Today I’ve going to review an ARKit game called Alice in Wonderland AR quest. This iOS augmented reality game is divided into chapters. It’s a free game and when you download it, you get to play only the first chapter. If it wasn’t for the really unique experience, I would probably wouldn’t even think about reviewing it because it’s just too short. Having said I think many of you should be familiar with it because it brings something fresh to the AR scene, so let’s dive straight into it.
As I mentioned, I only played the first chapter. I took me about a few minutes to finish it and I think if you are quick enough, you can even finish it in like 3 minutes.
Alice in Wonderlands was developed by Abatarico. This company is making its business in the VR arcade market and it’s also the developer behind the game Alice in Wonderland Stories Crazy Clockworks, a cooperative multiplayer puzzle game in zero gravity.
What is Alice in Wonderland AR quest?
Alice in Wonderland AR quest is a puzzle-adventure game, at least that my impressions of it after playing the first chapter.
This game is trying to be like nothing you had previous experience in augmented reality. I played lots of ARKit games, but I never had a chance to experience something like that. The closer that I got to that experience is getting inside portals in the game Figment AR, but I won’t even try to compare those two because they are completely different games. The only thing that looks a bit similar to something I’ve played before was the portals feature in that game.
So as I said, in Alice in Wonderland AR quest, you are going on a fantastic journey in the world of, well, Alice in Wonderland. You get to meet many of the amazing characters from the famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland novel by Lewis Carroll that was first published on November 26, 1865.
In the first chapter, you’ll get a chance to meet some of those characters. Here is some gameplay footage, see the magic happen!
A Magical Gameplay Experience!
I do want however to speak about the portal interaction gameplay element. After you finish the first part, a portal will open. This portal will lead you to Wonderland. Now Avatarico has done a fascinating job here.
Usually, in games where developers use portals, they put an image wrapped around the inner part of the portal. When you look at it, you can move your head and get to see it like in 3D, well, because it is. Yet, it’s still a 2D image placed on a 3D surface, but the effect looks really nice in augmented reality. The cool thing is that you feel that you are actually getting inside another dimension, but the experience is short-lived and not too exciting.
In Alice in Wonderland AR quest, Avatarico LLC took that to a whole new level. When you physically cross the portal, you are now entirely in that new dimension, in Wonderland, I rotated my iPad, all I can see through the iPad’s screen is Wonderland, the real world was left behind. The only part left was that door-like portal that gave me the option to get a glimpse of the real-world I left behind.
I could physically move around that world and explore it. I actually was walking inside the other room in my house, but from the game’s perspective, I was actually exploring this new virtual world that I experienced through the screen of my tablet. I can look at all direction and all I can see this Wonderland fantasy world. The shift from augmented reality to virtual reality with a small window into the real world was an awe-inspiring experience. This is the first time I experience something like that in AR.
It’s was kind of experiencing mixed-reality, although I could still see the real world with my peripheral vision. I do understand why Microsoft was so enthusiastic about mixed reality because, with an augmented reality glasses on, this could be an even better experience. You can see the virtual or the real world when the developer wants you to see it, and playing with those two can help developers create some amazing experiences.
Of course, inside there was a little surprise, but I let you experience it yourself. What I really liked is that I could actually go around the portal door without entering inside. It was just like being in another dimension, where you can see the other world as a 2D surface and once you pass through it turns 3D in your can work inside it an explore it. If you know how it would feel like being in another dimension, I think this game can give you that experience.
AR Experience & Visuals
The AR experience was out of this world, I never played anything like that before, not just in Augmented Reality, but in any other game. It was a mesmerizing experience, it played with my fixed understanding of reality, it even confused me at times, like it teases my brain and I needed some time to think how all that makes sense.
All I wanted to do is start exploring the fantasy world, I just start walking around the place. Just keep in mind that you don’t actually need to work through your entire house to finish the first chapter. I did it just to explore the place because it was possible. If you do it, I recommend watching out where you are going because obviously some of your field of view is covered by the mobile device and your focus is on the screen not on your surroundings. I played it with the iPad, and because it has a larger screen, it was even more important to look where I was going.
I also think that the game is best experienced on an iPad because of its large display. As I mentioned earlier, Alice in Wonderland AR quest is the perfect game for mixed-reality. I’m sure it will be amazing played on Microsoft mixed-reality platform, but I haven’t read anything about this game coming to mixed-reality, but it might.
The graphics in this game are stunning, seriously, beautifully vibrant and detailed visuals. It all starts with a large tree that spawned in the center of the living room—it was just beautiful to look at. ARKit quickly detected the surface and although a large space is needed for this game, it works flawlessly without any problems.
The world inside the portal was very impressive. I never saw an ARKit game with such a massive detailed place. That being said, the game has some severe frame drops on my iPad (9.7-inch 2017 model), especially when I start walking around and rotating the camera to look around the world. The thing is that it wasn’t too bad either, because it’s not a fast-paced gameplay experience, so it wasn’t a big distraction, although I would have prefered playing it in a faster frame rate to have a more authentic experience, rather feeling the transition between the real world to a fantasy world that feels like an unoptimized game. I want that experience to be smooth and fluid and I want that transition from the real world to Alice’s Wonderland world to be seamless.
Other than that, the music, the particle effects, the lighting, the characters, the animations—all are just superbly done. It’s not a small scale AR experience, the entire projected physical world around you(as seen on your mobile device through the screen) is completely transformed in augmented reality.
I remember being so impressed seeing a top night sky in Yume: Alice’s Dream game (see the image here), but this one surpassed it by completely. I can say with confidence that this is by far the best AR experience I ever had. The entire experience felt genuine, original, innovative and magical at the same time. This just shows you what amazing things can be done using this amazing Apple’s ARKit technology once it finds itself in the hands of very creative and talented developers.
Conclusion
Alice in Wonderland AR quest was short, just too short. How can Avatarico do this to me, giving me such a small taste of this incredible game? I would at least want to have some chapters, a slightly longer experience. I found myself launching the app against and again to taste a little more of it, I loved it that much.
Alice in Wonderland AR quest is a fascinating experience, hands down the best I’ve experienced to date. Every day I found more amazing ARKit games and app that just blow my mind, but this one just tops’em all.
I really don’t want this game to be a demo of what ARKit is capable of, and at its current state, it really feels like it. It’s hard for me to even call it a game. It’s great to know that more chapters are coming soon, but I don’t want to wait a month for a 2-minute experience. I’ll be optimistic and I do hope that Avatarico will release more chapters frequently.
The game was released two weeks ago (v1.0) and since then we’ve already seen some bug fixes and little improvements but no new chapters. As I say, I will try to be more optimistic. The great AR experience somewhat compensate for the lack of content, but knowing that more episodes are coming is kind of a relief. You know that this is not the end of it and there is more to come to this amazing adventure, this is just the start!
Having said all that, I recommend downloading this game right now (on iTunes), don’t even think about it. As short as it is, the AR experience is well worth it. It is hard to believe how such a short game can affect so deeply the after-the-game experience. I just can’t stop thinking about it and all that I want is to go back to Alice’s world. Bravo, seriously, kudos to the developer for making such an extraordinary experience, but if you read this, please, please put an effort into releasing future chapters more frequently.