Masterpiece for art design fetishists

Story:
From the title it is only indirectly visible and yet it concerns with Alice: Madness Returns ultimately to American Mc Gees Alice. 2
Already the first part sponn the famous story of the little girl who gets lost in a fantastic dream world as weird, dark and twisted further. Alice, now in their teens, had to watch as their whole family dies in a house fire.
Become so in just one night for orphans lost in the long no longer visited Wonderland, which had been corrupted this from her madness and her guilt. With the help of cryptic Cheshire, she managed to defeat their fears and their madness.
But in A: MR is that their inner conflicts not yet defeated. Although it has after the successful self-therapy no longer eke out their existence in the first part in a madhouse, but without possessions and with a bad reputation it wrestles with her psychologist about forgetting the past, while the boundaries between Wonderland and reality begin to blur.

Why will not you forget what this feeling that something is wrong with the terrible fire and why the fall wonderland of destruction prey?
In the tradition of the original records the game a pleasant complex and profound history between endless suffering and a spark is hope in the search for truth, in psyche Alice, manifested in Wonderland, linchpin.
Connoisseurs of the first part will be doing are always happy about familiar faces.

Gameplay:
The game is divided into two phases thereby per chapter. Each chapter begins with an adventure sequence in the reality of Victorian London, in the situation of Alice is outlined. These sections are rather short and not very interactive, strengthen by many details and their Story density but significantly the gloomy atmosphere. Your increasing blurring the Wonderland also always shows the state of mind of the protagonist.
Then it goes into the long Wonderland passages that are composed of details of each previous real world arcades, which contributes to the subtle mind / subconscious theme of the scenario.
In the Wonderland passages shows the gameplay of the game. After classic platforming formula, it is important to do increasingly demanding tasks and timing and hopping between them to survive in battles against various opponents.
Each of the various Wonderland scenarios includes a set own opponents and platforming set pieces, as well as recurring standard opponents and -Versatzstücke.
The Hüpfpassagen are rather simple and clear held, only the later in the game pretty tight timings and precise jump combinations are the ones making challenge.
By pressing a button Alice shrinks and also can overcome so particularly low obstacles, but also see hidden clues and hidden platforms.

The fights are similarly simple, but not always easy. Alice can melee and ranged attacks run. For each of the two distances you stand each fast weaker and slower stronger weapon available, each with multiple collected in Level teeth as currency upgradeable.
Each weapon has its firm application and most opponents have multiple attack phases, in each of which the appropriate weapon to be brought into use.
However, by the somewhat erratic lock-on function and the equally wrong-headed camera so the actually tactical fights fall mostly from rather hectic.
Also shame falls on the most extensive absence of intermediate bosses. Only the fights with the rarer especially large monsters remedy.
All in all, Alice plays fluently, often challenging, but overall quite motivating. Above all, the hunt for extras such reminder Tapes and weapon upgrades, its effect is clearly noticeable, provide zest.

Appearance:
But the protagonist of the game are, strictly speaking, neither Alice nor the struggles and Hüpfpassagen, it is the wonderland.
One of the main motivators is the question of what may wait around the next corner, the next scenario will look like.
Because the oriented to specific topics such as forest, sea or movement levels are designed simply great. The color, the light, the shape of the landscapes and objects that sometimes completely absurd ideas with its tension between fertile imagination and psychological abysses feel most of the time to, like a walk through a surreal painting.
Everywhere you look you will discover morbid details and dreamlike visions like giant teapots that pour their steamy content in rotsandige deserts, frozen carcasses statues torn valleys whose parts are swallowed by maw-like vortices in the sky; all this is always combined with impressive architectures that let in more ways than lowering the jaw in almost every level.
Fits to join extremely fluid animated, slightly oversubscribed, characters that reach straight out easier removal loose animation level, especially as the lip sync the (English) voice acting is top-level.

With all these resources, developers pull every conceivable emotional register. From the relaxed blue-quiet setting a fishing town, right down to the incredibly oppressive past levels, the player gets to see is always something new and haunting.
Subjects and objects of the levels are based not only on details of the real world, but also to the psychological problems with which Alice just haunts, so that the design of Wonderland repeatedly forms a unit with the story.

Level Design:
Unfortunately, less creative are the paths that lead through the levels. General items such as floating platforms, EXTENDING columns and steam valves that blow Alice in the air, are rarely interspersed with interesting structures, such as scale-systems or smaller puzzles.
So it is too obvious in some places that the impressive scenes are just that scenes for rather less imaginative level superstructures. However, positive counterexamples and the grand designs draw the most from it.
In addition, loosening act interspersed Horizontal Scroller deposits, mostly but not always fit well into the game flow.

Sound:
Especially as the sound with minimal but always subliminally dark ambients and subtle music helps a lot to tie the player to the beautiful eerie world. Although not move each track of the high level of the main theme, but they are all extremely atmospheric. The excellent speech and the good mix do the rest.

Control:
As the somewhat limited level design unit and the passage maneuvering not always pure joy. Especially in the more demanding timing tasks in the lower third, which require some very precise jumps, falling on the little hakelige skip control and the nervous camera. Besides, the controller responds reliably and verifiably and is also quite intuitive.

Graphics:
Where the appearance of the game will amaze you, as the graphic technology moves not quite at the same level. The low level of detail of some textures can be explained by the comic-like exaggeration and is the intensity of color often quite beneficial. Scattered really muddy textures can be more difficult, however overlooked and even superior effects there are rarely marvel.
Here is ultimately more impressive what has been created with the technology, as the technology itself.

Conclusion:
Neither playful yet technically Alice anyone will knock off your feet. But the design of Wonderland is creative, surreal and twisted that easy every minute of this game is a treat for all those who miss such designs to date and just have fun, to dive in really different, imaginative worlds to a degree.
Moreover, the good story and the entire, extremely consistently implemented, 'Psychological Fantasy' concept almost unique (apart from the equally great Psychonauts).
Who discover and marvel motivation enough to no longer need as playful substructure, as a solid platformer, which is Alice: Madness Returns so warmly recommended.