Critique #3: Alice Madness Return

Ergonomics

As an action and puzzle-solving platforming game, Alice: Madness Return tries to make players challenged but not frustrated at the same time. Therefore, it uses a lot of methods to improve the playing experience.

• Tutorial. The first case when every new mechanics of Alice occurs is designed to be a tutorial. In this case, the NPCs introduced the background story, and the UI interface shows basic operations and rules to the player and tested if the player has understood by throwing simple obstacles either puzzles or battles.

• Checkpoint. Whenever the player finishes a session(could be 3D game world or 2D mini-games), the game will automatically save so that the player can start at the point next time and when the player dies, he/she will start at this point too. In addition, when replaying the previous level, using a latter save file, the player can skip the dialogues in paragraphs.

• Keyword highlighting and Using illustrations. To reduce the player’s processing load of text, Alice highlights the keywords such as the names of abilities, and operations in different colors. Besides, Alice uses illustrations to simplify the tutorials.

• Life points. The player will have four life points in total, that is, he/she is given four chances to lose lives in a battle. However, if the player is killed by the dynamic environments, he/she will respawn from the checkpoints.

Flow

Different from those games only concentrating on action or adventure features, Alice is a combination of action and puzzle-solving platforming game and uses different methods to distinguish these two different gameplay modes. Flow control is one of the most important methods.

For the puzzle-solving part, it throws the clues (narrative stories and game items) gradually and tactfully to keep the player jumping on several difficult-to-reach ledges to collect different items.For this part, the focus is mainly on its platforming, which the game features in spades. Moving platforms, mushroom platforms the player will bounce off of, platforms the player will glide off of as the player descend towards another platform, or riding steam vents that keep Alice afloat. The game manages to do all of this well, with a fairly solid control set that lends itself to some of the world’s tricker navigational dangers. The environment is dynamically changed in a moderate speed which is available to the player to follow but doesn’t make the player feel bored at the same time.

For the action part, it allows the player to focus on the battles without considering dynamic environment. Sometimes the player can gain rewards like life points during battles by killing an enemy.

Besides, Alice controls the quantity of the dialogues, interactions and cut scenes not related to the puzzle solving so that the player won’t feel annoyed as well as the story can be told in a natural way. Alice really does well to develop the story and the characters, making them quite interesting and vivid, sometimes I feel myself really immerse in the game story and can feel the same as Alice.

Rhythm

In Alice: Madness Return, the time to spend in one level and the efforts the player shall make increase along the game due to the complexity of the level increases. In the former sections, an attack of an enemy will make the player lose only half of a life point. However, in the latter sections, a small attack of an enemy might take away two life points. Besides, the dynamic environment becomes more and more complex, which makes the player die much easier. Once the player makes wrong move, he/she will respond from the checkpoint.

To avoid the player being too tired, Alice also arranges 2D mini-games and 3D game world alternatively in each level which leads to a more relaxing mood. In this altering way, the intensity experience of the player is controlled.

Besides, combats are always sudden and unexpected occurrences, which make the player in tension suddenly from the more relaxing puzzle-solving part compared to the action part.

Difficulty

• Alice: Madness Return simply follows this principle: the later level, the more difficulty and complexity. Therefore, when the player has finished a level, the next one he/she is facing will suit his/her current skill. Besides, while the player has to use the skills he/she learns from former chapters, the player also has to quickly learn new skills and know how to combine them together to solve puzzles in the later chapters.

• The collective items are well hidden and sometimes require the player to be very careful and gain some tips to collect them: While the game’s five chapters are fairly linear, Spice Horse does open up a little room to explore some nooks and crannies of the beautifully deranged Wonderland. Early on in the game, Alice will gulp a potion that gives her the ability to shrink on command, as well spot hidden clues and paths to proceed through the game’s world. Alice features a fairly comprehensive cache of hidden collectibles, from memories that piece together Alice’s backstory to other objects that will unlock concept are and more. Compulsive collectors will have plenty to hunt for, but almost all of these items are merely there to side-track gamers from the main objective.

• The combat becomes more and more difficult when the level goes up: Alice features updated lock-on enemy combat mechanics, which will have Alice wielding the swift and sharp Vorpal Blade as well as the more powerful, heavier Hobby Horse. What this boils down to is the common third-person action “light” and “heavy” attacks, and while there are no true ”combos” to memorize, the game’s enemy patterns vary enough that the player will need to various tactics in battle.

Wow Factor

The primary wow factor of Alice is its visuals. Creative and creepy visuals give this action platforming game a twisted and surreal vibe, drawing the player into a land inhabited by fire-breathing doll babies and squirming leeches. Each chapter explores a different visual theme, some of them impossible to describe in a few simple words. Each of the game’s chapters paints a mesmerizing and peculiar set of wonders, playing off of themes from Carolls’ books and sprinkled with touches of goth culture. While I should admit that some of the game’s horror tends to lean towards the obvious (like an obsession with eldritch doll heads and faces), the wold and creature design for the most part is nothing short of spectacular. From the deranged environs of a Wonderland that is crumbling around Alice to the drab, Dickensian areas that players explore between the game’s five chapters, definitely Alice: Madness Returns’ artistic flair is its strongest suit.

The other wow factor is the narrative. The game at first doesn’t explain anything about Alice’s past, so the player doesn’t know the reason why Alice becomes mad. It is a major drive that makes the player curious. As the player progresses through the lengthy five-act game, tidbits of what’s really going on are exposed through collectible memories scattered within each level. These memories play an audio clip of someone from Alice’s past, be it her sister or psychologist, and reveal why she sees certain things in her every-changing landscape, and the truth about the fire that claimed her family. All the cutscenes and audios are well made, and once they reveal some pieces of the truth, the player will have a “wow” feeling.

Besides, combat is the obvious star of the show. A wealth of enemies constantly transform to match the player’s surroundings, and colossal ruins fight differently than samurai wasps. Disposing of them using the player’s silky smooth combos and weapon changes is really a pleasure. Alice parries, glides from side to side, and uses her blade, hobbyhorse, bombs, and teapot to cleanse her mind of evil. It feels remarkably similar to Zelda-style fighting, but due to clever button mapping, there’s never a need to pause the game to switch weapons. The player will receive all of weapons early on, so upgrading weapons quickly becomes more fun than actually using them.

At last, I wanna mention that when secrets are all revealed, all the trudging, mundane puzzles, and hours spent on air vents are worth it and the scattered memories all start to make sense. However, Alice faces some different voices. Some people think that through all the revelations, Alice remains strangely one-dimensional, disconnected from the horror and beauty that enfolds her.Only time will tell if the sometimes-repetitive gamplay and schizophrenic story have the same effect on her admirers. In my point of view, although I should admit that Alice:Madness return is not flawless, it presents a fantastically imagined vision of Wonderland full of secrets, collectables, and wondrous areas of classic platforming to explore. It brings me enough “wow” feelings. Therefore, definitely for me, Alice: Madness Returns is a memorable peek.