Alice: Madness Returns Message Board

This is the latest in a series of articles about the art technology of games, in collaboration with the particularly handsome Dead End Thrills.

Alice: Madness Returns is a very special action game, a piece of Lewis Carroll fan fiction conceived by an American (named American, of course) and illustrated largely by the Chinese, a people not known for their absurdism. Unfortunately it’s also a classic victim of checklist game criticism and marketing, not to mention it’s the worst possible thing to reviewers working under deadline: long. Make no mistake, the business of game reviewing is a lot like the business of eating large amounts of Jacob’s Cream Crackers in hot and rowdy East End basements. To put it another way, all games get tiring when you play them past your bedtime.

The sequel to American McGee’s Alice isn’t great (8/10), solid (7/10), flawed (6/10) or average (5/10) – it’s none of that nonsense. It’s a living art book, an Alice novel with the ratio of words to pictures spun around. Inspired by such wild and offbeat things as Burning Man, Dave McKean, Zdzislaw Beksinski, The NeverEnding Story, The Dark Crystal and the Brothers Quay, more than anything it’s a tribute to the mechanical and the handmade. Dolls, miniatures and puppets crowd the dreams and nightmares of its Wonderland, while its ‘real world’ Victorian London would be right at home in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. (more…)

Alice’s late! Alice’s late! For a very important… oh you know never mind. Creator of flawed beauties Alice and Alice: Madness Returns American McGee has announced on Facebook he plans to Kickstart Alice 3.(more…)

American McGee’s positioned himself as quite a polarizing figure within the gaming industry, but – success or horrific crash-and-burn failure – you can’t knock his imagination. And while the recently released Akaneiro: Demon Hunters‘ blend of Japanese folklore and Little Red Riding Hood at least looks quite attractive, it’s another fairytale fusion that put him on the map. American McGee’s Alice raised quite the stir when it was released back in 2000, and Alice: Madness Returns‘ world was brilliantly realized, if not always fun to be in. But they sort of came out 11 years apart, so really, what are the odds we’ll get another anytime soon? Well, actually pretty good, if McGee get his McWay. The main thing stopping him? EA, of course. He explained the situation during a recent interview with RPS.

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#ea While in a Reddit AMA, game designer American McGee said that EA wanted to "trick" gamers into thinking Alice: Madness Returns was as dark as its marketing and called this tactic part of a "race to the bottom." More »

#ea The marketing for Alice: Madness Returns was dark. The game itself, though, was mostly just strange, with a dash of quaint. Why the disconnect? Well, according to the series' creator American McGee, it's all EA's fault. More »

#cosplay The world moved on from the game pretty quickly, but thanks to its vivid art style Alice: Madness Returns lives on in the hearts of cosplayers, few of which have quite nailed the game as much as michivvya and her friends. More »

Spicy Horse, the studio behind Alice Madness Returns, just released a new, free iPhone app that showcases its game art. Download it in the link. Do it! iTunes] More »

#alice Coming to comic shops and specialty retailers near you, these Gentle Giant sculpted action figures give Alice: Madness Returns a chance to play with the darker side of Lewis Carroll's creations. More »

There’s probably some irony in the latest title from a man whose name appeared in big huge letters on the front of so many game boxes involving the word ‘BigHead’, but I’ll be damned if I can tell what it is.

BigHead BASH is the latest move from American McGee and his Spicy Horse studio, and it’s a forthcoming social network game. I don’t know whether this means Alice: Madness Returns wasn’t the hoped-for success or just that McGee fancies a go at the Facebook goldrush before it dries up, but I do know that it’s a side-scrolling 3D shooter with tons of shooty-jumpy activity.(more…)

The semi-sequel to American McGee’s Alice arrived last week. A timely return to a gothic wonderland, or is too late, too late for a very important date with our hard drives. Come on, down the rabbit hole with you and let’s find out…

Alice 2 is, I think, pretty much what an only casual observer of videogames believes almost all videogames are like. Mad monsters, lurid colours, cartoonish characters, slightly unconvincing voicework, a steady diet of jumping and thumping… Alice could be The Videogame incarnate, evoking so many of the tried and tested values and mechanics that have come, gone and repeatedly come back again over the last couple of decades, and in theory polishing them into a fantastical sheen you could see your own distorted face in. If someone showed me this game out of context, I’d have a very hard time guessing when it was released. 2011? Maybe. 2007? Quite possibly. 2001? Turn those visuals down low and yeah, this could have been a launch title for the original Xbox or Dreamcast or something. This is not necessarily a criticism.(more…)

Alice: Madness Returns is now available on Steam!

