Alice: Madness Returns

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 260 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 195 out of 260
  2. Mixed: 51 out of 260
  3. Negative: 14 out of 260
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  1. JimmyoftheDead
    Nov 18, 2012
    7
    Problem i have with this game is that I like it, even though i can see the obvious faults with it. The game is very linear, repetitive, and several glitches plagued my game as i played. What keeps me from hating it is the visuals and the story. The game takes great care in what it wants to achieve visually, grotesque and stunning both beautiful and horrifying. The story tries its hardestProblem i have with this game is that I like it, even though i can see the obvious faults with it. The game is very linear, repetitive, and several glitches plagued my game as i played. What keeps me from hating it is the visuals and the story. The game takes great care in what it wants to achieve visually, grotesque and stunning both beautiful and horrifying. The story tries its hardest to grip you into this twisted world of a girl messed up in the head. Those who enjoy this kind of tale, you will love it until the end. If you dont, then this isnt the game for you. Gameplay is very repetitive, the same enemy coming back over and over again to the point where I'm annoyed of it. The same gimmicks are used constantly, but somehow finds a way to refresh the visuals to make u want to see the next stage. Overall, Alice Madness returns is made for those who love to be shocked. Combined with the free copy of the original in new copies of the game, a game full of potential and heart.… Expand
  2. hoganbcmj
    Jun 17, 2011
    7
    Some of the criticisms are valid. It's repetitive and game play is limited. BUT it looks gorgeous and Alice moves really smoothly. It's full of fun characters but I won't give it higher than a 7.
  3. Lieufa
    Jun 27, 2011
    7
    American McGee's 'Alice: Madness Returns' deserves neither a 10, nor a 0. It is not, as a whole package, an excellent or awful game. While it may at first stun you with it's beautiful scenery and its frantic yet entrancing dialogue, the gameplay to support the writing and art falls short. For example, while the combat actions are fluid, the camera angle is a little too tight to Alice, andAmerican McGee's 'Alice: Madness Returns' deserves neither a 10, nor a 0. It is not, as a whole package, an excellent or awful game. While it may at first stun you with it's beautiful scenery and its frantic yet entrancing dialogue, the gameplay to support the writing and art falls short. For example, while the combat actions are fluid, the camera angle is a little too tight to Alice, and the target-switching is a little sticky. It's crucial subtleties like this that make 'Alice: Madness Returns' just a good game that could have been excellent.

    They do a fair job in scaling the difficulty through the different echelons, but if you've bought the $2.00 add-on for the game, you'll be able to breeze through even Nightmare difficulty and laugh while doing it. After I finished the game once through on Nightmare, I bought the DLC pack to play around and collect the items I had missed. Enemies that might have once provided any legitimate challenge became simple fodder. The games major positive points include its wonderfully diverse graphics and set-pieces, simple yet challenging combat, and thought-provoking, philosophical writing matched with talented voice-actors. I was instantly drawn in by the jarring contrast between the drab, dark, and dreary London sets and the wild, wonderful, and whimsical Wonderland sets.

    For me, its major flaw was that the 'puzzles' of the game appeared simply to be thrown in haphazardly to give the player the illusion that they're solving a puzzle. The puzzles, if they can be called that, simply do not evolve beyond the basics of "crack the thin walls with the mace weapon" or "turn the valve to open the vent". While at the beginning of the game this was sufficient, as the player will still be taking in the world for the first time, it gets extremely dull when it does not evolve past this after 15-20 hours of play. As this is a game, and not simply a story told via a medium such as movie or book, it is not too much to ask that it be, most importantly, fun.

    Personally, I recommend this game to anyone who enjoys nice visuals, challenging combat (play on Nightmare), and a well-written script. If these points can't make up for essentially boring gameplay and puzzling, find something else to play.

