Game Review: Alice Trapped In Wonderland (Mobile)

Alice Trapped In Wonderland reminded me a lot of Myst albeit on a smaller scale…that’s as high praise as I can give it.

It is a graphic adventure/point & click played out in the first person perspective. Each scene is richly detailed with specific items or puzzles able to be interacted with. Movement is made by touching on areas & locations on the screen. One scene fades into another…

The game opens with Alice receiving a note from the White Rabbit asking her to meet him at the tree where they first met. That is the player’s first task…a simple one, get to the tree. Once there Alice is transported to Wonderland & the first of many puzzles.

Gameplay is predominately made up of puzzle solving, item collecting & reading clues. The first real head-scratcher involves having to find the shrinking bottle so she can fit through the small door. It’s a nice introduction as the puzzle is straight-forward enough. It also gives you an idea of how puzzles have to be solved across several scenes.

Wonderland is a bright & colourful place with just the right amount of realism seeping in. It seems as if the characters of Wonderland have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. This does mean there are no interactive characters throughout which is slightly disappointing.

It makes up for that with the detail in Wonderland though, uncovering hidden references to Alice’s adventures before. This is a nice touch & makes it seem more like a fleshed out world.

The puzzles get more & more fiendish requiring many steps to complete in some circumstances. This does mean a lot of back-tracking but you can move through scenes quickly & flawlessly. The map works excellently showing you where you’ve been & what scenes are in what areas. It stops you getting frustratingly lost…something that can happen all too easily.

It’s a good game with just the right amount of brain-taxing puzzles that is let down by a ‘nothing’ ending. Seriously…you solve a lengthy, multiple part puzzle…work out the correct combination of doors & this is what you get:

Right…

The game has an auto-save feature so any app issues won’t have you losing any progress, a hint system that needs some work & an extremely relaxing soundtrack.

I’m a huge point & click fan & the world of Alice in Wonderland is always fascinating. It’s a attractive game to look at with a nicely balanced difficulty level when it comes to the puzzles. It’s let down by an abrupt & disappointing ending as well as a lack of interactive characters from the Wonderland universe.