LADIES AND GENTLEMEN STEP RIGHT UP, for the return of American McGee’s Alice. Featuring demented doll-faced oil things, goblins and just plain creepy things.

After your magical journey at American McGee’s Alice, or you were just super curious about this game, let’s do a recap. Alice thought she was responsible for a fire that killed her family, went insane, was treated in an asylum, believes that she didn’t do it, and therefore was released. In Alice Madness Returns (AMR) Alice, is 19 years old in an orphanage at Victorian London, under the therapy of Dr. Angus Bumby who uses hypnosis to relieve children of their memories. Being ineffective, Alice keeps hallucinating and falling back to her demented and macabre version of Wonderland, only to find a mysterious dark train that corrupts her mind and her precious sanity. While in Wonderland Alice Seeks her old friends, Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, Mock Turtle, the Walrus and the Carpenter, for her aid of stopping or knowing more about the train.

While the game progresses, Alice slips between the real world and Wonderland, seeking for answers for the dark train and who started the fire who had killed her family, while fighting, jumping, solving puzzles, dippin and dodging and looking for collectibles along the way.

The player him/herself plays as Alice Liddell, in her teens, in the first few levels of the game, which is mostly tutorials, moving jumping, secrets, collectibles and battle. Players face against numerous creepy things made from Alice’s corrupt Wonderland.

The environment itself is quite beautiful and I honestly spent lots of time just standing and embracing the scenery, magical if you ask me, magically scary. From green dusky industrial steampunk factories, magical space-like underwater floors, and many more. Another neat aspect about AMR is Alice is given a dress that is themed to the level the player is in, so you can see some interesting dresses that Ms. Liddell has to offer.

AMR also shows cartoony, but disturbing, cutscenes that really give the message that Wonderland is corrupt and is not happy or something similar to Kingdom Hearts. Appealing to the eyes too, short and sweet and gives off an astounding  transition between scenes.

Oh and also, whenever Alice is low on health the screen is cracked, and as you move your camera around it’s kinda like looking at your cracked Iphone, Ipod, Samsung Galaxy something something.

CLEARLY I CAN GO ON AND ON ABOUT THE GAMES VISUAL ASPECT BUT LET’S GET TO SOME GAMEPLAY SHALL WE?

Players guide Alice in her quest, with numerous themed dresses, Alice also faces numerous enemies, a common enemy called “Ruin” is a… Well… Thing that is made out of toxic oil that burns to the touch I guess, and has a porcelain doll face just to look creepy.

To end such creatures, Alice uses a small arsenal: A decorated kitchen knife, with cool magical trails as it levels up called the “Vorpal Blade”, A rapid fire pepper cranker, called the Pepper Grinder and A simple yet devastating Hobby Horse, and many more. Every weapon has it’s uses and strengths. Players will most likely end up using the Vorpal Blade the most, in all honesty, making the weapons cooler requires the player to collect TEETH. YES, TEETH, (IT’S UNUSUAL, YES I KNOW). Teeth are found by traversing through the levels, destroying enemies, and the classic “destroy every single pot for loot.”

Other than teeth, players find numerous collectibles, numerous fragments of Alice’s memories from the past, moments with her family, memories from the Asylum, mysterious bottles tagged with Alice’s name, radula rooms, which provide Alice with a pot of red paint, that is if you complete the challenge the room provides you, and if enough is collected it gives Alice slightly more health.

To find such secret trails players must listen and locate pig snouts (yes, pig snouts), flying pig snouts, mounted pig snouts, just pig snouts. Players listen carefully to the snorting and sniffling, and when located the player must use the Pepper Grinder to make the snout sneeze, and then proceed onwards.

Sure, cutting things up with a knife is fun and pretty thanks to your Vorpal Blade, but battle can get somewhat repetitive, levels usually have a small variety of enemies to tackle, and patient players might find the game easy with even the most difficult setting. But hey, anyone can play this game and have a load of fun.

And I’m sure there is much more to experience. Step on up to your nearest store, download it on Steam, Origin, or whichever fits your fancy.