Back in 2000, American McGee’s Alice introduced a macabre, twisted version of the world dreamed up by Alice in Wonderland’s whimsical heroine. The third-person PC action game escorted players through a dark, warped Wonderland filled with terrors and puzzles that no child ever imagined.

Now, over a decade later, Alice: Madness Returns drops you back into its forebear’s mix of action, platforming, and puzzling. Why? Well, the Red Queen’s been dethroned, but as she notes, “You’ve allowed another to succeed in my role” — and she doesn’t mean Alice. In fact, this new mystery ruler has been causing havoc in our girl’s mind: Wonderland’s been fractured and ravaged even further than when we last saw it. And unfortunately, so has this beloved franchise.

You won’t notice the change right away. Chapter One — the first of six segments — gives you time to delight in blasting pesky Bolterflies out of the sky with the Pepper Grinder gun, slashing viciously at goopy Insidious Ruins with the Vorpal Blade, and deftly floating from ledge to ledge. Best of all are the collectibles — particularly the teeth you can spend to upgrade your weapons, and the memory fragments, which trigger voiceovers when shattered.

But don’t expect the game to build more upon any of these core gameplay elements. Madness Returns sets you up for a grind: the patterns that are established at the outset never change. Concepts such as finding invisible pathways, shooting timed triggers to access new ledges, and weighted platforms stay pretty much the same, without added difficulty or trickiness. (For a slight challenge, you can opt to not buy the DLC that unlocks the final level of weapon upgrades, but we disagree with this structuring of the game on EA’s part.)

Encounters with baddies operate the same way — in general, you’ll find no real bosses until the very end of the game. Instead, as you progress through a chapter, you’ll periodically walk into an open area and trigger a clump of thugs. Sure, the number and difficulty of those enemies fluctuate (and the situations get a little tougher as the chapters progress), but generally, once you figure out what type of foe you’re up against — “Any weapon applies” vs. “Disable with a particular weapon (such as the Teapot Cannon or Hobby Horse), then any weapon applies” — you can button-mash your way through. That is, if you can work around the game’s frustrating autotargeting. At the outset, it’s very simple to hit LT to lock onto an ugly and then toggle between him and his companion with the right stick, but as the numbers of beasts increase (and the camera angles get awkward), you’ll struggle to quickly switch to the one specific Samurai Wasp that’s whaling on you. And thanks to random camera swings, you’ll often run right into the very creature you’re trying to dodge, allowing them to smack you around.

The only substantial thing that varies throughout the game is the pacing — but not in a good way. Madness Returns often jerks in different directions abruptly, and at a whim: for example, while Chapter One’s finale is surprisingly novel, you’ll have no sense for when Chapter Two or Chapter Three will conclude — and while you’re in either, you’ll often wonder if they’ll ever end. And the game’s finish, in which Alice confronts the fiend who’s been ruining her mind further, speeds you straight through the event and then screeches to a shout-at-your-TV-in-disbelief halt.

However, what saves Alice from getting completely trapped under its humdrum mechanics, unpredictable pacing, and sometimes uneven platforming (some areas offer more forgiveness in hitting the edge of a ledge) is the strength of its art direction and character-focus. Don’t underestimate the power of each: every chapter provides a new form of visual impact, be it steampunk-y cogs and steam jets, fanciful sidescrolling sections, or a bald, zombie-like Alice in a straitjacket. And the family-oriented memories illustrate — in delicious, emotional little slices — the depth of Alice’s imagination and how happy her childhood was. As a result, the 2D paper cutout–styled cutscenes, which combine fantastic art and fascinating story, are a pure pleasure to watch.

The maze of Alice’s mind is the journey you’re really on — you’ll feel this most keenly when no enemies are around and you’re just exploring her world, seeing what you’ll discover next. But at the end of our 17-hour trip through Wonderland, we kept wishing there’d been so much more. Madness Returns shows substantial flashes of being equal to its predecessor, but its strongest detractions — middling gameplay mechanics, the rushed ending, and that last tier of weapon upgrades being available only as paid DLC — hold it back.

On Xbox 360

+ Vivid, imaginative environments.

+ Compelling story, with fascinating glimpses into Alice’s happy childhood.

- Aggravating targeting system; lackluster gameplay mechanics; odd variations in platforming controls.

? Can we get DLC that properly fleshes out the last part of the story? <i>Please?</i>

6.0