Scary Games: Alice - Madness Returns

"The Sandman's coming in his train of cars, with moonbeam windows and wheels of stars. So hush you little ones, and have no fear. The man in the moon, he is the engineer."

**Caution: This Review Will Contain Spoilers!!**

What's It About: 

Set one year after the events of American McGee's Alice, the story takes place in 1875 in Victorian London. Alice Liddell, the protagonist of the game, has just left Rutledge Asylum, however she can't let go of the traumatic events that have overtaken her life. She seeks help of one Dr. Angus Bumby in attempts to let go of her past. Simple answer is her madness won't let it go. Bumby tries to have Alice go back to her wonderful Wonderland, but it is not the same. It is a more dark and sinister with creatures of fright ceasing control of her fantasy land. There is an Infernal Train that is destroying her refuge and Alice is forced back to cease control. 

What Makes This Game Scary: 

Though the game isn't Silent Hill scary, it does border on the line of creepy. Let's just say that if Tim Burton wasn't some commercialized Director now who does crappy remakes, he would definitely make Alice in Wonderland like this game. But American McGee does well on his own as the conductor of just making you go, "WTF?" There are some highlighting creepy moments in the game, but those will come up in the review ...

Which is now ... 

My Review: 

IGN gave this game a 6.5, which I think is ridiculous, but hey, that's their opinion. I'm not saying that the game is a masterpiece like say Bioshock Infinite or Grand Theft Auto V, but it is not simply "Okay." The game does have a few low points, but not enough to overshadow its many high points.

One such high point, in my opinion, is when Alice hallucinates being back in Rutledge Asylum. It is a small part, but definitely the scariest. Now usually I have my regular gamer of choice, The Rad Brad's videos on here, but he never did this game. I found another who will suffice for right now and no it's not Pew Pew Die (thank God, by the way. That dude is more annoying than funny.) 

Another aspect that I loved about this game is the fact that it could never get too weird, because it was always over stepping that boundary. The laws of physics were never present unless you were in the real world, but you never are that often. With creative game designs and level platforming.

I only have a few complaints: The game play can be very repetitive. Yes, unlike other games I've reviewed I actually played and beat this game. The game rarely let's you explore, when you go to a new area it's like the game is saying, "Oh, new area, here, kill these bad guys and repeat step 1." Too often was it like that, just kill a bunch of enemies and that's it. Also, a few levels felt sort of "Meh" after awhile, like the under the sea level. Some parts were okay, but I felt that was the level where I was like, "Please be done!"

Final Rating:

8/10: Creative designs, a good storyline, and terrific voice acting. The only flaws were sometimes it could be repetitive. I'm still debating whether it was too long, too short, or just fine. I'm leaning towards the latter, because maybe I played it too slow? Not sure. But I would say that the game is enjoyable. Replay value: Moderate. I don't see myself replaying this any time soon.