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Alice: Madness Returns
Released On: Jun 14, 2011
70
8.3
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 67 Critic Reviews
70
43% Positive
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
55% Mixed
37 Reviews
37 Reviews
1% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 67 Critic Reviews
70
43% Positive
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
55% Mixed
37 Reviews
37 Reviews
1% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Alice: Madness Returns reminds me a lot of classic N64 platformers like Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie in the best of ways. By mixing a dark reimagining of a literary classic with stylish combat and rock-solid platforming, EA and Spicy Horse have created a gaming experience quite unlike any other. At any rate, its miles better than the lacklustre Tim Burton movie released last year. This is one rabbit hole worth tumbling down.
A wonderfully realised fantasy world that is equal parts entrancing and disturbing. The story is well realised and will keep you enamoured until the credits roll. There are a few niggles here but nothing to stop Alice: Madness Returns from being a wonderfully different slice of entertainment. Now who's for tea?
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 268 User Ratings
8.3
76% Positive
203 Ratings
203 Ratings
19% Mixed
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
5% Negative
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 268 User Ratings
8.3
76% Positive
203 Ratings
203 Ratings
19% Mixed
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
5% Negative
13 Ratings
13 Ratings
This game is a gem, in its time it did not receive the attention it deserved and I still do not understand why the "critics" have given it low marks, its artistic section is great, Alice's design and her clothing are the best, it has good music and its story is quite gloomy and dark but quite good, if you like hack and slash and plat-formers you should play it.
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Xbox 360
For the most part though, Alice: Madness Returns bazaar setting and imaginative design does a great job of immersing you, and whilst the repetition can grate slightly, its still a unique experience that is well worth your time.
Wonderland itself, the way it changes visually and the way it changes Alice, is the game's most important feature.
I'd have liked the adventure to have been trimmed of fat, the combat is at times extremely irritating, and the art design far exceeds the technical prowess on show, but at its core Alice: Madness Returns is an imaginative romp through a world that's clearly been designed by some incredibly creative minds.
I did not regret playing Madness Returns, nor could I earnestly recommend it. There's incentive to brave a secondary play through to obtain more unlockables – by way of memories and opening up new nooks by shooting pig snouts, naturally – but the problem is thus: we've been blessed – daresay spoilt – by better action/adventure titles over the past few years for Madness Returns to ever compete. Hopefully we see Alice again. I sensed a great game in Madness Returns and occasionally played one but this spicy gift horse would be best looked in the mouth.
Outdated action platformer that despite all its talk of madness is far too mundane in both design and visuals to justify its mammoth playing time.
is a FANTASTIC platform
the enemies are difficult to defeat at the right point even on the easy difficulty, the graphics are well done, the weapons are fabulous (umbrella aside), Alice's most important memories are placed in the perfect points neither too visible nor too hidden while some are really well hidden and hard to find, Spicy Horse did a really great job.
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Xbox 360
For a game made in 2011, graphically this game holds up really well. The character designs both in London and Wonderland are imaginative, the level designs are weird in a good way and overall it’s a treat to look at.
The story is dark and interesting. The game surprised me multiple times, I won’t spoil anything so you can experience it for yourself. What makes the story great as well is that in the levels you can find memory fragments. At first these feel like fragmented memories, however that’s the point. These make the world feel more alive, which benefits this game greatly.
Fighting is intuitive but can becomes repetitive very quickly. It’s a shame Spicy Horse didn’t employ more enemy types in a battle, really keeping you on your toes. This probably has to do with that they wanted unique enemies per chapter and didn’t want to recycle old enemies. It’s a shame they went this route, because combat could’ve been much more varied then it currently is. The game teased me a couple times with awesome bosses, just to let the cutscenes kill them for me, which is lame.
What is inexcusable though, is the extremely shallow platforming. The problem is Alice jump is way too powerful. Even when the platform you have to jump to is on the outer side of it’s cycle, Alice can 90% of the time make that jump with a little effort. This is a problem obviously, because it trivializes more than 80% what you’re doing in the game. Because of this, even though what I was looking at is extremely interesting, I was bored out of my mind and levels felt longer than they actually were. Not only is Alice’s jump too powerful, Spicy Horse’s concept of challenge is to constantly throw invincible platforms your way. You can see them when you use Alice’s shrink ability. It wouldn’t be a problem if it was used for secrets or the occasional challenge. Especially in later stages these are so overused I rolled my eyes every time I saw one of them. Despite this, I did want to continue on.
I recommend this game to anyone that's seeking for a game that drips atmosphere and doesn't mind shallow platforming and doesn't think too much about combat.
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Xbox 360
Look, I can see why people praise this game. The imagery, aesthetics, atmosphere, puzzles, weapon variety and a creepy take on Alice's tale. Supposedly, it's all there but... it's definitely not for me.
I enjoyed the first level of this game and that's it. I didn't have fun at all with everything else. Combat is annoying, puzzles are tiresome, music feels superficial, platforming goes on forever and the story just isn't well told. I liked the ending, but the road towards it was the worst.
What absolutely killed this game was how tedious it is. Levels are unnecessarily HUGE, padded and bloated. Combat may have some cool weapons, but fighting is boring as hell. Not to mention the excessive use of the same puzzles, gimmicks, platforming tricks etc over and over again.
Alice Madness Returns, in my experience, is a game that takes forever and amounts to nothing. It's better than the first one, yes, but that doesn't mean much. A waste of time, after all.
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Xbox 360
What could've been a nostalgic nod to early platformers instead deliquesced into a heinously psychedelic video game with solid fighting mechanics going for it and nothing else. The first hour is worthy enough; I mean, jumping around from toadstool to toadstool is entertaining enough, I will give it that. But it slowly becomes an absurd chore and some of the creatures really are monstrous.
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Xbox 360
