Valorie Zelrij

Alice: Madness Returns is a spectacular game for it's time. I had briefly heard of the Alice series but never got the opportunity to play them until recently. I have to say for a game that was made in 2011, it certainly preforms very well in story development and design. For starters, we are brought into an open world level game where every area that is explored Alice has a new attire. I simply adored this part of the game with her dress matching the aesthetic of the level. Along with the aesthetic, every level was presented beautifully. Everywhere you turned you could see the most amazing bits of detail! In terms of game mechanics and the combat system, it is quite easy to understand get use to with consistent play. Every weapon was so unique with its design and I thoroughly enjoyed that every upgrade gave weapons a new design. One slight issue I found with combat is how tedious it turned to be instead of challenging. Looking at other reviews I see this as a common denominator for what the game lacks as it never provides boss fights a part from two. I reckon if more boss fights and difficulty was incorporated into enemies it would make combat more engaging. Despite my critique on tediousness, the design of enemies in this game was absolutely spot on! Every enemy had some unique design, attack and pattern you had to learn in order to defeat it. I loved that the game allowed you to choose your own strategies to deal with enemies and gave you mostly free rein. Among other things the enemies at times did prove to really be a challenge and pushed you to learn different strategies! Unfortunately this game is not shy of some problems. One of my main issues being the tediousness of one level in particular which a general consensus of the community seems to agree with. Level five the "Doll House" had to be one of the worst made levels ever. You are constantly dragged through torturous (which could be the aim of the game) puzzles and minigames that make Level 3's paper minigames look easy. Although one thing that did make this level good was the introduction of the doll enemies. While they only made a short appearance they really made an impact on my experience! Finally, one thing the game could improve on in the future is making the game itself more engaging. Don't get me wrong the story is so interesting but a lot of the time it feels like we're aimlessly doing things for no reason. I hate to call games a drag but at times Alice: Madness Returns felt like a drag (especially the doll level!) Overall I adored this games art style and unique take on the Alice in Wonderland series and would play a new game if it was to be released. 3.5/5