"Seems following furry creatures into dark holes has become a habit."

Madness Returns is a work of art -- and I mean that in two ways. First, that it's a beauty to behold, with a highly imaginative and appealing art style, intricately detailed characters and environments, and stunning visual effects. And second, that there's really not much mechanical substance behind it.

The basic story is easy enough to suss out from the game's opening scenes, although its attempts to relay this story plainly are somewhat excruciating. Picking up after American McGee's Alice, the titular girl is slightly older, and slightly closer to sanity, but still not all the way there. Her therapist is trying to help her block bad memories, and Alice's tortured mind is taking to manifesting her Wonderland fantasies and her dark fears all in one hallucinatory package. Victorian London transitions into a twisted Wonderland, and Alice quickly finds herself jumping on mushrooms and shrinking down to walk through keyhole-sized doors.

Again, the art surrounding all this is quite enchanting, but once that wears off - when you've been in an area for more than a few minutes, and familiarity starts to set in - what's left is a basic, mediocre character-action game with no real distinguishing characteristics. Although at first, new mechanics are introduced very briskly, they peter out just as fast: Alice can jump and glide, which is her primary means of moving forward in the game world; she can shrink, to get through certain obstacles; and she can fight enemies with melee and ranged weapons. Some scattered collectibles offer (very) brief insights into Alice's depressing reality, and some others act as currency for upgrading weapons. And that's basically all there is.

But the gameplay isn't the only aspect of Madness Returns that's lacking. The storytelling is almost totally vacant, aside from some incredibly sloppy and awkward cutscenes. The supporting cast's dialog is uncreative and lazy, barely a step above rote instructions for the player. And the voice actress for Alice herself, although evidently talented, seems to have been told a completely incorrect story about the character she's voicing: she's almost always upbeat and chipper, even in the most depressing and dull circumstances.

Aside from its generally-high level of graphical fidelity - at least with a sufficient PC, hair and cloth simulation is really impressive - Madness Returns isn't exactly a solid technical achievement either. Lock-on targeting seems to lose your target just as often as not, pop-up hints appear in blatantly incorrect places, and even in my brief play time, I encountered a handful of moments where the game stuttered to keep up.

Truly, Alice: Madness Returns isn't a terrible game, but it is terribly boring. It's really a shame that the game's brilliant artistic vision is completely unsupported by clever storytelling or engaging gameplay.

Progress: Half(?)-way through Chapter 1.