you keep failing the jumps due to inconsistent platforming physics. It's still pretty decent, but it could be good if it worked properly. Combat is completely revamped as well. You have less weapons, and lock-on plays a major part in the combat. I'm mixed about it. Camera can be your enemy, and you often lock-on on the wrong enemy and it may be troubling to lock-on on the correct one. It's still good and fun, but worse than in the first game. Overall gameplay bothers me a bit. The game is very linear (with collectable secrets everywhere) and very long for a linear game. And even though you have amazing looking locations, the level design is often simple. The whole game progression is monotonous. You fight, you performing some platforming, then solve a simple puzzle and then it all goes on repeat for a very long time many many times. And what's up with every puzzle needing to be done 3 times? It felt lazy. And they could've solved this problem by spreading the same kind of puzzle through several chapters instead having to solve the same type of puzzle in the same chapter 3 times. And it happens with almost every type of puzzle. So odd. So, even though the game has pretty good combat, and pretty decent platforming, they're not amazing and it is not enough to make the game truly special. It is definitely a good game, but it's too repetitive to be an all-timer. Also, the game crashes on menu every single first time when I try to play it, and always works the 2nd time, and I can play for hours with no crashes. And if I tried it again (quit and open the game), it would crash on the 3rd try, and work on the 4th try. So basically it works on every 2nd try. So odd. Besides that the final boss was glitched for me and it took me some tempering with the game files to fix it. Either it's a pretty bad PC port, or the game aged terribly for the modern systems. 7/10

A bit buggy since it is an old game but i still love it anyway, from the story, environment, voice acting, etc.. I LOVE IT ALL. Wish EA wasn't so greedy and gave the rights back to McGee to make Alice: Asylum