Alice's Adventures in MCM Comic Con

This October's MCM Comic Con in London was the second time I have ever cosplayed (I went as Mario a few years ago), and somehow it just made the whole experience more fun! 

During my time at MCM, I sat in on two talks-Tomb Raider and the Temple of Osiris, and the Resident Evil HD talk with Wesker himself, DC Douglas. I also got the chance to hang out with my regular con friends and Comic Village exhibitors, browse the stalls and check out other cosplayers. The queues were mental for the game demos!

Here's some of the photos taken of me as Alice. It was also nice meeting fellow matching cosplayers!

Meeting Slender Man!

Here's my Alice Madness Returns Cosplay!

I am a big fan of American McGee's Alice and Alice Madness Returns, so when I decided I wanted to cosplay at this October's London MCM Comic Con, it seemed like the perfect time to attempt to dress up as Alice! 

Thank you to everyone who suggested cosplays to me on Facebook and Twitter whilst I was deciding. It seemed a vast majority of you thought I should go as Alice (Lara Croft came up second). 

Here are some photos of my finished costume. I am attending MCM on Friday (in normal clothes), but look out for me as Alice at MCM on the Saturday and Sunday! 

What do you think of my costume? 

Leave your feedback in the comments!

My real-life Cheshire Cat!

Alice: Otherlands Kickstarter Details

It has been two years since Alice: Madness Returns was released on PC and home consoles. Earning a respectable fanbase, American McGee's creepy recreation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale of Alice Lidell and Wonderland is definitely worth checking out.

Spicy Horse recently announced an Alice Kickstarter campaign, which upon this post being published, has 13 days left to go.

Achieving the rights for a third game in the trilogy was proving to be a little difficult at this point in time, so instead of creating a Kickstarter to fund a predecessor to Alice: Madness Returns, the company is proposing a series of short films to be released in a collection entitled Alice: Otherlands.

Alice: Otherlands will find Alice using her mental powers to explore the minds of others. Set in 1875, there are plenty of famous minds for Alice to escape to, such as Darwin, French artists, Queen Victoria and Jack the Ripper. Alice will most likely be tasked with battling an organization or single villain who's sole intent is to capture society in a nightmarish "prison of the mind."

Featuring animation like those seen in the cardboard-cut-out style cut scenes in Alice: Madness Returns, contributions from a host of artists, writers and film makers and music by acclaimed composer Chris Vrenna, Alice: Otherlands seems like an exciting proposition. 

Check out some of the concept art below, including the DVD cover. The Kickstarter page, including more information and donation incentives, can be found here.

(Click the images to see a bigger version!)

Alice: Madness Returns Fanart from Omri Koresh

I always enjoy featuring an artist who has captured the look and feel of a game perfectly. Israeli artist Omri Koresh demonstrates this with his artwork based on American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns.

The pieces below show his interpretation of Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter, and demonstrates the creepy but vibrant Wonderland landscape from the games.

This is just a small fraction of Omri's Alice art on offer. I urge you to check out the rest here. Also, sadly my blog does not let me resize images larger than this (they start to navigate off the page if I do), so the full size, high resolution versions can also be found via his site. 

Alice Madness Returns Review

Eleven years ago, American McGee's Alice was released on the PC. The game featured a much creepier, sinister and nightmarish version of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, with a distinct American McGee style. This year signalled the long-awaited sequel, Alice: Madness Returns.


Whilst the début game was great, it definitely suffered from a few flaws within the gameplay itself, but has Alice: Madness Returns managed to avoid this? Thankfully, on the whole, this is a worthy sequel that is much, much better than it's predecessor.

In Alice: Madness Returns, Alice, the games returning protagonist, has not managed to escape the demons and hallucinations that plagued her throughout the first game. This time around, Alice's own Wonderland creation inside of her mind has merged with her real Victorian London surroundings, thus creating an even darker and deeper caricature than we have seen before. 


Soon after the games initial cut scene, it is clear to see that the game is a visual treat. Surroundings are packed with plenty of detail, and Alice's Wonderland gives off a surreal, twisted and damn right sinister vibe. Fans of the dark and macabre will love this. Not only does it show off American McGee's now recognised aesthetics, but it also, at least for me, presents itself as a darker version of Tim Burton. Think Tim Burton on acid perhaps. Players are thrust into a world full of gory creatures, great platforming moments, and some brilliant level design. 

To fully understand the significance of Alice's mental struggles in this sequel, it is probably best to take a step back and mention the ending of American McGee's Alice. In Alice, this troubled dark child had apparently won her battle with her insanity. She has visited Wonderland and successfully fought the evil Red Queen. It appears that her insanity, which was provoked after a fire at her home killed her parents and sister, has been sedated. Or has it?


