Chickaroo Reviews - American McGee's Alice (PC / PS3)

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chickaroo1
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Chickaroo Reviews - American McGee's Alice (PC / PS3)

Post by chickaroo1 »

You think you know the true tales of Wonderland? You think it’s all sunshine and fun under the sun? 10 years later, let’s take a trip down that rabbit hole again…Game: American McGee’s Alice
Systems: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac OS, OS X
Release Dates: PC: 12/5/00
PS3 / 360: 6/14/11 (NA, bundled with Alice: Madness Returns as an online pass / free DLC)
Developers: Rogue Entertainment
Back to Wonderland…
Story: Taking place after Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Alice Liddle witnesses a house fire, with her family inside of the house, killing them off. Alice starts to suffer from survivor’s guilt and her grip on reality starts to slip away. She is then sent to the Rutledge Asylum for ten whole years. Now at the age of 18, Alice is sent back to Wonderland where it is now corrupted by her own insanity. Can she save her sanity and Wonderland?
Enter the Mind of the Insane
Gameplay: The game is pretty much set in Alice’s mind. The game is also set up as a third-person action game using the Quake III Arena engine, a game American McGee worked on previously. By using the mouse (or the right analog stick), you can aim your weapon and move Alice around. And using the WASD keys (or the left analog stick), makes Alice strafe. So basically, it’s hard to see Alice from the front as you pretty much get to only see her back side. Jumping is very floaty sometimes. Alice’s jump is like a moon-jump. You better be careful when you jump and that you don’t jump too far.
There are many weapons to use. The first weapon that you get (which is now a staple to the series) is the Vorpal Blade, a bloody knife that Alice holds in the box art for this game and Madness Returns. By using the little glowing dot that is always in front of you, if you point it on front of an enemy, it locks on to them and you can then use your weapon on them to slice and dice them. The weapons themselves are pretty unique too. Ranging from playing cards, billy clubs, and other toys to “play with”. This game can be pretty hard sometimes too. Checkpoints are rare so if you die, you will start over at the beginning of the level or a previous savepoint. So the game can be pretty tough sometimes, especially since it’s hard to lock on to enemies sometimes, making you miss your aim.
Industrial and Gritty
Graphics: The graphics here still hold up a tad bit to this day. Some of it still looks a bit dated, especially Alice’s look and that some of the models seem a bit stiff. I'm sure it looked good at the time. American McGee even said he wouldn't mind a graphical update to this game.
Toy Box of Doom
Music: The music here has a crazy demonic sound behind it. Heck, some of the music was made with actual toys, clocks, doors and female voices that sound demonic, laughing, crying and or singing. It’s creepy and chilling. And it’s very good. It captures the insanity of Alice perfectly.
Music is composed by Chris Vrenna.
Can You Escape the Madness?
Overall: I love this game. It’s pretty good. To this day, it’s a little dated but it’s such a joy to go back to this game. 2000’s games amuse me. Ever since the game’s release, it’s gained a cult following and in 2011, a sequel came out...and boy did things get crazy.
4 / 5
kadosho
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Post by kadosho »

I think the sequel tried to adapt as much as the first game pulled off. It was insane to even make it to the end, and find out the game wasn't quite over. Curious if this series might continue
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