I loved American McGee's Alice.  I loved the dialog, the atmosphere, there's a part of me that loves the idea of something good and whole like Alice in Wonderland given a slightly darker twist.

So I was really excited hearing that a sequel was in the works for Alice, and I've been playing it now for about the past week or so.  Finished it up just prior to typing this.

Let me get this out the way - American McGee's Alice was haaaaard.  The combat was clunky, IMO, until you made it about two-thirds of the way through the game and got a specific weapon, you were basically getting your ass kicked throughout the game.  The quick save/quick load keys were more natural to me than the actual gameplay controls.  The platforming was ridiculously unforgiving.

But it made up for it with great dialog, great atmosphere, a great story, it was just an all around solid game as far as I'm concerned.

Now the sequel, for the most part running on the Unreal engine, fixes a lot of the flaws in the original game.  Combat is smoother and more fluid and dynamic, although the focus/lock on mechanic needs work especially when they throw a lot of shit at you later in the game that you have to engage with a ranged weapon, on top of enemies on the ground that you need to fight with a melee weapon (this makes the final boss battle frustratingly difficult, instead of offering a genuine challenge, you spend more time fighting the controls than you do the enemy).  

The dodge/counter system is a little broken, IMO, the timing is kinda persnickety especially in close quarters to successfully dodge and counter an attack, and there's some odd camera angles that don't make this any easier.  I didn't really get the hang of it until I was about a third of the way through the game.  Another Unreal powered game, Batman - Arkham Asylum, has set the gold standard in dodging/countering in melee combat, a similar system in this game would have made it way more enjoyable IMO, especially early on in the game.

Overall the controls work pretty well though, movement is smooth and easy, the jumping/platforming is worlds better than it was in American McGee's Alice, but it can get pretty annoying at times.

The dialog is again fantastic, Susie Brann, the woman who voiced Alice in the first game returns and does a wonderful job.  I'm kinda disappointed that the Cheshire Cat didn't have as much dialog as he did in the first game, but what little he's got to say is still pretty good, but gets kinda stupid and cryptic towards the end of the game.

Speaking of stupid and cryptic, there are some parts that could have been left out of the game and it wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit.  Namely the creepy yet stupid doll head/pinball/obstacle course thing.

Um, what else...there's lots of stuff to look for and discover, neat art and such.  A lot of these are cleverly hidden, about a third of them are in stupid fucking places that will drive you nuts trying to platform and get to them.  If you buy the game new, there's a code with the game where you can download American McGee's Alice from XBL or PSN for free, but I don't know why you'd want to unless you want to experience some serious frustration.  The first game was really designed to be played with a keyboard and mouse, it feels broken playing with a console game pad.

Overall, lots of fun, very frustrating at times, but if you've played the original game you'll probably enjoy this one.  I'm taking it back tomorrow since I want Gears 3, but I'll pick it up again when it's dirt cheap on the used rack.

Seriously.  I tried a half dozen or so times with every different combination of weapons I had to take that thing down before figuring out it's one of those "run for your life" parts, then stomping that son of bitch into a blood stain was great.

That would seem like a twitchy game to play on PC, with the weapon selection alone I'd figure yeah you'd have to spend a little time binding keys to make things quick and easy to switch to.

Alice was the best part of the game (I really liked her exchanges with the Cat), and I agree, I wish they would have went more/further into her and her mind.