f13.net

Sorry if I somehow missed a thread about this game.  Anyway...


Wow, can't believe they are ressurecting this.  Apparantly American Mcgee is coming back to take the reins as well.  The original was one of the most unique games I have ever played.  I remember the first time I stepped away and when I came back, saw Alice cutting into herself and going, man I can't believe they put this into a game.  Thereafter I tried out all of the "idle" weaponry and was completely hooked.  This year is turning out go be fantastic for PC gaming.  I really can't remember the last time I preordered so many games and supposedly this one is due Q4.

I really can't wait for this title and I hope they stay true to the first one, since it did really feel like a journey through madness with the environments and "levels" feeling very much like a person trying to pick back up the pieces.  Anyway for those who are interested some links:


Official Web Site:
http://www.ea.com/alice


Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice:_Madness_Returns


American McGee's blog:
http://www.americanmcgee.com/wordpress/2010/07/27/alice-madness-returns-wired-com/

Played the original. Had a good concept that the original material supports very well (Gothic / Dark / Psychological take) and amazing artwork I still use as screen backdrops. Even though the resolution isn't too impressive these days. But the gameplay was generic.

I expect pretty much the same, but with a console bent this time (including a trip into uncanny valley as they stress what an xbox can manage).

Really sick of "let's make that childhood memory DARK, EDGY and GRIMDARK" the game was just decent.

I'm not a fan of "let's do X... but DARK" for its own sake, but I thought Alice was fucking brilliant.

(http://i53.tinypic.com/v60sw8.jpg)

 :awesome_for_real:

Hawt.

Great - now Hallmark is going to give Schild a cease and desist....

All these years and I'm not sure they've ever topped that.

To be fair, it's hard to top lesbian BDSM.

I wonder if American McGee has every thought about doing a take on Wizard of Oz.    I could see a lot of potential there.

Not sure if that was supposed to be green text or not, but he worked on an Oz game that was cancelled pretty early on. There are screens and early videos running around the net.

Nope, not green text.  I did not know he had worked on an Oz game.  Kind of nifty.

So... this came out a couple days ago. Has anyone picked it up? Anyone? Bueller?

I really want to play this game, but I don't trust EA's downloader thingy.  Does the disc version have the herpes?  I might actually pick it up that way if it doesn't make me install Starforce and/or EA's downloader.

I might get this title despite middling reviews because 1) it looks interesting and 2) the full version apparently comes with the original game as well. Never played the first Alice, wanted to, so this is a good way to pick it up.

(http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/i-tRQ6LSb/0/O/i-tRQ6LSb.jpg)

/obligatory

Needs AM's My Little Ponies.  :grin:

I was really disappointed in that rainbow brite comic. Nothing about it is really edgy besides the little bloody white thing. She's just a curvy adult now. it's as though they were really hoping to not offend anyone.

Would have bought it when it comes on Steam, especially when bundled with the original one.

Not interested enough to hunt down or import a boxed copy, though.

They should be "adult" and "edgy" like Duke, amirite?

Don't go full retard.

The whole point of the two comics is to make fun of games like alice taking something nice and turning it dark and edgy, if you don't actually make the cartoon look either dark or edgy, you're sort of not making a joke anymore.  Compare the rainbow brite one to the strawberry shortcake above, one is a clear parody of american mcgee, the other might as well be someone's deviantart page fanart.

I think you're getting bent out of shape about nothing. Further, you're missing the joke. The second one doesn't need to be "edgy" as its humour is derived from the relationship/reference to the earlier cartoon. You're coming off as whining because it's not grimdark enough when it simply doesnt make a difference.

Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/06/alice-madness-returns-brings-solid-platforming-tedious-length.ars) has a review up that says it has decent platforming mechanics but is god awful repetitive and tedious.

I'm saying penny arcade has gone downhill, I wasn't aware such a stance was controversial.

:mob:

And Azazel seems to be saying that you probably need to base such a statement on something more definitive than your impression of what you think PA 'should have done' when revisiting a 6 year old comic theme.

"What!  It's only got some bloody slavering beast starting at Rainbow Brite's ass?  Why, that's hardly offensive to me personally at all.  Boy they sure do suck these days!"

It's a half assed attempt at the same joke, that it's not completely obvious is mind-boggling.

You are clearly into the old man get off my lawn totally disconnected with reality phase.

