In the original “American McGee’s Alice,” gamers were bombarded with images of death, destruction and melee – all staring their favorite childhood character, Alice. More than 10 years later, and EA has managed to do it again. “Alice: Madness Returns” is based on the original Alice character, but she is a few years older and much more twisted. After several movie studios expressed an interest in creating a film adaptation of the original game, EA began to toy with the idea of releasing a sequel.
Again, the sequel has been rated ‘M’ for mature, but fans have failed to receive “Alice: Madness Returns” with the same level of excitement. There are many new characters, weapons and features for gamers to explore, but the storyline is pretty stale. Alice has again been living in an asylum, and she is still trying to figure out what caused the fire that killed her family. It is clear that EA wants to cash in on the ‘twisted’ Alice in Wonderland craze, but they have failed to push the plot to its limits.
If you are a fan of the original and you already own the Xbox 360, you might want to pick up a copy of “Alice: Madness Returns” just for curiosity’s sake – just don’t get your hopes up. All of the original characters like the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat have returned, but they are only a shell of their former selves. The gore is still there and the soundtrack is thrilling, but that’s about all there is to say about “Alice: Madness Returns.”
