Rating: Summary: What's promised is what's delivered: Good Mindless Fun Review: If you've done a bit of reasearch you should know before you buy whether or not "Alice" is your thing. Only those who leap before they look will be disappointed.Alice is a fairly straightforward game in a fantastic, unconventional setting. While the gameplay is fairly linear, the places you'll go and problems you'll encounter are utterly unpredictable. One moment you're flying over thermal vents in an underground factory to reach your objective--the next you're reduced to the size of a pebble and are following a tortoise (sans shell) through an underwater paradise--and not too long after that you'll be converted to a knight in a black and white "pale realm" of battling chesspieces. Each level offers its own set of stunning vistas and strange sights--the only sad part is sometimes you're moving too fast to take it all in. Most of the arguments against the game are neither here nor there, in my opinion. If you want a strong story/plot, get Deus Ex or The Longest Journey. If you want multiple outcomes, get a sim or strategy game. But if you just want to sit back & hack & slash your way through an accutely imagined wild, weird world, "Alice" is just the ticket. The game's even more entertaining if you've read the original "Alice" books upon which the game is based--nearly all the major characters make some sort of appearance, often in surprising ways. My problems w/Alice are relatively minor. It's true that Alice's graphic-processing needs outclass those of a lot of machines. My computer's got a hardwired 3D accelerator that won't accept fogging effects, which meant that all moving objects on several levels appeared as blank outlines. After flailing about for a solution for several days, I finally turned to a customer chat board on EA Games' own site for the (rather simple) solution. The puzzles are relatively simple in theory (which is fine by me; I'd rather not spend several days trying to figure 'em out) but in execution can be hard, esp. the many various leaping & jumping trials. You'll want to liberally use the quicksave feature to get through them. Finally, the enemy AI's pretty lame. For the most part everyone just comes running at you, pell-mell, into your vorpal blade or whatever, the moment you come into view. Ah, well. But otherwise--I'm enjoying the heck out of this game. Nuff said.
Rating: Summary: Well done but tiresome game Review: This game is designed for people who like to slice and dice their way through to the end. It is bloody and twisted. If that is the type of game you like then what are you waiting for? However, if you like games that have more of a plot to them (or any plot) and try to appeal to your intellect even a little then avoid this one. I'm not saying the game is bad. It's not. In fact, technically, it's superb. But if you don't go for this type of game then you will be disappointed. Also, the hardware requirements are rather steep. Mega amounts of RAM, a special high end video card and over 500MB of hard disk space are required.
Rating: Summary: Alice: The Version You've NEVER Seen Review: To sum it up, this game is awesome. The characters, the graphics, the warped-lullaby soundtrack, the twist on a familiar tale, everything. If you haven't played this game yet, you really need to -- especially if you are a fan of the original book and don't mind a bit of gore and a dark story. If you can run Quake on your machine, this one will work too. As for the guy complaining about it not being for Windows 2000, fret not -- the game runs just as well (if not better) under Windows 2000. I and several other people play this one in Win2K all the time, so go ahead and pick it up. Once you get used to the gameplay the story really draws you in, and you can almost forget about the game's faults. It's easier if you have a really fast computer, but is still great on the "less than new" machines...just turn down the detail settings and maybe lower the screen resolution. Anyway, if you haven't played this game, give it a chance, and I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I did!
Rating: Summary: All Style, No Substance Review: While the thought of playing a psychopathic twisted horror version of Alice in WOnderland appealed to me at first, it quickly became tiresome. Surely the original story is twisted and psychopathic enough and this version tries very hard to disturb players but it's plot just goes nowhere. When I loaded up this game I expected some sort of stunning adventure, only to be greeted by what seemed to be a first-person action game, such as Thief or Unreal...but no...it wasn't that either. It was 3rd person in the style of Tomb Raider. As I started meeting NPCs I realized where I've seen this interface before:games like Banjo Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, Zelda and other N64 and Playstation platform adventure games...which is just what Alice is...a spooky platform game. Platform games being what they are, they are obsessed with coming up the most difficult way for the player to jump from point a to point b so that you can then get on with the story. After the 23rd time of falling off the checkerboard, you finally make it and are allowed to proceed with the story. But what story? There isn't a very strong one. You are just lead by the nose and it isn't even very interesting. Just lots of fighting cards and flying spectre things. I must admit this game IS indeed visually stunning. I absolutely love the cheshire cat. He floats in and ouut of the game quite eerily and his voice is perfect. The scenery and odd backgrounds of vortexes, huge stacks of books, and such are used to try and make the player a bit uncomfortable or spooked and yes they do their job...but in the process, though, we are not given anything interesting or challenging to do except for jumping from point a to point b 23 times. I was very disappointed with the "puzzles" presented. Nothing was really a challenge but merely an entrance to the next test of patience. To give the game credit, the graphics are impeccable, the gameplay (running, jumping, etc) is flawless and easy to pick up, and the mechanics of the game flow very smoothly. It's just a pity that the creator saved all the fun for himself.
