American McGee's Alice

Rating:
Summary: An absolutely gorgeous PC platformer
Review: American McGee's Alice is a blend of a PC shooter and a console platformer. Like a first person shooter, you are given a large arsenal of very different weapons and plenty of enemies to use them on. Like a platformer, the levels have lots of maneuvering challenges, requiring exploration and a lot of accurate jumping. While this gives the game a fresh feel on the PC, it also causes some headaches.

Basically, PC controls are really not well suited for a game that emphasizes accurate jumping and nimble movement. Jumping especially is quite unpredictable. The developers have implemented a feature that allows for accurate jumping, but it doesn't work in many instances. The inconsistent controls don't overwhelm the game, but they can be a source of frustration.

Another point of concern is that the game is single player only and relatively short. The game is very linear and replay value is limited. Once I finished the game, I had very little reason to play it over, except maybe to explore the levels more thoroughly.

The level design is really where this game shines. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous and the levels are clever and original. The game is so stylish and compelling visually that you will want to keep playing just to see what the next level looks like. On quite a few occasions, I was completely stunned at how unique and basically how cool the levels were. I simply cannot overstate how immersive the visuals are, but the whole ambiance of the game is superb. The sounds, music and voice acting are all extremely high quality and contribute greatly to the mood of the game.

The bottom line is that Alice is an extremely immersive experience. Whatever gameplay shortcomings the game has are more than compensated for by the style and presentation. Its important to keep in mind that this is a mature-themed game. McGee's Wonderland is a far cry from the psychedelic happy-go-lucky land of Disney fame and is really not suitable for certain audiences. But if you're looking to be absorbed into a thoroughly compelling world, Alice is the game for you.

Rating:
Summary: Lewis Carroll would have loved this
Review: Way too many people connect Alise with Disney's shoddy "Alice In Wonderland" cartoon, which was miles away from Lewis Carroll's original story. The books "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" and "Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There" are light and fluffy on the outside, but between the lines there are darkness and violence. This is what American McGee has put the emphasis on in this game.

Wonderland has turned in to a living hell, and it's up to Alice to save the game. Seeing that Alice has been in a mental institution for the past ten years doesn't make this game any less violent of course.

Although this is mainly an action game, you will find a lot of jumping puzzles and more adventure-like puzzles. The gameplay sort of reminds me of the late 80s, early 90s platform shooters, which is not a bad thing. There are a lot of interesting weapons which mostly are connected to the previous Alice books.

Graphically the game is amazing. It fits the Alice mood perfectly, and it's almost taken directly from the books. The music and voices are great also.

My only real complaint is that the difficulty level seem to be a little un-even. It goes from beeing very easy to being way too hard and back again a few too many times. Also the puzzles are a little on the simple side.

Overall though, the game is fun to play, and the storyline is carried on flawlessly. A must for all Alice fans.

Rating:
Summary: awesome game
Review: i didn't expect to like this game nearly as much as I did. It is so much worth the 14 bucks it costs now. You will have fun playing this game.

Rating:
Summary: Please stay with me Alice
Review: Sometimes, humans experience something that occupies their whole soul and heart. Something deep and emotionfilled, something so wonderful that time and place has no meaning.

