[quote]Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades [/quote]
Looks can be deceiving. You take one glance at something and your mind immediately comes up with a description for it based on your experiences and beliefs, which may end up not being true. You take one look at Madness Returns' cover art, or its prequel's, and might deduct that the game is yet another horror take on a famous story. However, that's very far from the truth, as these games offer some of the darkest and most disturbing illustrations of mental health issues.
[h2]“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.[/h2]
[h2]“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”[/h2]
Just in case you''re new to the series, here's a spoiler-free summary:
The games feature Alice Liddell as the protagonist, with The Wonderland being an imaginary world that she has created in her mind. After the events of the original stories, at the age of 7, Alice becomes an orphan after losing her family in a house fire. Having seriously burnt by the fire and suffering from PTSD & survivor's guilt, she loses her grasp on reality and is taken to an asylum for "treatment". Everything seems hopeless for 10 years, until Alice finally starts showing signs of recovery. At this point, she is brought back into wonderland, which has turned into a dark, twisted and deadly version of itself due to her insanity, prompting her to try and return order to it.
The events of Madness Returns start a few years after the first game's ending. A 19 year old Alice is now in the care of Dr. Bumby, a psychiatrist who uses hypnosis to help his child patients forget their memories. But Alice can't forget, as she wants to know whether or not she was responsible for the fire and her family's death. This mental pressure once again causes her to get dragged back into the wonderland through hallucinations, while its being twisted further and even slowly getting destroyed.
[h2]“A dream is not a reality, but who’s to say which is which?”[/h2]
The story is undoubtedly the best part of Madness Returns and what makes it very unique. The mystery might not initially look appealing, but as more information gets revealed by the main plot and the collectibles, things get more interesting and more creepy; Especially since the game never shies away from going for disturbing imagery or adult topics. All of the characters who play a major role in the story have distinct designs and their dialogues are expertly written and voice acted, with many of the lines uttered by wonderland denizens actively pushing the narration forward and hinting at what's really happening, which sharp players can pick up on by paying attention.
I just have two major problems with the story. First, some of the cutscenes that show other characters' thoughts start playing at questionable moments. They suddenly show up in middle of an unrelated conversation and look very out of place as the result. Second, and most importantly, I do believe the pacing is INCREDIBLY off.
[h2]“If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”[/h2]
Madness Returns is a test of endurance in its first half, which can take you at least 10 hours. The first three and a half chapters (out of six) overstay their welcome after a short while and feel excessively long. They have you going through lots of platforming sections, doing mundane tasks that don't seem to be relevant to story progression at all (like the sailors in Chapter 2), or playing the exact same minigame/event multiple times in one level.
After a while, it honestly feels like the game is artificially increasing its length, only relying on its surprises and disturbing imagery to inject some variety. You will go through a level like normal and do the most mundane and repetitive tasks ever, just for the game to suddenly reveal something cool or disturbing and repeat this cycle from the beginning. What makes this more disappointing is the fact that the game doesn't even use some of the tricks of its prequel. For example, you ran into hidden teleports in the first game as early as the third level, which transported you from one location to a far away one and gave this bizarre feeling to the wonderland. But Madness Returns never makes use of such ideas.
Unfortunately, combat feels lackluster too. The foundations of the combat system are solid, but things get repetitive after a while as the enemy variety is not high (in terms of both design and function), so it's easy to find out the most optimal way of dealing with them. Not only that, the lock-on camera is poorly designed as well, often proceeding to show the action from bizarre angles.
[h2]“Every picture tells a story. Sometimes we don't like the ending. Sometimes we don't understand it.”[/h2]
As much as the gameplay is problematic, the visual presentation shines bright. Madness Returns is one of those games that proves how a well-defined artistic vision can make your game timeless in terms of visuals. While the textures have not aged well, the game's focus on character models (especially Alice's), proper world design and masterful use of colors has resulted in beautiful and/or unique sceneries throughout the game.
I also feel the need to praise the underappreciated PhysX effects. There are particle effects or different objects flying around in the sky, and small pieces of dirt or ice that get thrown around as you walk through them. We also have Alice's hair which is a highlight in particular, as it gets swayed in different directions based on where the wind is blowing, and looks extremely good considering when this game was released. All of these PhysX effects make the world feel more alive and believable, enhancing your experience as the result.
My praise does not end there though, as there are also a bunch of small details which prove this game was a labor of love. The weapons' looks and visual effects (such as Vorpal Blade's trails) change with each upgrade. While hovering, you will notice white butterflies around Alice that signify how many times you can extend her hover. The Shrink Vision's sigils on the environment notify you of nearby items/secrets, help you with navigation, or warn you about the inclusion of powerful enemies in the next encounter.
However, the music fails to compliment these gorgeous visuals as I think the music is not as good as the first game. Not only none of the tracks feel memorable and have their tunes stuck in your head for a while, but also a majority of the levels use ambience instead of an actual track, not developing the scenery as well as possible and further causing the feeling of boredom to kick in.
[h2]“There is no method in this madness!”[/h2]
Unfortunately, the PC version of this game still suffers from a variety of problems and performance issues as well. To name a few of them: Certain critical actions are inaccessible on a keyboard, the game may crash to desktop with a chance of progress loss, optional breakable hazards might bug out and become unbreakable, collectibles might not spawn, stereo audio playback might start having seizures, subtitles don't scale with the resolution, and the game is locked to 30 FPS.
In addition, EA has not cared enough to provide the most complete version. Steam version of the game locks all of the extra costumes and even misses the remaster of the first game, both of which were available in the Collector's Edition that was exclusively sold on Origin and later got delisted. You need to add all of these back and apply a variety of community patches to have a complete and comfortable experience.
[h2]TL;DR[/h2]
Clearly a labor of love and a unique game when it comes to visuals & plot. However, the levels' excessive lengths & repetitiveness make it very hard to recommend. Not to mention the port's many issues.