    This review was written after achieving 100% of the trophies, including the Platinum.    … Expand
  4. Engineergirl80
    Feb 8, 2012
    7
    From the get go I was annoyed that the trophy list wants you to play this game and finish it on three difficulty settings. Why????? The game has far too much grinding for one play through. The visuals are good and the plot is okay. Collecting many many many things can become boring as movement is not as predictable as it should be, which leaves me annoyed. I may pick up this game again,From the get go I was annoyed that the trophy list wants you to play this game and finish it on three difficulty settings. Why????? The game has far too much grinding for one play through. The visuals are good and the plot is okay. Collecting many many many things can become boring as movement is not as predictable as it should be, which leaves me annoyed. I may pick up this game again, but only to justify just how much money I spent on it.… Expand
  5. DurzoBlint
    Jan 14, 2012
    7
    Alice is a long, beautiful game, with satisfying platforming and adequate - if not particularly deep - combat. It goes to great lengths to differentiate one level from the next, varying enemy types, mini-games and the mechanics involved in platforming. There's not a whole lot of story, but what's there is serviceable and thankfully unpretentious. It's difficult to recommend unreservedly,Alice is a long, beautiful game, with satisfying platforming and adequate - if not particularly deep - combat. It goes to great lengths to differentiate one level from the next, varying enemy types, mini-games and the mechanics involved in platforming. There's not a whole lot of story, but what's there is serviceable and thankfully unpretentious. It's difficult to recommend unreservedly, though - serious problems exist with the camera and many will find the absence of boss fights detract from the experience (though it is doubtful that any would have been compelling). Nevertheless, it's a game I enjoyed and would advise others to try - so long as they keep their expectations in check.… Expand
  6. vixvicco
    Sep 1, 2012
    5
    Horrible game! You have to like platformers and simple boring puzzles. Disgusting levels (literally some levels can be quite horrible to look at). The story is bland, rather boring and quite simply, unbearable repetitive gameplay. Everything feels rather tedious and playing a game should not feel like doing homework! I can't believe some people saying this game is too short! "If theHorrible game! You have to like platformers and simple boring puzzles. Disgusting levels (literally some levels can be quite horrible to look at). The story is bland, rather boring and quite simply, unbearable repetitive gameplay. Everything feels rather tedious and playing a game should not feel like doing homework! I can't believe some people saying this game is too short! "If the game had been shortened up, it might… Expand
  7. JDConspirator
    Aug 7, 2011
    7
    Madness Returns makes a noble attempt to embrace the player in its world. The colour of the world and its environments paint a picture of broken dreams and a sense of the not normal. It's just a big shame that for all its colour and imagination it's shot down by shoddy gameplay mechanics. There's no ledge grabbing, the camera is a mess, the aminations of Alice are extremely weak and thereMadness Returns makes a noble attempt to embrace the player in its world. The colour of the world and its environments paint a picture of broken dreams and a sense of the not normal. It's just a big shame that for all its colour and imagination it's shot down by shoddy gameplay mechanics. There's no ledge grabbing, the camera is a mess, the aminations of Alice are extremely weak and there are some weird bugs. The game also has a jolt of platforming repetition, which becomes tired rather quickly.The collectibles are pointless as well. To sum things up, the imagination and colour of the world, and those of the inhabitants are very good, but the fundamentals really hurt the game. I reccomend this game still, because it has a world that should be explored for its imaginative heights, just be aware that there is some madness to endure in trying to appreciate what it offers.… Expand
  8. seieko_pherdo
    Jul 13, 2011
    7
    To me Alice's new adventure in wonderland gives off mixed feelings, though the fact they add the the prequel from the year 2000 is a nice touch. While nothing is out of place (memories, weapons, abilities, so on and so forth) the game has picked up some flaws. Thankfully the combat is vastly improved and instead of having weapons sit forgotten and unused you get a maximum of five whichTo me Alice's new adventure in wonderland gives off mixed feelings, though the fact they add the the prequel from the year 2000 is a nice touch. While nothing is out of place (memories, weapons, abilities, so on and so forth) the game has picked up some flaws. Thankfully the combat is vastly improved and instead of having weapons sit forgotten and unused you get a maximum of five which the game will make you use all the time. The levels while nicely varied and symbolic of Alice's real life problems at times feel empty. While the platforming works well and they removed the swimming which didn't work all that well in the last game most of the levels are spent jumping from one floating platform to the next, and repeating the same switch puzzle over and over again. While it may not bother you too much on the first play through once you find everything going through the levels can be quite a choir. What Alice does best however is tell a story which it does through good dialogue, little trips in and out of wonderland, and all the memories hidden throughout. The levels themselves tell their own story. This game is for people who are fans of symbolism and Alice in Wonderland renditions, and while I can recommend this game despite it's faults if your not into symbolism and platforming games then I would stay away.… Expand
  9. ONT77
    Sep 17, 2011
    7
    A bit of a mixed bag. The best parts are absolutely mindblowing, while others could have done with more work. It's a bit long, which might seem like a weird thing to be negative about, but you don't wan't to get bored with a game hours before it's done. Still, anyone who enjoys a good adventure really should check this one out!
  10. aran9
    Apr 17, 2013
    6
    When playing Alice: Madness Returns you need to remember one thing: It wasn't intended as a triple A release, its downfall was it was marketed to a mainstream audience at a rate that couldn't balance the books in American McGees favour. Now that I've ranted for three lines I'll start the actual review.

