Alice: Madness Returns

American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns sees the return of Alice Liddel following on from the original outing, and to be totally honest, it's one of the most genuinely demented and terrifying games of the year.

You begin your adventure being coached through some of the more disturbing memories by your psychiatrist, until things start to go a bit wrong and he sends you on your way to the pharmacy to collect some crazy pills. Spotting a white cat, you (as you do) follow the feline down into an alleyway to a dead-end, where you are attacked by what can only be described as mutant ant-bunnymen.

No sir, we didn't like it.

Set 10 years after the first game (the same amount of time since the original American McGee's Alice game), Alice, currently living under the care of the psychiatrist, has returned to Wonderland to try and sort her noggin out, but her own, ever-growing insanity is warping the world and endangering everyone in it. Her task then becomes to save the residents and herself by recovering her original memories and mending her broken past.

The environments and characters, as previously mentioned, are quite scary to look at, but also seem to be somewhat drab in the graphical department. This may very well be intentional, but it can lead to the game looking a bit bland on occassion. Also, the vast majority of game mechanics are introduced very early on, and are highly repeated throughout.

That aside, there are many other cool little bits and pieces that keep things flowing nicely. Alice will be able to obtain a variety of dresses that give her different abilities, there are numerous weapons available, all of which can be upgraded by collecting teeth (yep!) found scattered about the levels, and the ever creepy Chesire Cat makes a suitable hint dropping accomplice throughout the game.

One last refreshing change? The game is huge. Possibly a bit too huge, but you'll definitely get value for money on this title, and won't look elsewhere for entertainment for a good while. Mostly because you'll be too terrified, but also because it's a (quite literally) ripping good laugh.

Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to the pharmacy for our crazy pills...

All games for Maxim.co.uk are reviewed using the Mad Catz Tritton series of headsets.

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