Alice does that. The moment you start Alice, you know this is different. Alice is nothing like other games. Yes, its a 3rd person view, you control Alice, and you are saving Wonderland from the Evil Queen of Hearts, BUT. The way this is done is so overly beautiful it is hard to describe. The graphics are incredible. There isnt a SINGLE dead flat area in the game where there is just a clean color, there is detailed texture everywhere. On bookcases, clocks, doors, walls, floors, everything has a painstaking amount of details, still it runs so smoothly! Alice herself looks both gothic and haunted, yet you cannot do anything but love her, with her sarcastic but yet sad voice, her crying and helplessness and her will to do right.
The Chessire Cat is your companion, he has turned from the purple fat cat in Disney`s movie to a skinny, mangy cat with a evil grin and a dry voice. And YES, he is on the good side.
The graphics are absolutly stunning, and I have played the game so many times, just to experience Wonderland over and over again.
The Sound is awesome too! With a haunting soundtrack composed by Nine Inch Nails "Chris Vrenna", you will feel yourself living and breathing in Wonderland, and haunted by the wonderful music. The Voiceacting are absolutely marvellous, there is not a single bad voice in the game. Everything sounds right. Alice sounds both dark and sweet, The Chessire Cat is awesome and the bosses all got their special little conversation before the battle starts. I really liked the first boss, and the "two dumb guys". (Aint giving away spoilers).
Control. Why is everyone picking on the control? This game has so much control as you got control over your mouse and fingers. I have never experienced a death or a misplaced jump by the control, but it was rather a lack of judgement. The Control is very good!

To summarize this up, I`d say Alice is one of the best games after the Millennium. Probably the best. The mood, music, graphic, story and production value are so top notch, you will have a hard time leaving Wonderland. The only bad thing about this game, is that it ends.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant whirlwind of graphic artwork
Review: "But I don't want to go among mad people..."

"Oh, you can't help that... we're all mad here..."

NEVER have I seen a game that has so totally moved me. From the graphics, to the incredible 3D rendering to the haunting minor-key music, this Victorian-Gothic fantasy come to life will literally keep you in awe. (No kidding -- I showed my friend last night and when I turned around to see her reaction her mouth was literally open and she was speechless.) The music, the scenery and the graphics play so much like a twisted dream that you can't decide if you'd rather watch or play -- great indication of a good game.

This game is made somewhat like Quake (in fact, it's by the people who made Quake,) and the storyline is supposed to be a third chapter of the "Alice in Wonderland" novel series, only this is more of a very dark twist. Technically, after rereading "Alice in Wonderland," I can see how McGee looked at it from an insane perspective for the story could be perceived that way. Alice is witness to the untimely deaths of her parents in a house fire and quite simply, loses it. She winds up in a Victorian insane asylum and your objective as Alice is to help her regain her sanity by defeating the red queen and rescuing Wonderland from the dark depths it has fallen into. VERY dramatic, very well done and very, very mind blowing.

From the concept alone I could write volumes, but American McGee (who is the designer of the game) literally captured the perception of insanity in this game with this fantastic imagination. From the furniture floating in space outside the windows as you run by, to the insane children punching themselves and giggling but being unaware of your presence, to the vast maze of mirrors that is simply that -- a maze of mirrors for you to find your way out it is literally DISTURBING, which makes it brilliant. True artwork intrigues the viewer and this is a masterpiece of the senses.

The game itself is chock full of adventure. There are puzzles and mazes galore as well as plenty of "weapons" to use against the baddies consisting of floating, screaming Boojums and cards of every suit with powerful weapons around every corner. The weapons that you find are toys with a diabolical twist (a jack-in-the-box that explodes, dice that conjure a demon to assist you and eventually a musket that blows anything away within the first 300 feet in front of you, let alone a bloody butcher knife that you begin with. But, this is NOT an easy game. As I said, there are plenty of mazes to start with, dodging the bad guys' weapons is difficult enough on the easy level, but throw in the Cheshire cat giving you clues in riddles in order to figure out what to do, let alone the mazes, and you have a game that is going to take you awhile to get through, but addicted to, nonetheless. Also, the controls, just like Quake, can be custom set to your own preferences. Plus, while working the game in the third-perspective, there are two helpful additions: first, there is a bright blue laser-type dot to help you lock on your target with weapons. Second, a pair of high-heeled transparent footprints show ahead of her to indicate exactly where she will land if she jumps. Very helpful. (Of course, if you're the impatient type, you can find the cheat codes on the internet.)

