American Mcgee's Alice 2: Return to Madness

[Blitzwing256]

I honestly picked it up just to play the first (a real copy of it has eluded me for years) and since the psn was down when I got home from work (if you knew where i worked you'd find that hilarious) so instead of downloading part 1 I did end up playing 2, and I have to say its....the creepiest game i've ever played ,it very much plays like an old school platformer (think those banjo kazooie/mario 64 style games) just REALLY crepy visuals, i'm enjoying it, the combat is simple and very oldschool 3d gameish, I was afraid it was going to be a god of war style game with those stupid button pressing minigames (yuck!) but i'm pleased at how th3e game came out, I may even finish it!

go buy it now


why are you still here?

[Cornelius]

I honestly picked it up just to play the first (a real copy of it has eluded me for years) and since the psn was down when I got home from work (if you knew where i worked you'd find that hilarious) so instead of downloading part 1 I did end up playing 2

why are you still here?

... /me looks around...
we want to know where you work.

[Dobie]

I honestly picked it up just to play the first (a real copy of it has eluded me for years) and since the psn was down when I got home from work (if you knew where i worked you'd find that hilarious) so instead of downloading part 1 I did end up playing 2, and I have to say its....the creepiest game i've ever played ,it very much plays like an old school platformer (think those banjo kazooie/mario 64 style games) just REALLY crepy visuals, i'm enjoying it, the combat is simple and very oldschool 3d gameish, I was afraid it was going to be a god of war style game with those stupid button pressing minigames (yuck!) but i'm pleased at how th3e game came out, I may even finish it!

go buy it now


why are you still here?

Your assessment is spot on. I got through the first chapter last night, and it is definitely old-school in its sensibilities, but I'm OK with that. It made me think of Psychonauts, with a twist of Zelda and Fable. I love the atmosphere and the music. The art design is fantastic. Its definitley not a highly polished game, but its something different than what currently dominates the market. So far its fun!

[Kitsune Sniper]

I honestly picked it up just to play the first (a real copy of it has eluded me for years) and since the psn was down when I got home from work (if you knew where i worked you'd find that hilarious) so instead of downloading part 1 I did end up playing 2, and I have to say its....the creepiest game i've ever played ,it very much plays like an old school platformer (think those banjo kazooie/mario 64 style games) just REALLY crepy visuals, i'm enjoying it, the combat is simple and very oldschool 3d gameish, I was afraid it was going to be a god of war style game with those stupid button pressing minigames (yuck!) but i'm pleased at how th3e game came out, I may even finish it!

go buy it now


why are you still here?

I'd buy it but I refuse to support EA Origin. Just as it refuses to accept my money.

[Graham Mitchell]

Good, I'm excited. I pre ordered it and I'm going to pick it up today.

Game informer slammed it because it's not god of war, but whats wrong with something different?

One of the things they really knocked it for was "ugly, bland textures". Do you guys find that to be an issue?

[Collector_Gaming]

this is why sometimes i hate review companies... They sometimes don't know a good game if it smacked em up side the head.

I remember when the first game came out. It recieved so and so reviews and i am sure some review companies probably even called it a shitty game. Cause you gotta remember back when this game came out. Quake 3 was the big game Along with the Unreal series starting to get big. And then Halo right around the corner. Serious Sam, Half Life ect ect ect
so what everyone was comparing a game like this to is FPS's which was the big thing back then (and kinda is today which to me isn't fair to compare)
And that might be one of the reasons why it didn't sell so well at first.

Then when people got to see what it was all about in person they soon found out that this actually a really good game for what it is. And it turned into what we now know as a Cult Classic.

If you like the idea of a classic tale told through the eyes of someone that seems like Clive Barker (famous for movies like Hellraiser) mashed with Old Style Tim Burton (Beetle Juice/ Edward Scissor Hands/ Nightmare Before Christmas) then you will love these games.

[Blitzwing256]

i'm not a graphics whore by any means, but the textures are just fine, they have a specific art style and it works for the bizzare twisted world that alice explores, I noticed a few tiny graphic glitches in the first world (I was able to walk inside of a wall where i shoudln't) but again the game is just fine, reviewers need to go back to thier latest halo clone or gawd of whore game and stfu ;-)

[camarotuner]

This is my first full price retail purchase this year (seriously) and I got it on PC. OMG this game is freaking awesome. It's demented and the visuals are unique and it's nothing like the other games on the market. I've very very happy with it.

[Graham Mitchell]

Yeah, I love it so far. It's a tad bit easy, though. I'm considering bumping up the difficulty.

Fuck reviewers, this is a quality game. Alice's character looks fantastic in all scenes (love the goth boots.) And, since it comes with a free download of the first game, it's a great value.

I was surprised to discover, after reading the credits, that the game seems to have been developed in China. Interesting.

[Collector_Gaming]

I was surprised to discover, after reading the credits, that the game seems to have been developed in China. Interesting.

i knew about that after watching a interview with American Mcgee on youtube a while back
he said he spent alot of time in China to over look this games production

But just like everything now a days

its either made in Mexico
or China
or Taiwan
or Thailand
for cheap labor.

[Kitsune Sniper]

its either made in Mexico

FYI, Gameloft has a studio in my hometown. Yes, the cell phone game ripoff devs. A former classmate of mine worked there as a tester.