Rating: Summary: a word from a less experienced game player Review: Since I am not experienced at Quake or any of McGee's other games and have scored little success in the past with most of the other problem solving yet aesthetically beautiful games on the market I wanted to add my two cents to the review poll. I wanted this game because I love Alice In Wonderland and am a sucker for beautiful graphics. I was not disappointed on either level. I must admit however, that I am feeling fairly inadequate reading all the reviews that tell me this is a really simple game to play. For me, even though I bought the accompanying strategy guide I've had to do and redo each scenario until I got it right, even now days later I am still on level three and am desperately trying to move forward...last night I had poor Alice running in circles as she catapulted across windy chasms. It would not have surprised me if she hadn't turned around, looked at me and screamed "enough already" as she wielded her knife angrily in my direction. The most frustrating thing as a novice is having to listen to the characters speeches again and again as I try to get it right...I'm wondering if there's a way around that too. Still I am drawn to this game. I am anxious to work my way through the levels, solve the puzzles and see the rest of the graphics in this game. I am envious of the game-players who have found this game easy, predictable and "ho-hum" average because of it's linear capacities. ... ... ::::shrinking away in a level of self-pity and inadequacy::::
Rating: Summary: Alice Rules! Review: Alice is a highly addictive and amazing game! As Alice, you are drawn into the surreal and visually stunning world of Wonderland. Travel through familiar landscapes, enjoy the haunting music, interact with many of your favorite characters, and fight the hordes of evil creatures set upon Wonderland by the Queen of Hearts. Alice is several years older now, and has been called by her friends, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat, to save their dying world from the Queen of Hearts' rule. Things certainly have changed, and Alice must use an assortment of toys to fight her way past the Queen's minions, solve puzzles, and explore this fascinating world. Truly a remarkable game. While gameplay may seem too simple for such a place, it is still fun and intriguing and worth it just to see the land American McGee has laid out.
Rating: Summary: errr....DOESNT SUPPORT NT or 2000???? Review: ok now, if they want me to play this game make it for 2000 alright because me/98 just plain ol' sucks and if you dont have 2000 you should get it. So someone tell EA to make alice for 2000.
Rating: Summary: Much Better than Worse Review: I origionally heard about AmericanMcGee's ALICE in an older PC Gamer mag that was doing interviews w/ several known game programmers. McGee and his ALICE being one of the spotlights. Origionally the game didnt interest me until months later when I saw it on the shelf, and without thinking twice drew my credit card and swiped away what has become the best $40 I have spent in a while. Anyways, here's what I've found about the game, but first, my system specs: ------------ p4-1.3ghz 128mb 800mhz RDRam Turtle Beach Santa Cruz THX2 compatible sound GeForce 2 GTS 32mb DDR AGP video ------------ The game started out wirh an incredible movie to set the scene, followed by the immediate beginning of the gameplay. Sort of a tutorial by the Cheshire Cat. I had no trouble learning how to play as I just instated my controls that ive been using for years with the Quake series. I found the Movement to be a bit clumbsy, but i cant expect it to move exactly like a first person shooter... since ALICE is in 3rd person. I found the game to be an incredible blend of action, adventure, and story. The graphics were absolutely amazing!! I run it at 1024x768, highest texture detail, and 32bit color depth with almost no frame rate slow downs, but im sure thats due to the system specs. I have been playing like a a jonsin' crackhead for a couple days now.. at least when i can after work and all that good stuff, and I have almost nothing but great things to say about this game. But, I did find a couple things that dont realy affect me due to my system specs, but I thought I'd pass along to the new buyer. ALICE, although seeming to be flawless all around, seems to take AGES! to load from level to level on my high end system, and I came straight out and said to my friend who was sitting behind me "I'd hate to see the load times on your system(k-6 2 450mhz). i normally had to wait a min or 2 for each level to load on my 1.3ghz system, what would it be like on an average system? I dont know, but I can sure say that I wouldnt wanna find out. That so far has been the only thing I have found to pass on about this game on the bad end. Over All, American McGee's Alice is an incredible piece of work, and coming from a hardcore QUAKEsterbator, I can tell all of you that this game does provide a good challenge, as well as plenty of action to keep gamers that are used to fast-paced quake-style action entertained! 4 out of 5 stars only because I have to think of the average end user not having the system i have for doing my 3d graphics rendering. But I'd be willing to wait the load times for the amazing gameplay.
Rating: Summary: Mad Alice Review: This game is stunning. The graphics are fantastic, the sounds are great, the fluidity of the movement is mind-boggling (probably depends on the system used though). I enjoyed it 100%. Some of the movements are tricky but a quick save is provided and should be used often. Bosses are difficult but with some cunning and perserverance a lot of fun. I liked the wierd wacky storyline which was cleared up a lot by reading the Dr's journal that comes with the game. Difinitly take the time to read the journal.
Rating: Summary: Alice In Blunderland Review: This game is visually stunning, and it is based on a great story. When you finish mangling them critters, go back and mangle them again! Maybe Mr. McGee can design an updated version with parallel paths and mathematical puzzles. This is a first class American Made game.
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