It's based off of Alice in Wonderland but is a more disturbed version.
There was an original game put out 10+ years back that I never heard of or played.
Overall presentation:
Creepy. The UI is great, the visuals are great. The game play is fun. I'm really not big on Alice in Wonderland. Never liked the story or the films. It takes a lot to get me to even try a game based off of something I don't like, and it says a lot when I end up liking the game.
Main Character
Alice is pretty fucked up. This history tells of her being badly burned in a fire where the rest of her family died. She spends 10 years in a mental institution which, most people know, were horrible in the 1800's. She's subjected to various treatments, most of which screw up her mind more. This story/game picks up ten years after the original. Alice has been released from the mental hospital and is getting therapy from a shrink. You start the game in London in the 1870's. The world is beautiful in a creepy sort of way. The kids and characters all look creepy. While you spend some time in the "real" world, it doesn't take long before you head to Wonderland.
Environment
Freaky cool. As soon as I splashed down in Wonderland, I took quite awhile looking around at the scenery. I spent 20 minutes getting through a part of the game you could finish in 5. Good sign. The music is very well done, adding to the game's strangeness.
Traveling/Movement
I really like how Alive moves around. You've got your standard walk/run. She has a very liberal jump which can be turned into a double jump with an extra tap of the button to allow Alice to make it pretty far across places. You can also jump and then hit and hold the jump button to let Alice glide farther if she's heading to a lower location. (I guess her dress acts like a parachute). The game also has mushroom pads that launch Alice up in the air after which you can slightly move her one way or the other to reach a ledge, etc or glide her somewhere. There's also water/steal spouts that Alice can jump on and then remain on as you turn her, then jump/glide to your destination. Alice also has a "sprint" button that quickly moves her a short distance in a poof of flowers, best used for evading mobs.
These movement options all feel fluid and you get the sense of ability instead of restriction when moving about. It's fun to move around in the game.
Weapons
Alice has a number of weapons and the game is violent. Her Vorpal Blade is nasty up close.
The Pepper Grinder is your ranged weapon. You can click the RS to lock onto targets. There's no ammo but there is a cool down so you can't continuously unload on mobs. Cool down is short but just enough to make you use strategy.
The Hobby Horse is used for heavy damage up close
The Teapot Cannon is used for heavy ranged damage.
There's also Clockwork Bombs.
You don't get all these in the beginning. You get your Vorpal Blade first and pretty quickly your Pepper Grinder.
Weapons can be upgraded. You collect teeth as you play which are used as currency to upgrade your weapons.
Shrink
Alice can shrink at any time using the left bumper. Besides using this to get into small places, it can be used in combat to as part of dodge (as can her quick sprint right bumper) When Alive is shrunk, she is able to see things that are normally invisible. Messages, jumping platforms, etc. Shrinking and unshrinking is instant and fun to use as well.
Apparently Alice can grow as well but I haven't experienced that.
The game has anywhere from Easy mode to Nightmare mode so there's something for all skill levels.
The game options/menus are well done. Alice gets new dresses as you progress which you can pick from if you feel like it or let the game choose. They are purely for aesthetic purposes so its up to you. No panty shots as far as I can tell. While Alice's dress is constantly blowing up, underneath is a black void...which is another good sign that the game is good if I'm still playing! Alice's hair is really cool in the game. It flows nicely with movement, adding the the nice look of the game.
There are various things you can collect if you are a completionist.
I can't recommend paying full price for just about any game unless it's got some sort of fantastic online action that you like. I can say without hesitation that this game is worth checking out at some point unless you aren't big on violence and insanity. It's a nice mix of action/platforming with a creative story and look.
Here's a 2 minute video of in game footage showing mostly combat so you can see what it's like. It's in slow motion so you can get a better look at things:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZPeRJxxW8Q
As you can see from the video, Alice, Madness Returns, is a very stylish game and Alice is a one girl wrecking machine.
This preview video will give you a good idea of how the game looks as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUI_OuEDBEE
Watch in 720p of course!
