American McGee's rendition of the classic Alice in Wonderland has always struck a pleasant chord with me. When the original game was released for the PC, I was quite taken in with the environments and atmosphere that it gave; the macabre take, complete with competent voice acting to carry the mood, really stood out. A few months back, I shared the first game with Pie as she had never been exposed to it previously. I remember the game looking brilliant back when it was released and, all things considered, I think the game held up well against the cruelty we know as time.

More recently, we have been checking out the newest entry, Alice: Madness Returns, from Mr. McGee and his Shanghai based studio Spicy Horse. Admittedly, we haven't gotten very far, but what we have seen is just as stunning as the original game was back in 2000. The hallmarks of the series are back in spades with visually arresting environments that feel so good but make my PC scream so bad it hurts! It would seem they decided that lowering overall graphical fidelity would compromise their vision as you can only lower it so much. It's okay...I can deal with playing at 5 FPS...No seriously, I love watching my game play out like a slideshow.

GPU upgrades notwithstanding, the game has been fun to play with interesting enemy AI and small mechanics being laced into the combat. I'm not sure how well it will carry through the rest of the game, but then again, the Alice games were never really too much about cutting edge combat or revolutionary ideas; it really is about the journey and enjoying the evocative atmosphere and narrative of the storytellers. If nothing else, we can at least be happy that they've shown us new ways of coping with the weather.