Alice in Wonderland Nintendo DS Game

Here's all the directions. That's it, folks. It'd be nice if these worked all the time but, unfortunately, they do not.

It is extremely rare when I give up on a book or a game. I've read scads of books and have given up on only two or three at most. I've played a fair number of games, including Portal 1 and 2; Alice: The Madness Returns, all forms of Animal Crossing and a good bunch of others.

This is one of the extremely rare instances where I have given up on a game before finishing it. Here's some of the reasons.

First, the game is inconsistent in what it does. For example, you can use the caterpillar to go up or down in an area that displays a blue sparkly background. Since you are told you can do that, then it is logical to assume that any time you encounter such an area, you can go up or down. What they don't tell you is that, seemingly, the area has to be all the way to the ground to use your ability. Otherwise, you're stuck.

Getting a character to move exactly the way you want, including the roll maneuver, is definitely a hit-or-miss affair. There is far too much back-tracking in the game. There is also a lack of logical game play. For example, you get to a place you need to jump over. In some cases the rabbit's special symbol will appear and he can use it to get all the way across. In other cases, with exactly the same distance to cover and with no problems overhead to interfere with a jump the rabbit is not allowed to use his ability and you have to use some kind of ability the caterpillar has.

That make's no sense at all. If the distances are the same, and nothing interferes with the jump, then any character that can jump should be able to clear it but especially the rabbit since he has the special double-jump ability.

While we're on that there's also a problem with getting the abilities. Each character (there are four) has two abilities. Getting them, though, is a matter of chance. There is no clear path to get the abilities. There are no instructions on what you need to do to get them. It's basically poof, you have your ability. Or, more likely the case, you don't have your ability and you have no idea how to get it.

which can show you what to do but that should not be necessary. This is not a puzzle game as Portal can be at times. This is a game where you should be given a tutorial on just how to make your moves, but you're not.

The graphics are unusual but can pass. However, one thing that cannot pass muster is Alice. If the film is 'inspired' by the Tim Burton film then I think anyone watching the film would not take long to get the idea that Alice is a strong, brave young woman, not the Alice in the game who whines whenever she wants to be helped up a ledge or just screams when the cards appear.

Finally one of the biggest objections I have to the game is that there is nothing to look forward to. In Alice, the Madness Returns, for example, no matter how much difficulty you may have managing a level you still want to go on to see what other strange place lies before you. Same with the Portal games. Same with any good game.

There is no 'something to look forward to' in this game. You go from one area to another with all areas looking boringly alike. The tasks you have to accomplish are all variations of each other, and that's assuming you can figure out what you need to do to get the task done. It's one instance after another where 'I've gotten through a door. Behind this door there will be trees, a few buildings, lots of small strange things that can hurt you and the cards that can hurt you. You do this same thing over and over.

That's not a fun game in my book. So, due to the above problems I found with the game and various others, I've given up on it. Perhaps the Alice in Wonderland for the Wii will be better.

Main Index

Main Alice in Wonderland index page