    Lets start with the visuals...oh the visuals. The games art direction is incredible    When playing Alice: Madness Returns you need to remember one thing: It wasn't intended as a triple A release, its downfall was it was marketed to a mainstream audience at a rate that couldn't balance the books in American McGees favour. Now that I've ranted for three lines I'll start the actual review.

    Lets start with the visuals...oh the visuals. The games art direction is incredible and rivals the beauty of all other games out there with scenery that looks like it was dreamed up by Lewis Carrol himself...at times. Other times it can look pretty meh, with filler sections of the game that mimic the creativeness of pong. And other times the visuals are just damn melancholy with views that tease at an open world when all you have to look forward to is a long, repetitive, linear journey.

    The story is one of the high notes of the game, it sees Alice facing the madness brought upon her by the guilt from her past, which turns her wonderland into a place of darkness and corruption. Its an altogether great "fic-sequel" to LC's works with re-imagined characters and incredibly good voice acting.

    The gameplay is actually rather smooth and fun at the start of the game and the acquisition and upgrade of weapons is good motivation all round. But towards the end of the game it can feel quite lather-rinse-repeat and loses its appeal when many skirmishes cause you to deviate from the games high point the story along with the platforming which performs just as well, but it is a saving grace that it is so good, and rather a shame that it was so repetitive as in hindsight it was all very well put together and fun.

