EA Australia's Alice: Madness Returns & Shadows of the Damned Preview

On a Friday evening, myself and the rest of the GTAL crew headed into Darlinghurst, in Sydney. We entered a quiet and unassuming door, walked down a set of stairs, and entered our own personal Wonderland. A room, split into two, black & white, walled with TVs and shiny Xbox 360 consoles. And on those, were two of the most beautiful games I've been lucky enough to see in a long time.
But I'll leave those games for a second. The venue, District 01, is normally a stark, white Art Gallery, but the events team had converted it beautifully.

The spooky forest was tame in comparison
to the atmosphere in SOTD

A dark, twisted forest, bathed in red, covered the walls behind consoles previewing Shadows of the Damned, flanked by a gorgeous motorcycle, and sectioned off by big iron gates, reminscent of an entry into the Underworld.

On the other side sat Cherry Blossom trees, Toadstools, a giant White Rabbit, and a Throne of Hearts, contrasting perfectly against crisp white walls. There were more consoles as well, all with people getting their first taste of American McGee's long-awaited sequel to his first Alice title.

American McGee, blaming Ken Wong
for his Kiwi jokes

There was plenty of Pizza and Beer for the invited guests, and there were a few people I recognised in attendance, including Jae from Australian Gamer, Jinx from Xbox Australia & NZ, and our very own host, Pidgeo, EA Australia's brand-spanking-new Community Manager, who then took the stage to introduce both himself, and our very special guests, American McGee, Ken Wong, and Suda 51.

American took the stage first, and the first thing I noticed about him was his stage presence. The man commanded an entire room, full of people who are easily distracted by shiny things (of which the room was also full of), and joked about the difference between Aussies and Kiwis, Adelaide, and how dark his games appear. We were then taken on a quick tour through Alice: Madness Returns, with Ken Wong, the Art Director, stepping in and talking about the very unique art style used.

Seriously, this guy is Amazing.

Suda 51 made his entry next, and I can categorically say that I have never met anyone as inherently cool as this man. Even though he spoke very, very little English, the entire room stood with baited breath, hanging on his every word. After a brief introduction, he decided that it was time for a costumer change, and revealed a black leather jacket that was a perfect replica of the one worn by Shadows' protagonist (not Antagonist, Pidgeo... that's a Bad Guy =P ). He told us that Shadows was a story of romance, where a man travels to the very depths of Hell to save the woman he loves (and made a very distinct connection between it's storyline and one of a certain Italian Plumber, rescuing his Princess), and then proceeded to show us all his Johnson.

Click for the full-size Nut Shot, in all its glory

Wait, what? Don't get too worried, Johnson is actually the name of the main characters companion in Shadows, a talking Skull who acts as guide, Melee weapon, and a variety of Guns. Throughout the story your Johnson grows, through the aid of Red 'Performance Enhancer' Gems, enabling you to somewhat customise your weapons (Yes, you can increase the size of your Johnson). We asked Suda 51 about the distinct tongue-in-cheek name, and laughed uncontrollably when his translator was forced to look at us with a straight face and say "Yes. It's My Penis." Occasionally though, he warned us, sometimes hitting something with your Johnson just won't do... and sometimes you just have to hit your opponent in theirs.

Tequila. Perfect for those long nights in the Underworld

And with that, it was time to play! I played Shadows first, since there was a free console right next to me, and picked up where someone else left off, running through an alley and waving my Johnson in the air. The game has a similar feel to say, Alan Wake. Some enemies are invulnerable until you burn the darkness away, but you don't have to shine a light on them, rather shoot light from your weapon. It has a very Gothic feel to it, and the humour runs rampant throughout (though what less would you expect with so many Johnson jokes implied), and I found it very easy to pick up and play, especially when we turned the subtitles on. Overall, Shadows has an engrossing storyline, visceral graphics, and flows quite nicely. I definitely enjoyed it...

"Why Yes! This did used to be a Rocking Horse!"

But not as much as I enjoyed Alice. I'd already hyped myself up for it by watching the Intro movie I posted the other day, and little clips had been on display all night, but actually controlling the character herself? Jaw-droppingly awesome. Wonderland is so amazingly created, and differs greatly between areas. On one playthrough, I wandered around a library, not realising for the first ten minutes that we were actually underwater (The giant crab with a cannon for an arm tipped me off), the next was in the bowels of what looked like a Victorian London factory. Every single one is created with such detail, such care, that even amidst a group of people, with music blaring, I easily found myself lost inside the game, an intimate look inside Alice's tortured psyche.

We all had similar reactions to Alice

All in all, it was an awesome night. Everyone here at GTAL would like to thank Pidgeo for getting us there, EA Australia for hosting, and of course American McGee, Ken Wong and Suda 51 for chatting to us, posing for photos, and creating two games which will be long remembered as works of art.

And of course we couldn't leave without freebies!

Alice: Madness Returns releases June 14th in Aus, and 16th in NZ. Shadows of the Damned follows shortly afterwards, dropping here in Aus on the 21st, and the 23rd in NZ. So, according to Suda 51 himself, weve got a week to finish Alice before starting Shadows. I'll definitely be picking both up.

For more photos from the night, check out our Photo Gallery here!