Return to Wonderland and battle the corruption with all new weapon upgrades as well as 6 new collectible dresses. The new fourth tier of weapons tips the scales into Alice's favor by unlocking a whole new level of destruction!

Are you ready for another trip to the Asylum? We trek through Wonderland once more in the GT Review!

“Where were you when the war began, Daddy?” “Well, little Ignatius H. Meer III, I was at my PC starting vacantly at Twitter. Probably eating some crisps as I did. I’ll never forget that dark, terrible day. The day that EA decided they could fight Steam.” “Daddy? Why are you crying, Daddy?”(more…)

Platforming extraordinaire Alice returns for some exploration of Wonderland's wicked new state.

Alice turns to violence in these clips from Madness Returns!

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Spicy Horse are proud to announce that the dark and deranged fantasy/adventure videogame Alice: Madness Returns is now available at retail stores in North America. Heralding the return of American McGee's interpretation of the classic Al...

Suspension of disbelief is a common term in film, but games require a similar level of immersion to succeed. The best games dunk your head into the waters of their worlds, and don't bring you up to breathe until the credits roll. But when some elements don't work, that suspension shatters and screams: it's just a game. Alice: Madness Returns is an uneven journey of immersion that hits a lot of high points but constantly shows off its cracks...

Alice: Madness Returns will soon be unleashed to inflict that most terrible of scourges upon a platformer, the dreaded "minigame."

Gameplay from some of the mini-games in Alice: Madness Returns!

Sure, the launch trailer for Alice: Madness Returns posted after the break features some genuinely upsetting imagery, discussion on how Wonderland is actually Hell, and murder -- but at least nobody rips their own face off. We're actually going to chalk that up as a victory for sanity.

You’re late! For a very important date! The trailer after the jump has been waiting just forever for you. And look at you! Straighten that pinny! Tighten those bows! What is that in your hair? Give me strength. Alright, off you go. And do try and remember your manners.(more…)

Madness is not a state of mind--madness is a place. Let's go there.

#watchthis Like countless crayon drawings from a crazed mind coming together to form a giant disturbing picture, American McGee's vision coalesces in the launch trailer for Alice: Madness Returns. More »

Almost two minutes of action-packed gameplay footage from Alice: Madness Returns!

#fineart A PC cult classic returns (and on consoles this time, too) next month when Alice: Madness Returns hits shelves. More »

There's nothing funny about a disturbed young girl clutching a giant butcher knife -- especially if she's near death and her Hysteria meter is full. When those morbid criteria are met, the star of Alice: Madness Returns can launch into a psychotic frenzy that would make Ryu Hayabusa proud.

We're still trying to wrap our minds around this recent, clever cross-promotion set up by American McGee's Spicy Horse for its upcoming psychopathic title, Alice: Madness Returns. Here's where we're at so far: They took a storybook, and turned it into a game, which they've now turned into a recently released iPhone and iPad-compatible storybook, which prefaces the events of yet another game.

The iOS storybook is a sound investment, as reading through it unlocks a code which saves you $10 on an Alice: Madness Returns pre-order through the EA Store. Still, it's one of the most crazily recursive promotions we've seen in a good, long time. Why, it's nearly as insane as the game's latest trailer! Ha, just kidding. Nothing is that insane.

Ten years after the original American McGee's Alice debuted -- ten years! -- its sequel is nearly here. With its June 14 launch just over a month away, I accepted an invitation to dive into its fractured Wonderland and play through the first of its five chapters. Although a decade has passed, it felt like I'd never left.

While the core game design hasn't changed much -- platforming interspersed with combat -- Alice: Madness Returns is harnessing today's tech to convey a visual spectacle that's closer to McGee's original concepts than the first game could get at the time. It's also capitalizing on some new design ideas dreamt up by its imaginative designers at Spicy Horse.

Back in March, Senior Creative Director American McGee of Alice: Madness Returns told IGN that he didn't want to "reinvent the wheel" with the upcoming action/horror sequel. Instead, McGee and his studio Spicy Horse would prefer to let the story and art grab players when Alice: Madness Returns launc...

How does one put this politely? Alice done gone mad... again. We submit as evidence the story trailer for Alice: Madness Returns. It's, admittedly, a little disturbing.