    Alice Madness Returns is a bitter pill in its whole and if you can brave the mind numbing repetitiveness and cling on to the artistic side of the game then you will be in for quite an American McGee treat     … Expand
  11. roshi82
    Apr 21, 2014
    6
    While I enjoyed the game and the visuals it really never grabbed me enough to play it obsessively. Got it on sale on PSN and glad it was cheap. I would have hated to pay more for it!! Cute game. Good. Not great.
  12. Nel
    Dec 13, 2016
    7
    Fun action puzzle game, with a twist. Terrific visuals, and the story isn't anything to get excited about. The alice game has funky controls, but the overall game is enjoyable
  13. ElectroNick
    Jun 10, 2016
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "Alice the Madness Returns" is a massive improvement over the original game and I would go as far as saying that it is one of the most underrated games on the last generation. It may be far from perfect but it is still a game that any fan of the Lewis Carol novels should pick up and check out. it takes place ten years after the events of the first game but Alice is still haunted by the death of her family in a fire. It is up to the player to not only save Alice from the horrors of her own mind but there is even a dastardly plot afoot that it is up to you to stop. I appreciate putting walking segments in the real world because it allows Alice to interpret these images and warp them into her twisted version of Wonderland. The real-world segments are in a brown and grey color scheme to reflect the darker corners of London. It gives the player a chance to further see how the real world is from her personal perspective which is something that is noticeably absent from the first game. This makes Wonderland stand out even more with its bright and vibrant colors. each are has a distinct atheistic either being underwater or in the Japanese-like mountains. There is a noticeable lesser numbers of weapons in your arsenal but it makes up for it by having responsive controls and satisfying intense combat. I much rather have a few weapons done well as opposed to having plenty of weapons done wrong. Your weapons involve a hubby horse which is your heavy weapon, a peeper spray which your projectile weapon, and the vorpal blade which is your most common melee weapon. Enemies are appropriately placed as part of the levels such as cyborgs for the mad hatter's factory, dead sailors under the water, and some samurai wasps (Its Wonderland there is no point in questioning it). The dress even changes color and design for each level giving an incredible attention to detail. Even though there are enemies that are part of the environment the most common enemy you will fight are the dolls which have a similar visual design to the Stygian and pathos demons from "DmC: Devil May Cry". They are not that interesting to look at and unlike the other enemies they are more of a nuisance than a legitimate threat. When Alice feels corned she can activate her hysteria mode which gives her a boost in power much like Dante's Devil Trigger (the background even has the same background color scheme as said Devil Trigger). Although the combat is responsive and polished it can be highly repetitive as you slash or pond at the same enemy types for a long period of time. The platforming has been improved with the free flowing camera and the responsive jumping controls but the only amount of challenge in the platforming is having to shrink in order to see the invisible platforming. The shrinking mechanic was wasted potential since they are only used to crawl through linear corridors and to collect memories which is this game's equilvilant to audio logs. The game tries to interrupt the monotony by having mini-games like a chess match or a side scrolling shooter under the water. Unfortunately they are not present enough to break up said monotony. In regards to the plot, the final reveal of Alice's psychiatrist Dr. Bumby as the villain was an interesting reveal and the way he controls Alice is very sinister and disturbing when he tries to control her mind to become a child prostitute, In fact the force of control that is destroying Wonderland is
    a literal train of thought. In fact the only boss fight in the game is fighting Dr Bumby in Wonderland as the doll maker. He has a unique design that still haunts me to this day and his attacks are suggestive in manner which reinforces his sexual desires for Alice. The confusing thing about the story is that after finding the Red Queen, Alice is in an asylum and has a supposed lobotomy. However the story makes it unclear in regards to whether or not it is real and the change in story telling technique is really jarring since the rest of the game doesn't tell its story in a similar manner. Despite some its failings this is a game that I highly recommend any Lewis Carol fan to pick up and a rental is also recommended from those who wish to play something different for their PS3 system.    … Expand
  14. piuscorvus
    Nov 19, 2020
    6
    Good and at the same time average game with nicely designed cutscenes. It is a bit too long. The last two chapters deliver pretty similar level designs and puzzles that I felt I have done already too many times.
  15. hector_bcn98
    Nov 10, 2022
    6
    Incluso para ser un juego indie, era bastante pobre técnicamente. Poco interesante.
  16. Domdom21br
    Jan 5, 2022
    6
    Repetitivo, chato e gráficos ruins, são os problemas desse jogo, ele poderia ser muito melhor do que ele foi, o resto eu n tenho nada a é exceto os bugs

Awards & Rankings

32
#32 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2011
15
#15 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 51 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 32 out of 51
  3. Negative: 1 out of 51
  1. Thunderbolt
    Jan 9, 2012
    40
    Alice: Madness Return has a terrific visual style and intriguing ideas, which is why it's so frustrating to see what could've been a clever game turn into such a tedious, drawn-out mess.
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  2. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Oct 6, 2011
    70
    Madness Returns is in a tricky position. It could never offer pistol-quick mechanics because of the character design and it often feels like a chore to finish a stage. You'll also probably get pretty tired of finding and shooting switches to reveal a hidden platform, or slogging through another round of five or six enemies. Yet it dares to be different, so if you're happy to admire it for is own sake then you should find some fun amongst the insanity. [August 2011 p74]
  3. Gamer.no
    Sep 16, 2011
    60
    Alice: Madness Returns is interesting, visually stunning and inviting. Some of the gameplay elements excites in its pure form, but combat does seem ridgid and sometimes random. It's close, but not quite the cigar for Mr. McGee.
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