Classic Xbox titles that are included on the Backwards Compatibility library are varied and extensive. The list of games has grown again this week, with the addition of the 2011 3D platformer Alice: Madness Returns.
Larry Hyrb, aka Major Nelson, the Director of Programming for Xbox Live, tweeted earlier in the week of the latest release to the catalog, and sent fans into rapture at the return of the psychedelic and twisted take on Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland stories. Alice: Madness Returns is the sequel to 2000’s American McGee’s Alice. The developers, alongside the Chinese company Spicy Horse Studio, kept to the tried and tested formula of jumping, combat, and treasure hunting that has proven so successful throughout the history of computer games.
Alice: Madness Returns doesn’t really push the boundaries of gaming, but the art design, soundtrack and just general weirdness of your surroundings make the title stand out above others from such a ten-a-penny genre. What will keep you jumping, spinning, shrinking and hacking away with your kitchen knife are the crazy and highly-animated levels themselves. Leaping from decks of flying cards onto tumbling dominoes poses more than a few problems to overcome.
Alice: Madness Returns may not be the biggest or most celebrated name in the Backwards Compatibility library, if you happen to have a spare $19.99 (£14.99) and you are a fan of such classics as Ratchet & Clank, Super Mario 3D and Banjo Kazooie, then this is certainly one for you to add to your downloads.