Race forward a few years and we find in Alice: Madness Returns that her recovery has not been a speedy one. Alice is still under psychiatric care, and her own memories of her families tragedy, combined with her visions of Wonderland, are in tatters. Whilst her psychiatrist pushes her to forget her troubled past, Alice has trouble doing just that, and soon enough, she finds herself once again duelling in her imagined world of Wonderland. However, Wonderland is not what it once was. The Wonderland she once remembered as a magical, wonderful place has been replaced by a ruined, terrifying and sinister world. Alice soon realises that Wonderland is in danger from the evil that lurks within. A product of her disturbed and fragile mind, Alice must save Wonderland in order to save herself, and vice versa. Rather than taking the quirky route of Lewis Carroll's classic novel, this Spicy Horse developed game has turned Wonderland into a world of nightmares, with plenty of psychological links. 

Whilst the Wonderland segments of the game, which take up a vast proportion of the gameplay, are excellent, Alice's wanders through the grimy, soot-riddled streets of Victorian London is where the game thrives as well. Alice: Madness Returns manages to convey the seedier side of London, such as the brothels, as well as portraying a stark black and white, miserable, but somewhat darkly amusing depiction of London during the Industrial Revolution. Alice's London is full of filthy, craggy looking people, and is even less attractive than London depicted in Charles Dickens novels.


However, Wonderland itself is definitely Madness Returns' highlight. The game is divided up into chapters, which present a different theme in each one. For example, one area is set in the Mad Hatter's domain, a steampunk style factory where a clockwork style Mad Hatter resides alongside the a robotic March Hare and mechanical Dormouse. Another is an oriental style area, where Alice battles samurai wasps, and one of my personal favourites is the underwater level, where Alice uses her variety of weapons against drowned sailors, sharks and sinister fish. Alice: Madness Returns definitely thrives on it's visuals-from the excellent themed level design, to the Alice's matching clothing which changes from chapter to chapter. 

Another great aspect of Madness Returns is the music. The score is full of creepy tinkling noises, and sounds atmospheric and creepy for the most parts. The tense thumping boss battle music also fits perfectly. Like American McGee's Alice though, occasionally some characters dialogue is drowned out by the overly loud music. I found this is particularly evident during the Cheshire Cat dialogue sections. 


For the most part, the gameplay feels rather fluid, and is a vast improvement on the controls in the previous game. Alice initiates a graceful floating jump which floats her down to the next platform, which is fun to engage in. The combat is also much smoother this time around. Alice locks on to the chosen antagonist then selects one of her weapons-the Vorpal Blade, Hobbyhorse, Pepper Grinder or the Teapot to defeat them. Being a huge Zelda fan, a lot of the gameplay for myself reminded me of the Zelda series, from the lock-on combat, to one musical section in the underwater segment of the game. This section involved playing a tune by pressing the buttons on screen in the correct order. The way this was set out is clearly reminiscent of the Ocarina playing parts of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. As well as the combat and floaty sections, Alice can also shrink down to a minute size to enter keyholes, where memories or treasures can be found. Come across a floating pig snout (I did mention this game was bizarre, didn't I?) and shoot them full of pepper in order to unlock new pathways which Alice can manoeuvre. The gameplay is a little challenging at times which helps to make things that bit more interesting, but occasionally mini-bosses are repeated which become incredibly easy to beat after a while (the large black ooze dripping creations being one of them). There are a few moments of "fetch" style quests which can get a tiny bit repetitive, but on the whole, it's a lot of fun. 

Alice: Madness Returns platforming sections are broken up by the occasional puzzle, and different gameplay ideas, such as a side-scrolling underwater shooting section, and the paper-craft style oriental side-scrolling platforming. Whilst these sections are only brief, they help to keep the game refreshing, and break up the repetitiveness which sometimes is felt in parts of the gameplay.


Although Alice: Madness Returns is a great game, it is not perfect. The game suffers from a few frame-rate issues at times (most notably during the London sections), and sometimes the textures do not seem to flow as fluidly as perhaps they should. Sometimes the platforming gameplay can get a little frustrating (it can be hard to judge a jump at times, due to a badly placed camera angle). Levels can get a little repetitive at times, but on the whole, Madness Returns is a fun game to endure. The game is certainly a visual treat which is full of macabre imagery, and thrives on creative ideas. It also largely improves on it's predecessor in style, graphics and gameplay. 

Alice: Madness Returns can be completed in around 9 or 10 hours, but thankfully the game comes with a code to download the original Alice, a port of the original PC version. This version has not been updated for a HD audience, and the gameplay may seem a little dated and flawed at times, but this sinister, creepy and eye-catching style is present once more. Oh, and it includes a few bonus achievements/trophies, if you're into that kind of thing. Sadly this game did get a little overlooked upon it's June 2011 release, so I urge you to check it out now.