[Dobie]

When people mention the poor reviews, I snuck a peek at Metacritic to see what the damage was. The top user review made me laugh a bit... "Anyone panning this game needs to go take a serious dump because they are full of ****."

I dunno about the scores, I mean, Alice 2 doesn't revolutionize gaming or anything, but to me its a fun throwback with nice visuals and art direction. A 7/10 seems fair, but I'm only about 1/2 way through. Honestly though, a 7, 8, or whatever score isn't going to affect my enjoyment in any way.

[Ed Oscuro]

Original game was remarkable almost solely for its art direction, and then it only managed to hold together in short sections. Gameplay was unremarkable. No multiplayer, which is fine considering the style of game, but odd given the engine they were working from (iD Tech 3, aka Quake III).

All I've seen of this are the two trailers from the first post, and I have to say the art style still isn't winning me over - though I'll give it some space because that's obviously realtime (well, I would hope). Now, if it's really true that this is a platformer along the lines of Banjo-Kazooie, that's a big change and for the better. I'll wait a bit, like until I can snag a real deal on it (Buyatari says $45 is a good deal - but I says I just got the $9.99 FEAR bundle off Steam, which is four games).

Also interesting that an old iD hand (DOOM era) is using the Epic engine now.

[Zama]

This reminded me of how Valkyrie Profile was treated back in the day: such beautiful 2D artwork and masterfully hidden great story (and awesome battle gameplay too) that went unnoticed by most players, yet, it has a strong following which eventually gave way to a sequel a few years later Like the first Alice game, there is a good chance that Alice 2 will likely be a cult classic in many years to come.

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, I just hope that this Alice will be suited to a wider audience, and more polished in the gameplay area. I'm sure the original Alice deserves its cult status - it has some elements that will appeal to a group of people, but most of the time it just wasn't too exceptional in most of what it did. Heck, I'd almost rate Darkened Skye above it in every respect, except that the combat in DS was even more painful and tedious than in Alice (which was only tedious) and the production quality was even more unstable.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Oh, EA is completely fucking stupid.

So you guys remember I was complaining about the original game for PC only being available if you bought it at EA's site, right? Well guess what? Starting today, you can't buy Alice 1. Nope, you can only buy Alice 2. EA, if you're trying to get people to move to your online gaming service, THIS SHIT ISN'T HELPING.

I mean, you want to lure people to buy straight from you with a game. Fine. I don't like it, but I understand it. But making it a limited time deal... Ugh.

[Graham Mitchell]

Oh, EA is completely fucking stupid.

So you guys remember I was complaining about the original game for PC only being available if you bought it at EA's site, right? Well guess what? Starting today, you can't buy Alice 1. Nope, you can only buy Alice 2. EA, if you're trying to get people to move to your online gaming service, THIS SHIT ISN'T HELPING.

I mean, you want to lure people to buy straight from you with a game. Fine. I don't like it, but I understand it. But making it a limited time deal... Ugh.

Wow, thats retarded. Is that with the pc version? Thats really stupid.

The 360 version works similarly to mass effect 2. Youre given a code to download alice 1 for free, but if you don't have the code you can pay to unlock it.

Thing is, in order to play alice 1 you have to load it from the alice 2 disc. It doesn't show up in you xbox menu. I guess thats better than including content on the disc and charging users to unlock it, but not by much.

[phantomfriar]

I can't see this game becoming a cult classic IMO. This game is so ridiculously repetitive it goes from being "cool" to downright annoying. It's been years since I've wanted to badly to see a game end as this one -- you end up playing a few hours, get tricked into thinking it's really good, then realize it's already shown you all of its cards. Then it proceeds to recycle all the exact same game elements over a bloated 10-15 hours, just adding a fresh can of paint on each new level...and all of them go on, and on, and on. Just when you think a level is coming to an end, it adds in more combat, or another platforming section, or another environmental puzzle...it's just crazy how bloated this game is.

I honestly gave up after I started the third chapter. Tedious is an understatement.

[Graham Mitchell]

I can't see this game becoming a cult classic IMO. This game is so ridiculously repetitive it goes from being "cool" to downright annoying. It's been years since I've wanted to badly to see a game end as this one -- you end up playing a few hours, get tricked into thinking it's really good, then realize it's already shown you all of its cards. Then it proceeds to recycle all the exact same game elements over a bloated 10-15 hours, just adding a fresh can of paint on each new level...and all of them go on, and on, and on. Just when you think a level is coming to an end, it adds in more combat, or another platforming section, or another environmental puzzle...it's just crazy how bloated this game is.

I honestly gave up after I started the third chapter. Tedious is an understatement.

Thats a legitimate criticism. I feel the same way about persona 4, honestly (but try 80 hours instead of 15). Neither games are ones I would want to play for 12 hours straight, but I think theyre fun in short bursts.

[dairugger]

which version should i get? ive heard the ps3 version has better aliasing, yet the 360 version has better textures that the ps3 versions missing.?

http://www.lensoftruth.com/head2head...-comparison/2/

so i got the ps3 version of alice 2 and la noir from walmart for 34.99, who knew walmart didnt pricematch with walmart.com.? they did this once tho. anyway i went with the ps3 version for the controller, im honestly afraid of turning on my 360 since its the 20gb old version, im afraid its gonna die if i look at it wrong, lol.

I was surprised about no paper manual tho, i really hate that!