Alice: Madness Returns gameplay demo opinions

Here's a gameplay demo in two parts for Alice: Madness Returns that was showcased at GDC recently (video from IGN's YouTube channel):






What do I think? First off...wow. This game is just gorgeous. The level looks beautiful, the characters, objects and even the GUI look like something I'd frame on my wall (if there's an art book with a limited edition of this game, I'll buy it). The life bar, represented as a string of red roses, smacks nicely of Zelda-style heart containers, which is a nice touch. The baddies are suitably eccentric, and even Alice herself is styled in a traditional-yet-unique way that I'm sure will put her top-10-best-looking-character lists for years to come.

However...

...the game doesn't shock or surprise me in terms of mechanics. Granted, this is based solely on visual analysis of the game in action, and a short section at that, but isn't that all anyone has to go on at this point? I've been worried that it would turn out to be a generic action-platformer, and from this first look alone it seems to have lived down to that. The platform section is almost the most basic gameplay I've seen in years: jumping between level floating platforms. Oh wait, sorry, the platforms are invisible. No, wait again, you can see them if you press a button to go small for a bit, plus they are clearly pointed out by the collectibles sitting on them...erm....

The combat looks nice though. I stress LOOKS. Again, the graphics are bleeding fabulous, the enemies look menacing and the weapons used (I like that hobby horse club a lot) have a great audio-visual character to them. Let's face it though, it seems to play like so many other action games. The weapons seems to operate on a one-button mechanic, which is a good idea for fast-paced combat, but it strikes me as just a light melee/heavy melee/ light ranged/heavy ranged attack system that has been around for donkey's years. The lock on system has been seen before, as has blocking things while locked on.

I'm not saying that the combat is BAD, not at all; it seems to use tried and tested systems that work. This game, in short, works. But only in the sense of there being bare minimum involved. In fact, there seems to be a lot missing that we've come to take for granted in hack n' slashers: where are the finishing moves, the over-the-top quicktime events? It seems that in a quest to avoid being branded "Like God of War but..." it's ended up as "Like God of War but without..." and I have to say I was hoping for more. My worry is that American McGee and the folks at Spicy Horse are being really restricted by EA, which would be a real shame.

I really want to be proven wrong as more of this game is shown. There's a lot of potential seemingly going to waste, and the fact that only a small snippet of the game is demoed is what allows me the hope that there will be something great, just over the horizon. The game will have to PLAY as good as it LOOKS, and if it happens...then we'll have a masterpiece on our hands. I've got my fingers crossed...


Think I'm wrong? Comments down below.

Alice - Madness Returns is the property of American McGee and EA.