Yes...and no. On American Mcgee's Alice and Madness Returns. Yes, transfer between levels was more diverse and there was more smaller diverse levels. On the other hand, some things was much worse than in Madness Returns. Some level parts were so similar looking that you couldn't find your way around and hat to run couple of time back and forth. (Hatter's domain) + actual battle mechanic was to much hit and miss which combined with problematic camera and questionable terrain turned into pain in the ass (Jabberwocki's battle). So to compare 2 Alices I say that both have pro and cons.Don't confuse level design with ART direction,POP 2008 is one of the most beautiful games ever made but it actual level design is just tedious the whole game to me felt like wild goose hunt.. all you did was go around collecting white orbs and then restoring pastures... rinse&repeat the whole game! really? i expected more from an open-world POP game.
When i brought Alice:Madness returns i thought the levels were great mainly because it looked fantastic but when i played the American Mcgee's alice that came bundled with it i realized that it had way better level design despite having archaic graphics.
This is a great example of a great graphics doesn't always make a great game.
As for PoP. People tend to forget that PoP isn't HnS in the first place. You spend much more time run and jump instead of actual fighting. And PoP reboot added some pretty cool ideas, like when you come to fight Hunter he throws you inside broken tower and you need to run away from corruption before it reaches you, which actually shows how bosses co-work with levels, instead of simple arena fights that were in most PoPs before.