Probably the best part of the game would be it plays like a movie. The polite, but sarcastic conversation about butcher knives and killing between the Cheshire cat and Alice is wild and well written. There are specific characters she has to interact with in order for you to understand what you're looking for, clues that take figuring out and maybe a hint as to something nearby. If you're stuck, the mangy Cheshire cat, with a amazingly calm London British accent, pops up after pressing "c" on your keyboard and throws a hint or explains a new "toy" that you've found with dark sarcastic humor: "52 pickup is a staple of juvenile humor, but when the deck slices and dices, it's no laughing matter..." No kidding. Alice's insanity makes her quite sadistic for when she uses her butcher's knife as a weapon, she literally splatters blood--as well as body parts.

The design of the game's atmosphere is beyond brilliant. Keeping with the Victorian era, the game never steps out of that time period. Look around at any of the "machines" during this late 19th century game and you'll see that everything was thought through concerning the steam-powered machinery and tapestries -- I can't think of a moment where something "modern" was accidentally stuck in. Every bit of this is molded after this particular era giving a stepping-out-of-time feeling. You'll literally "shift" back to reality when you quit the game. :)

The downside to this game is that it is so incredibly high in graphics it needs high speed and high RAM requirements as well as high drive space; you need to have a system that is up to par. I just happen to buy a new system that I had been saving up for, so I had no problem. MAKE SURE you check the requirements because in order to get this type of quality you should have a little more than the minimum requirements or it might be choppy. Don't buy the game if you don't have the minimum requirements and then get ticked off because it doesn't work as well. Good excuse to upgrade your system, but bad idea if you don't have the money to do so.

Alice is quite simply, brilliant. This is a keeper of a game and has made such an impact that Alice's homepage has informed the fans that the rights to a movie have been sold. (I suggest you check out their web page for more graphics and demos as well as teasers -- I have no doubt that this will be considered a classic -- and somehow they'll think of a sequel. Wonderland will literally leave you in awe. I guarantee it. It is dramatic, beautiful, and creepy and will leave you speechless for I still am in awe of the beauty of this game. Top notch!

Rating:
Summary: American McGee's Alice Review
Review: American McGee's Alice is a brand new story of "Alice In Wonderland". When Alice was a little girl, her house cought fire and she was put in a mental hospital so she wouldn't kill herself. (Because her parents died in the fire.) She somehow falls through a wormhole into Wonderland. She is greeted by the white rabbit, who has changed alot, along with the chesher cat. Somthing has gone terribaly wrong. Somehow, Wonderland has become all evel. It is up to Alice (you) to journey through the lands and defeat the red queen. This game is rated "M" for mature users. This game is a violent thriller and has you leaning on the edge of your chair. I highly recomend this game!

Rating:
Summary: A good game but still falls short.
Review: The main reason I bought this game was because of the Alice in Wonderland theme. I must admit, I'm a sucker for anything dealing with Lewis Carroll's classic story. Plus, I do like playing games--especially computer games.

So the question is did Alice live up to the hype? Yes and no. Is it as good or as bad as people claim? Well, both.

The object of the game is simple: save Wonderland. Alice returns to Wonderland--a more dark, twisted Wonderland than she knew before. It is now ruled by the evil Queen of Hearts. Alice must destroy the Queen and bring Wonderland back to it's natural glory.

I found McGee's vision of Wonderland fantastic. I think the best adaption I've seen. Way better than the fluffy Disney verison. The characters are even more mad than they were before. Instead of just "harmless" madness, it's now to the point where the madness is just...well, murder. We meet farmilar characters such as the Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dee and Dum, the Catepillar, and even the beloved With Rabbit.

The graphics and sound are superior. Nice, dark jingles that run through the game as you discover Wonderland. And the graphics...whoa. What can I say? Wonderful! At times you just have to look around and enjoy the view. Maybe even Carroll would approve, eh?

