American McGee's Alice
Developer: Rogue
Entertainment Publisher: Electronic
Arts
Reviewed by SailorMur
on 11/2/01
Article
Discussion Forum
First
Impressions:
A
young girl loses her family in a fire and ends up in an insane asylum,
where she is hailed as Wonderland's savior. Clutching her stuffed
bunny, Alice enters the world of Wonderland in her mind. While Lewis
Carroll's Through the Looking Glass and Alice in Wonderland
were certainly not lighthearted tales, American McGee's Alice
brings the creepy world of Wonderland to your computer with violence,
madness and gore.
I was excited to get my hands on the dark game I'd heard so much
about, and was dazzled by the initial graphics and sound. I was
pulled into the world rather quickly by the opening movie and Alice's
plight. I was as interested in learning what American McGee had
done with the plot of children's favorite Alice in Wonderland
as I was seeing what the game itself was like.
Graphics:
The
graphics are really what make this game. I found myself wishing
for a 21-inch monitor so I could take in all the glory that is
Alice. Rogue Entertainment licensed the Quake III Arena
engine from id Software, and they certainly put it to good use.
The levels are breathtaking; the animations perfect. The Card
Guards are wide and flat, and the Cheshire cat is spooky (reminds
me of a Gremlin, actually). The lighting is superb. If you ever
had a vision of Wonderland in your head, this is better, although
probably more warped.
The only downside is that the later levels lose a bit of the earlier
genius. The characters continue to stay inspired and interesting,
but the areas get a bit repetitive.
Sound/Music:
Second
only to the graphics in Alice are the sound and music.
The ambiance of tinkly music boxes and high voiced choirs is from
the mind of former Nine Inch Nails member Chris Vrenna. The mood
is set beautifully through the marriage of visuals and sound:
Alice jumps from mushrooms while the emaciated Cheshire cat grins
at her and gives her advice, as the mood music sends just the
right amount of prickles down your spine.
Gameplay:
I
much prefer games that tell a story to those that just have you
wandering around killin' things. The opening movie sets the scene
very well with the story of Alice losing her family in a fire.
The player (Alice) is then tossed into Wonderland with nothing
but a thin and smarmy cat giving out vague advice. You can hit
a key to get more advice from him, but if he doesn't offer the
help, it's probably not worth doing (unless you just want to hear
him talk, which can be amusing, but it probably won't help your
game play).
Pick up your first "toy" (called "deadly weapon" where I'm from),
a vorpal blade, and you're off! Your rabbit is running ahead of
you, enslaved workers are telling you of their plight, and you
have quests: you must dash through the beautiful and disturbing
world, find the rabbit, and free Alice from insanity.
Alice moves very fluidly, and her friends and enemies are beautifully
animated, with compelling stories to tell (well, those that talk
to her, anyway). The game consists of many jumping games and simple
puzzles as well. Her "toy" list is vast, with almost every toy
having at least two attacks, melee or ranged, enabling you to
attack almost every monster with every weapon.
The ability to use her weapons relies on two bars, strength and
will. Her strength is basically her Life bar, with the game being
over when it is depleted. Her will bar is her sanity, and gives
her the power to use her weapons. Some weapons require little
or no will (you can swing the vorpal blade to your hearts content)
and some deplete it quickly (the blunderbuss will sap your entire
bar, and you have to wait for it to fill back up before using
it again). Since your weapons have no limit (you can throw as
many blades or cards as you want) this is a nice feature to circumvent
Alice becoming stronger than her opponents and throwing off the
balance of the game.
Although American McGee's Alice has the outer shell and
plot details of an adventure game, I felt like I was playing a
third person shooter a lot of the time. Alice's adventures largely
consisted of jumping and attacking the not-very-sophisticated
AI monsters.
Enjoyment:
My
eyes were very happy, as were my ears. The graphics and music
kept me interested for a good amount of time. Then it started
to seep in that the game's design wasn't quite up to par with
the rest of it (though, to be honest, it would be difficult to
design something really worth of those graphics). The design got
a bit repetitive at times, and the less-than-intelligent monsters
lost their intimidation when I discovered I could just run away
and finish the level without worrying about them.
Multiplayer:
N/A
Overall
Impression:
American
McGee's Alice has set the bar very high for developers in
the graphics and sound department. "Just try to make a game as
gorgeous as ours, we dare you," seems to be their taunt. It would
be nice if the game play could rise above average.
Marketing
Efforts Towards Women:
I
know Alice is a girl, but I must say it's very refreshing to have
a person of the female persuasion starring in a game and not having
any sexual overtones. Alice is a girl. Her dress covers all the
parts of her body that a girl's dress is supposed to. This shouldn't
be revolutionary, but it is.
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