Alice: Madness Returns

Alice: Madness Returns is an upcoming video game for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, currently in development and scheduled for a June 14, 2011 release in North America[1], and a June 16, 2011 release in Europe.[2] It is the sequel to the 2000 Windows and Mac video game American McGee's Alice. McGee, who designed the original game, returns to design the sequel after EA partnered with McGee's studio Spicy Horse.
Contents [hide]
1 Development
2 Plot
3 References
4 External links
[edit]Development

Rumors of a sequel to Alice first developed shortly after the original game was released to critical and commercial success.[3] With a movie adaptation of American McGee's Alice in development at the time, interest at Electronic Arts rose in a remake of the game and work was started on a sequel.[4]
At the February 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit, EA announced a new game in the series, which at the time had the working title The Return of American McGee's Alice.[5][6] Two pieces of concept art accompanied the announcement, along with the information that the original game's writer and executive producer would also return for the sequel.[7] In November of that year, a fan-made trailer was mistaken by gaming news outlets as an official teaser for the game, in which Alice is in therapy after a relapse nine months following the events of the first game, and appears to hallucinate an image of the Cheshire Cat in place of her doctor.[8]
At EA's Studio Showcase on July 20, 2010, more details about the game were shown, including its current title. In addition to further pieces of concept art and actual, in-game screenshots, the first official teaser was released. Despite (or perhaps because of) the fan video eight months prior, it also portrays Alice in therapy: after being hypnotized by her doctor in a bizarre office filled with dismembered arms hanging from the ceiling, as she opens her mouth to speak, large amounts of blood and teeth pour out. As the game title appears, a whispering voice is heard saying, "Alice... what have you done?"[9]
During the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, new assets, including a second trailer, were released. Alice is seen strolling through a London street, and eventually approaches an area littered with toys and a large, carnival-style window, which depicts the Mad Hatter, the Dormouse and the March Hare taking tea. Suddenly, she sees an image of her deceased parents in the window's reflection, but turns around to find no one there. The window begins to burn and the silhouette of the Queen of Hearts appears before it explodes in flames, and the Queen's tentacles drag Alice into the inferno. Like the previous trailer, it too ends with a voice saying "What have you done?"[10]
On February 14, 2011, MSNBC's "In-Game" website unveiled the third teaser trailer as well as a brief interview with American McGee regarding the game.[11] The third teaser depicts Alice wandering around an oriental-styled Wonderland, eventually coming across the Caterpillar, who transforms into a giant, menacing butterfly as the landscape is attacked by fiery phoenixes and turned into a nightmarish world. Alice finds herself sitting at a tea party with the Mad Hatter, March Hare and Dormouse. The Hatter sends a robotic teapot to kill Alice, who in turns stabs it to death in the eye with the Vorpal Blade. She smiles insanely (reminiscent of a look she gave in the first game's trailer) as again, like the other two trailers, a voice asks "What have you done?"
A fourth trailer, showing gameplay footage for the first time and entitled "Beautiful Insanity", was released on March 4, 2011.[12] The trailer featured possible gameplay in Victorian London, new costumes and weapons for Alice, the reprised roles of some of the voice cast from the first game, and the appearance of old and new characters including a resurrected Jabberwock and the Dodo; after the trailer the Cheshire Cat says "Now its time to put your blade to work". One can also hear Alice`s Vorpal Blade being equipped as the title card comes up.
Gamespot released footage of a gameplay demo whilst interviewing an EA executive producer Joel Wade in April.[13] In the video, numerous details about the game were revealed. Wade explained storywise after Alice left Rutledge Asylum, she is an orphan and now lives in a orphanage, and the home's director is helping her to escape her insanity. Gameplay showed Alice can unlock and use several weapons, which can be upgraded by collecting teeth throughout the game. Weapons including the Vorpal Blade, the Pepper Grinder which acts as a projectile machine gun-like weapon, the club-like Hobby Horse, and the explosive Teapot Bomb. Alice also collects "memories" that are part of her quest to recall forgotten memories from her past. Enemies are described as having "puzzle elements", namely their weak point which the player must figure out to defeat them.
[edit]Plot



Alice as seen in Madness Returns, holding the Vorpal blade.
Madness Returns takes place eleven years after the events of its predecessor, the same amount of time between the two games' releases.[9] Alice has been released from Rutledge Asylum and into the care of a London psychiatrist, where the traumatic memories of her parents' deaths continue to haunt her. As a result of her relocation, her hallucinations and internal struggle have increased in severity, and she returns to Wonderland in hopes of security and comfort. However, it has once again become warped by her insanity, and she must save its residents and herself from the evil that is taking over Wonderland and also embarks on finding the true cause of her family's mysterious deaths.