But where there are pros, there are cons. I must agree with the the people and critics that say this game is too linear. And this is from a person who prefers linear games! But...at times I do like to rack my brain, get lost, or have to think of a way out of a sitution. In this game you don't do that. You go here, you go there. A to Z. You don't have to really think as you progress. There are no secrets worlds, no extra places to go, no extra weapons/objects, no altnerative endings or paths, none of that (or very, very little of it). Once you finish Alice, that's it. Nothing else to do. Nothing else to see. Put the game in the drawer.

The game boasts puzzles on the box and hinting on a challenge but I found none. The very few puzzles they had were average at best. This is if you don't include jumping puzzles--which are a pain in this game. Not as bad as Tomb Raider but bad enough. Let me tell you a secret: you will die more often falling off cliffs than you die in combat.

Basically, it's your choice. If you're looking for this game to be revolutionary with hours and hours of fun gameplay, it's not. If you're looking for a game with good graphics and sound that presents you with a fun, creative adaption of Alice in Wonderland, this game for you.

It's a toss up.

Rating:
Summary: Deserves better than 5 stars.
Review: If you're looking for a challenging adventure with an adult sense of humor try American McGee's Alice. The graphics are great. I think the soundtrack alone is worth the price. In fact it's available on CD. And there's plenty of replayability and the game play is quick to learn. But what really sets this fantastic game apart is its bizarre setting and demented storyline. In this Wonderland madness is real, the gore is audible and the killing can get fast and furious. There's only a handful of weapons to choose from which are earned as you go along so moving and strategy play an important part in your survival. In other words, you can't always just stand back and blast away. In fact, the main weapon is a butcher knife. Lots of hacking!...
Note: There is now a movie in planning based on this game to be directed by Wes (Nightmare on Elm Street) Craven.

Rating:
Summary: American McGee's Alice Review
Review: I have never layed an "M" game before, and when I first played this game, I never wanted to stop it was so much fun! American McGee's Alice is a brand new story of "Alice In Wonderland". When Alice was a little girl, her house cought fire and she was put in a mental hospital so she wouldn't kill herself. (Because her parents died in the fire.) She somehow falls through a wormhole into Wonderland. She is greeted by the white rabbit, who has changed alot, along with the chesher cat. Somthing has gone terribaly wrong. Somehow, Wonderland has become all evel. It is up to Alice (you) to journey through the lands and defeat the red queen. This game is rated "M" for mature users. This game is a violent thriller and has you leaning on the edge of your chair. I highly recomend this game!

Rating:
Summary: Great story & mood. Poor combat & puzzles.
Review: Good:

The story of McGee's Alice is wonderfull, it's a great adaptation of the original story. When I first read the original stories, I always saw a very dark and twisted world that laid right beneath the one presented, such that any sane person would quickly succumb to the maddness. The only reason Alice didn't was because she accepted everything completely. This game plays as someone experiencing Alice's point of view, and she forces us to accept this very dark world.

The graphics are simply gorgeous. Everything from the level design down to the graphics are very detailed and varied, really setting a great mood for every level in the game.

Special bonus goes out to the best looking Cheschire cat I've ever seen.

Bad:

Missing from the game that I loved in the books is the twisted logic and puzzles. This game is all set and ready to be a great puzzle game, the only thing it's missing are the great puzzles. The few parts of the game that required thought were very simple.

Without good puzzles, we're left with the rest of the adventuring game to compensate. Oh boy.

The action itself is very repetative. The weapons are very fun to fool around with, but once you get past the creativity, they aren't that much fun to fight with. The enemy AI isn't anything to brag about. Combine all this with fairly simple areas to fight in, requiring minimal to no tactical considerations, combat gets boring fast.

Finally, the controlls can get fustrating. They aren't the most intuitive or consistent between aspects of gameplay, and don't have any creativity put into them.

Ending recomendation:
If nothing else, it's good to at least play a couple levels. If you enjoy creative and original graphics, you certainly won't mind extended extended play. If you love Carroll, you'll find a lot of enjoyment in this game. If you could care less about Carroll or the graphics, then this game probably isn't for you.