You're all fucking nutters for arguing over Rainbow Brite.   :uhrr:

To the topic at hand... Alice is hawt.  Especially in the second area.  I'm tempted to do a Halloween costume of that outfit.

The visuals are awesome.  When she dodges she bursts into a swarm of butterflies that reform at her location.

Probably harder to bottom it, imo.

 :rimshot:

Woo, now it is on Steam. Where could one get the original one or isn't it needed storywise?

Are you playing it on console or PC? I think I might check it out for a day or two first if I can find it in a RedBox.

Lakov's right, the Rainbow Brite comic lacks the combined childishness and audacity that the Strawberry Shortcake comic has.

The Strawberry Shortcake comic carries the analogy better, as a result.

I'm watching it be played on PC.  From the looks of it, it should play just fine on a console though.

Snapped it up from Steam before they change their mind.  Will install tonight and see if it actually runs on my slightly venerable machine.

GRAAAAH, when you buy it on Steam you still have to activate it with the EA thing.  Son of a bitch.

 :ye_gods:

 :heartbreak:

 :mob:

Pretty bad consoleitis too.  It's not unplayable like Dead Space was (lack of need for precise shooting thus far helps with that a lot), but the mouse is a bit wonky and it's not in any way configurable; bringing up the controls menu shows a picture of an XBox controller.  The game also doesn't always remember to hide the mouse pointer, which is annoying.

That said, I played it for a couple of hours this morning and had trouble tearing myself away.  So there's that.

My biggest gripe is the save system (or complete lack thereof).  The game autosaves at certain checkpoints (watch icon appears in the lower right), but otherwise does not save.  If you quit anywhere but just after it checkpoint saves, progress is lost.  There's no way to request a save.  The pacing of the checkpoints seems highly inconsistent.

Also, if you ever get stuck with the ranged weapon selected and you can't attack with your melee weapon, try pressing the 1 key.  That seems to fix it.  Annoying.

That's really  :uhrr:.

Dev sloppiness aside, attempting to play 3D platformers on kb&m is a bad idea to begin with.

I'm so terrible with thumbsticks that I do better with kb+m even in platformers.  The first Alice was PC-only and the platformer parts were pretty much identical.

Currently playing this on PS3 and loving it. I played the original way back when, so I haven't checked out the HDified version that came as a free DLC yet, but the gameplay mechanics in Alice: Madness Returns are a lot more sophisticated and very neatly balanced. So far I'm really, really struggling to see why the reviews were so lacklustre; it's a beautiful game to behold (seriously, the only thing that holds a candle to it visually that's out now is Batman: Arkham Asylum), and it's near effortlessly smooth in play; combat can get tricksy due to a rather spastic target lock but most of the time it adds another aspect to the anarchy of combat. Speaking of which, combat is delicious. I may actually be in love with the Hobby Horse.

Gropey Shrink Flowers made my friend watching me play wide-eyed with wonder about just exactly what was going on in there.

Just for this. I'm not buying this game. Fuck that. GTA IV was my first offender.

Most PC games that support Gamepads default to an Xbox 360 controller layout for gamepads at this point. Hell, when you press any button on a gamepad in Dead Space 2 while in a menu, all of the shortcuts switch to 360 buttons (B to cancel, etc). Any movement on the mouse or keyboard switches all the shortcut displays back to PC. It seemed really slick to me, rather than slapdash.

I don't think it's a bad thing. you're certainly able to change the keybindings for another gamepad if you want, but it's nice that the PC industry has adopted a 'default' gamepad that saves you some time if you are using the market leader gamepad.

I really loved Alice: Madness Returns when I started playing it, but the game runs way too long. There aren't any really natural stopping points in levels, so when those levels are 3+ hours long you really start to get tired of them. The game is gorgeous, but they really ought to have edited the levels down.

Does the 360 version come with the original as a bonus as well? And is it DLC or on the disc?

That's a bit cutting off your nose to spite your face... like many non-FPS PC games, Alice: Madness Returns supports controllers, of which the most popular these days is none other than the 360 wired controller.


Pretty sure all versions come with the Original as a bonus, but it's DLC. The redeemable code slip that came in my PS3 game case claimed it was good till 2022, so...

It's the 'reward' for buying it new rather than used afaik. You need to get a copy with an unused code in it.