I love Alice in Wonderland, it’s one of my favorite stories as a child. However this Wonderland is not your typical Lewis Carrol or Disney watered down version of the story.

Wonderland has been corrupted and the black slimy oozes that spawn monsters called Ruins are making themselves comfy. On top of that pirate ghosts, red eyed teapots and creepy deformed dolls that suddenly lose their clothing when you shoot hot tea at them. Most likely this is a very late review of Alice Madness Returns, but better late than never? 

I do have to say that my husband had made a comment when I finally finished this game.

Husband: “I don’t know how you can play that? That game is way more creepier than what I play.”
Me: “What? Silent Hill?”
Husband: “Yes.”

I don’t see how it’s creepier than Silent Hill. When I sit down and watch my husband play Silent Hill games, I start seeing things in the dark because my imagination tends to run away with me. For a few years I would convince myself that pyramid head can’t go up stairs so I would be safe whenever I am at the top of the steps. Yes I am a grown woman freaking out over such nonsense. Again my imagination does get the best of me.

What I find creepy about this game is Chapter 5 levels of the game. It had to be baby dolls. If you guys remember the movie Child’s Play, then you would understand why I can get so freak out over this chapter level. If you haven’t seen that movie then you are probably too young to know what I am talking about and there fore I would ask you to watch that movie. You would probably have a different opinion about baby dolls toys afterwards. I can’t look at a cabbage patch kid without thinking about that movie.

The start of the game started out all calm and serene then as you progress through the game and through the story it gets more dark and sinister. Of course getting to the Queensland level just made me want to cringe at the sound of Alice stepping on things that sound so gross and slimy, but sure doesn’t help when you are being chased by the Executioner. I think I made more freaked out weird sounds whenever I come across this guy. Although I have to say it was my favorite cut scene in the game. When Alice ate the cake and grew to a giant. If you’re not familiar with it here’s a video clip.

The game play didn’t take long to get use to. Although I had to remember how to play it so I had to restart my game from the beginning to relearn the controls and remember what weapons I had. It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway, but I did get through the first two chapters of the game faster than before, although still missing a couple of memories which I will go through the game again and replay it to get all memories. I’ve been trying to hunt everything I could to get all achievements possible, but so far I’m missing 5% of the game. 

Some how or another this game is classified as survival horror which I don’t see how it’s a survival horror. I think more platform horror than anything because of jumping from one platform to another, and I don’t even remember what difficulty the game was played on. I want to think it’s on normal difficulty because I usually play on normal when I first get any game so I could unlock the hardmode if it needed to be unlock. 

Graphics were beautiful, except in rare occasions you would see some blinking when you move the camera to get a better view of things. I seen it more on the textures in Chapter 4 than I do anywhere else. It’s not that bad that it’s all over the game. Just bits here and there on rare occasions.

There’s bonus levels which are I guess puzzle levels, in which you fight through some waves of monsters, or you answer a riddle, or you do something like roll a doll head through obstacles. I do not like the doll head bonus stage. I spent 30 minutes one night trying to get through it and it gave me such a headache. I think that bonus stage should have been kept out of the game cause I DID NOT LIKE IT! Well that is just my own personal opinion that is. I hate rolling doll heads.

Sure enough I believe I spent three days playing this game with breaks and well I might spend another three more days trying to get as much achievements as possible before I try to get the original American McGee’s Alice achievements. Although a little disappointed to be playing this game and doing so many puzzles that the only actual boss fight is at the end of the story. 

I do like this game so I do recommend that you try it out. If you are a fan of Alice in Wonderland no matter who portrays it.