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Post by Don Quixote on Feb 21, 2011 9:42:39 GMT -5
Oh yes, it returns.Don't know how many of you were fans of the original. I myself have only played the game once, but it was a great deal of fun. And it's delightfully dark. And it seems like it's come back for more gothic muderin'. Looks good.
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Post by Don Quixote on Jun 23, 2011 5:28:12 GMT -5
I watched some of the videos on youtube for it, and it still looks like a decent game. It's not the open-world sandbox so many have come to expect from the gaming industry, so there's lots of complaints about invisible walls and such, but that was never what the Alice games were. They're action platformers. The weapons look pretty neat, from what I've seen, and I'm still considering picking it up with my next paycheck next week. It has a download code for the original American McGee's Alice too, from what I've seen. I might just grab up the game, play the original once more, and then go on to the sequel.
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Post by Don Quixote on Mar 18, 2012 9:36:07 GMT -5
You know, I was planning on writing up a formal review for this sometime. I just kind of forgot. A third person 3-D platformer is an all-but-dead genre, right up there with point and click adventure games, but Alice was a decent foray into it. Visually, the game is stunning. The developers took great care to match the tone of the first game, which is impressive considering a completely new, Asian company developed this (Spice Horse is the studio name). The cutscenes are all done in this strange, crosshatched paper doll motif that adds to the vaguely creepy nature of the game. Caterpillar's level in particular is very beautiful. Gameplay is where Alice tends to fall a little short. Sometimes you're mobbed by enemies, and other times they're so sparse, you're left wondering if you've backtracked to earlier in the level somehow. It's difficult to die, since they added a "hysteria" option, which makes you invincible and increases your damage output for a time, but you can still die. Alice can triple-jump and glide, which I think makes it a little easy on some of the platforming portions, but there are some jumps that are quite challenging. Usually those are to get to extra things and unlockables. There is a fair bit of collection in this game. You collect memories to piece together why you're back in wonderland after defeating the Queen in the last game, memories of your family and friends, and memories that are thinly-veiled tutorial hints. Alice gained a dodge button in this one, which is insanely useful if you've got a bad guy who just won't leave you alone. You can spam it and be cheap, though. Alice can shrink to fit into keyholes, but they're not always visible. Shrinking lets you see things you wouldn't otherwise be able to. Sometimes you have to platform on invisible platforms, and so you have to shrink, see where the stuff is, and then grow back and jump before they completely fade from view. As far as weapons go, you've got your Vorpal Blade from the first one, a quick-attack melee weapon, A Hobbyhorse (a slow attack powerhouse melee weapon), The Pepper Grinder (a recharging light automatic gun that "overheats"), White Rabbit time bombs (which can distract enemies also), A tea kettle (your long-range heavy hitter weapon), and the Umbrella (just a shield that can reflect if you're quick enough with it). You collect teeth as a currency, and you can spend your teeth to upgrade your weapons and their efficacy. You get different dresses from different levels, and each has a specific effect on Alice. It augments her abilities in some way. My personal favorite was probably either the "Steamdress" or the "Siren". I didn't get any of the DLC, but apparently there's a lot of other outfits with some pretty cool effects, and new skins for the weapons. Divvy the Fleshmaiden. You see most of your friends from the first game. No Jabberwokky, though, which kind of disappointed me, because that meant no Jabberwokky's Eye. Caterpillar, Hatter, Mock Turtle, even the Red Queen shows up. The Walrus and The Carpenter are in one level. There are no actual boss fights in the game until the final level, but the difficulty of the enemies does become greater. The enemies fit the level, but there are also the ever-present corruption enemies, who look like tar creatures with porcelain baby doll faces on them. The story is seemingly straightforward until the last few levels. You can suss out the plot twist early on if you pay close enough attention, but it's not something you get confirmation on until the last chapter or two. The game features a port of the original game, but it just doesn't translate well to console. The cards are difficult to use, the swinging is almost impossible. I gave up after the first level, because it just wasn't suited to being played with joysticks. I'm fairly certain it's available on the cheap now. I bought it release week, so I'm not entirely sure. If you can get it for twenty bucks, it's definitely worth the play-through. I still haven't gotten all the collectables in mine, but I also loaned it to a friend of mine so he'd have something new to play for a bit. You can probably beat it in a few days if you sat down and played it, if you want to just rent it. If I had to give it a score, I'd give a solid 6.5-7 out of 10. Worth your time, but not worth sixty bucks. Good thing I got it for forty.
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Post by TheNewMads on Mar 18, 2012 13:58:51 GMT -5
looks fun. i like games that make me feel pretty.
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