The J
Senior member
- Aug 30, 2004
- 755
- 0
- 76
verdict on this game?
I really enjoyed the game and am hoping to see an expansion of some sort in the future. The level art, music, and voice-acting were great, I thought. The combat was fun, with different enemies requiring minor variations in how you deal with them (some have defenses you need to break, for example). The combat slows down for a very brief moment to give you a chance to dodge a strong attack, which looks cool as Alice transforms into a cloud of butterflies when dodging.
I was fine using a mouse and keyboard through the entire game, though I will say that I found it easier to NOT use the auto-focus and just point Alice toward the enemy with the mouse when possible. I mainly used auto-focus to deflect projectiles from a particular enemy back at it.
The story definitely kept me going, wanting to see what happens next. It helps to collect the memories throughout the level. I don't think they affect the story, but the cut-scenes with Alice's own memories will make much more sense if you do. Many cut-scenes are done in a sort of 2D storybook style, where the characters and environment are rendered as paper cutouts.
I liked the platforming and didn't really get bored of it; however, a couple of levels went on longer than I think they needed to. The London areas were vastly under-utilized, I thought, acting mainly as brief walks to the next Wonderland levels. I would have liked to see a couple of the Wonderland levels reduced in length a bit and the London areas expanded. A few of the areas in Wonderland are somehow inspired by things Alice sees in London immediately before she enters those areas. For example, you can find a poster for a circus act involving someone called "The Walrus Man", which is where the Carpenter and Walrus come from.
Other than the length of the Wonderland and London areas, my only other issues with the game are the technical problems that have already appeared in this thread. Texture pop-in happens every so often and I have had Alice get stuck on small changes in elevation (she would have to jump over a tiny ridge, for example). The mouse control felt floaty at first, but messing with the .ini files seemed to help that (or maybe I just got used to it). I did also change the framerate cap while I was there. I actually did not run into any major problems with the game, but having to change .ini files isn't something that a gamer should have to deal with. Also, I don't get why the game has to letterbox the viewport. I set my resolution to 1920x1200 and it gets boxed to 1920x1080.
Overall, I thought the game was great, though keep in mind that I do like platforming. The art was no small part in my enjoyment, and I even bought the art book from Amazon. I do hope a patch is released soon that takes care of the bugs because it does sound like some are running into problems that are ruining an otherwise great experience.