Game Time: "Alice in Wonderland"
"Alice in Wonderland"
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Alice in Wonderland
Wii/$39.99/Available Now
Lewis Carroll's trippy tale of Alice's journey into Wonderland has spawned its fair share of entertainment iterations, including novels, cartoons and most recently, feature films. In its latest jaunt to the silver screen, gloomy director Tim Burton has given the cavalcade of characters and lush landscapes his own personal treatment, resulting in a darker and more surreal vision of the classic story. As to be expected, video game fans will be offered a similar trip down the rabbit hole with the more interactive version of "Alice in Wonderland" for the Nintendo Wii.
Ten years have passed since Alice's original adventure, and over the decade, Underland has fallen under the control of the merciless Red Queen and her army of loyal evildoers. With no one left to turn to in their world, members of the Underland Underground Resistance must turn their sights upward and bring back their golden-haired heroine to face the Queen and end her reign.
"Alice in Wonderland" is an action/adventure title that gives you a third-person perspective on the Underland Underground Resistance's war with the Red Queen. Each of the five characters you control, whether it's the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, March Hare, Cheshire Cat or Dormouse, will have special abilities Alice will need to help her find the Vorpal Sword and bring an end to the Red Queen. While some of the powers seen in the game are very similar to those in the movie, such as Cheshire Cat's invisibility, many have been created just for the game. Wielding his mighty pocket watch, the White Rabbit has the ability to alter the flow of time, while the March Hare can use telekinesis to move and throw objects.
As can be expected in a movie tie-in for the Wii, the graphical and animation levels are a bit subpar but manage to capture the look and feel of the film as best they can. The basic control scheme simplifies gameplay by allowing most of the moves to be accomplished through button presses rather than the waving and stabbing gestures normally seen with Wii games. Finally, the story, most of which is obviously original, can be played with either one or two players using an on-the-fly drop in/drop out function, giving friends the ability to play without breaking the action.
I never sit down to play a movie tie-in game with high expectations, but with "Alice in Wonderland," I found the reimagining of the characters, simple control scheme and entertaining content to be a pleasant change from the norm, even with its minor flaws.
Media Link: Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks!" airs Wednesday, April 7, on Encore.
Lewis Carroll's trippy tale of Alice's journey into Wonderland has spawned its fair share of entertainment iterations, including novels, cartoons and most recently, feature films. In its latest jaunt to the silver screen, gloomy director Tim Burton has given the cavalcade of characters and lush landscapes his own personal treatment, resulting in a darker and more surreal vision of the classic story. As to be expected, video game fans will be offered a similar trip down the rabbit hole with the more interactive version of "Alice in Wonderland" for the Nintendo Wii.
Ten years have passed since Alice's original adventure, and over the decade, Underland has fallen under the control of the merciless Red Queen and her army of loyal evildoers. With no one left to turn to in their world, members of the Underland Underground Resistance must turn their sights upward and bring back their golden-haired heroine to face the Queen and end her reign.
"Alice in Wonderland" is an action/adventure title that gives you a third-person perspective on the Underland Underground Resistance's war with the Red Queen. Each of the five characters you control, whether it's the Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, March Hare, Cheshire Cat or Dormouse, will have special abilities Alice will need to help her find the Vorpal Sword and bring an end to the Red Queen. While some of the powers seen in the game are very similar to those in the movie, such as Cheshire Cat's invisibility, many have been created just for the game. Wielding his mighty pocket watch, the White Rabbit has the ability to alter the flow of time, while the March Hare can use telekinesis to move and throw objects.
As can be expected in a movie tie-in for the Wii, the graphical and animation levels are a bit subpar but manage to capture the look and feel of the film as best they can. The basic control scheme simplifies gameplay by allowing most of the moves to be accomplished through button presses rather than the waving and stabbing gestures normally seen with Wii games. Finally, the story, most of which is obviously original, can be played with either one or two players using an on-the-fly drop in/drop out function, giving friends the ability to play without breaking the action.
I never sit down to play a movie tie-in game with high expectations, but with "Alice in Wonderland," I found the reimagining of the characters, simple control scheme and entertaining content to be a pleasant change from the norm, even with its minor flaws.
Media Link: Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks!" airs Wednesday, April 7, on Encore.
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