Disturbing by any videogame standards. (American McGee's Alice (PC))

Member Name: Mutalisk

Product:	American McGee's Alice (PC)
Date:	07/03/09 (75 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gripping story, excellent style, really good gameplay, very likeable characters, dark and macabre.

Disadvantages: Graphics are somewhat dated, only a few cinematics.

'Alice' is a third person puzzle adventure platform game by American McGee.

A dark and twisted adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic works, American McGee's Alice uses plot elements of 'Alice in Wonderland' as well as 'Through the looking glass.' Despite not being a big fan of platformers myself, I found this one quite entertaining.

Much of the emphasis in this game seems to be on plot. Following the death of her parents in a house fire, a young girl, Alice, becomes withdrawn and suicidal. She is subsequently placed in a mental asylum where she continues saying nothing comprehensible to anyone, often responding violently to any attempts at interaction. She retreats into a World of her own, Wonderland, where many macabre versions of characters and places seen in Carroll's work are made real. The Cheshire Cat, for example is a mangy, almost skeletal creature with little fur left who guides you through Wonderland, whilst The Mad Hatter is a 15ft tall psychotic abomination who bisects Hare and keeps him alive in a mechanical torture device in which he loses his sanity and becomes a blithering imbecile.

The game is full of macabre and gory interpretations of events which take place in the novels -- each more unpleasant than the last -- as Alice fights her way past Card-Guards, Bandersnatches and of course, The Jabberwock, in order to free Wonderland (and herself) from The Queen of Hearts' reign of terror. The game has eight weapons including a deck of cards which slice and dice through enemies, a croquet mallet and the old faithful kitchen-knife, which can be thrown at, or used to eviscerate your foes.

The game uses the standard 3D platformer environment seen in games like Soul Reaver or Tomb Raider.

It seems as though the developers have focused more on combat than platform-hopping itself, which many gamers find downright tedious. Often the player has to traverse standard flat levels rather than jumping around and around. There are still some puzzles which are sometimes confusing, but rarely complicated. -- Usually it's harder to work out what to do, than how to do it. The gameplay itself is good and simple (simple Mana and Health bars) but doesn't really bring anything new to the table.

There are a number of levels to the game, with some cool textures and effects. Each time a level is completed it is added to a map of Wonderland, which is seen on the loading screen. Alice is a very long game good for hours and hours of gameplay.

It is worth buying an original copy of the game, rather than the Sold Out edition, as the latter does not come with the manual which contains some very entertaining and disturbing notes on Alice's behaviour in the asylum, written by her doctor.

Much of the ambient, haunting score is composed by both Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson respectively. It works very well with the game and it is always nice to see game developers paying attention to music. It also contains some excellent voice-acting.

The graphics are good for the time, but not as impressive as they were when it came out. It is still perfectly playable though and can be run in all resolutions up to 1680x1050. It can also be played with a joypad should you wish to do so.

I would recommend this game for any fans of platformers, Lewis Carroll, or even just the macabre.

Summary: One of the few highly playable 3D platformers.