Parents' Guide to Alice: Madness Returns

It's tempting to simply write off this continuation of Alice's tale as a gory exploitation of a beloved children's character, but there are some interesting ideas at play. As a girl, Alice's extraordinary imagination takes her to a scary but ultimately safe place. But what will that same imagination do when she gets older and suffers a terrible loss? This game, like its predecessor, puts forth the notion that her capacity to dream will take her to much more terrifying -- indeed, even lethal -- locales.

Unfortunately, the storytelling never moves much beyond this intriguing idea. Worse, the actual gameplay, though well-tuned and intuitive, is rote and repetitive. It's a shame that there should be such a lack of creativity in a game inspired by a story that celebrates the imagination. Grown-up fans of the classic tale with a taste for dark fantasy may find enough of interest to make the journey worthwhile, but everyone else can leave this one safely on the store shelf.