

It's worth taking the extra time to explore, since there are "drink me" bottles to collect that will unlock concept art and additional bios in the main menu, giving you more character backstory. You'll find that enemies will leave behind teeth, which is the currency in the game that will let you upgrade your weapons-up to four times each. Like the drawings, certain platforms are visible only in this shrunken state. The insane children have left clues on the walls, so it pays to look around to see what has been scrawled. Once she comes across the shrink flower, she can shrink on command and explore areas for collectibles and other goodies. On top of being able to wield a variety of deadly kitchenware, Alice can dodge quickly and jump multiple times, leaving a flurry of pretty blue butterflies in her wake. Taking out the hive will clear them for good, but you have to watch for these things and think carefully about how to proceed. Another enemy type included flying creatures known as bolterflies (basically bolts with wings), which spawn from a nest repeatedly and do nothing but get in your way.

By watching how they move, however, you'll soon learn that they'll come at you fully with their fork, and if you dodge out of the way, it'll leave them wide open to your attacks. These gremlin-like creatures were relatively easy to dispose of, except some came armed with a shield that would deflect our repeated blows. The first enemies we faced were the Mad Caps. The auto-lock-on feature is helpful, but there is a free aim mode as well if you prefer to maneuver on your own. The long-range weapons, such as the fast-firing pepper grinder and the explosive teapot cannon, are great for getting enemies out of the way before you get too close. But each enemy type has a weakness, so it's almost impossible to get through by just mashing one button. For the most part, we preferred using Alice's vorpal blade, which deals quick melee strikes. However, we were able to mess around with Alice's full repertoire to see how it works in combat. In the beginning you won't have access to all the weapons. As you explore Wonderland, you can pick up two types of memories: the smaller audio snippets are suppressed voices from her past, and when you come across a larger memory, Alice will have an epiphany regarding the events from that devastating night. The game's story follows Alice between Victorian London and Wonderland as she tries to piece together lost memories and dig deeper into her repressed ones. And that's where Wonderland exists, in the mind of the young girl who lost her family 10 years ago. Here, judging by the color palette and decor, there's a distinct steam punk vibe to the area that has been carefully crafted in Alice's troubled mind. The Hatter's domain is one of the first areas you'll visit after the tutorial stage. By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
