American McGee's Alice

[LegatoSkyheart]

Well we all know the stories of Alice in wonderland and most of her adventures that makes the story appealing to kids but what happens if it gets a dark touch? well were gonna find out on this review.

McGee Alice is a third-person action game released for the PC. The game, is set in an alternative universe of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

The Story

Shortly after her second adventure, Through the Looking-Glass(its a sequel to the book ''Alice in wonderland''), Alice's house is burned down by an accidental fire, killing her family, and leaving her as the only survivor. As time progresses Alice loses touch with reality. She is institutionalized in Rutledge Asylum, where she is observed and treated by Dr. Heironymous Wilson. Alice's only possession in Rutledge is a stuffed rabbit. Ten years after Alice was committed to Rutledge, she finds herself sucked back into a Wonderland that has been twisted by her own broken mind. The White Rabbit summons Alice to aid a radically altered Wonderland, which became a twisted version of itself as it came under the horrible rule of the Queen of Hearts. The Cheshire Cat serves as Alice's companion throughout the game, frequently appearing to guide her with cryptic comments.

Gameplay:

on the gameplay it self it feels like an platforming adventure you gotta get from point A to point B to clear the stage, but you will find yourself fighting Card Guards, Grim reapers and whole bunch of other freaks and nightmares that haunt wonderland. the controlls in this game are the Simple FPS controls WASD for movement, the mouse for camera view, left click for primary function of your weapon and right click for second function and spacebar for jump but you can adjust the controls to your liking. now when you start off you get a knife in which it will be pretty useless once you get another weapon although im surprised on how alice managed to kill guards with spears in which they have a longer range....with a knife but anyway moving on. as for power ups in the game there is only one i believe and its very hard to spot its called ''The Essence of rage'' that bottle represents all the rage alice has kept inside her heart and once she unleashes it all hell will break loose you automatically turn into this demon version of alice in which you can run super fast, jump super high and most enemies will explode and die in one hit. but keep in mind there are many few of these bottles in the game so its best to keep a sharp eye out for them especially when you are facing a huge mob of enemies.

later on in the game you will find more weapons to add to your arsenal but later on the enemies will be more difficult to kill so you might want to get used to switching weapons and use them to their fullest potential. as for the games difficulty its pretty descent enough to satisfy the new gamer and the hardcore gamer. although your worst enemies in the game will be the grim reapers and....the rope in which you use to climb up things. the reapers fly at random directions in which it can be hard to take a shot at them and their scream of death can sometimes bounce you off all over the room and if you are in a platforming stage that can lead to your downfall. as for the boss fights you will find yourself fighting different characters from the story like twiddle dee and dum, the mad hatter and the queen of hearts although going straight up brawling with them will be the poorest choice so you'll have to stop and think on what you are going to do. although the combat animations look a little sluggish.

also the game has a save anywhere function so you can stop and take a break at any time but the only time the game will auto save will be at the beginning of each stage or at the end of a boss battle so if you die somewhere in between you will have to start over or from where you killed the boss so save often. the game also has puzzles but they are a little cryptic even though you have chesshire cat to give you advice sometimes his words don't make any sense so you will probably end up looking up the solution on the internet

Graphics

For a game that was released on the year 2000 i could say they could have been a little better even if you max the quality settings you will sometimes find some polygons here and there. although you will probably enjoy the twisted sites that are in wonder land in which they are all well done

Sound:

All of the music created for the official American McGee's Alice soundtrack was written and performed by Chris Vrenna. Most of the sounds instrumental in which they used toy instruments and percussion, music boxes (in a short documentary about the making of the game that appeared on TechTV, the music box used appears to be an antique Fisher-Price music box pocket radio), clocks, doors, and sampled female voices were manipulated into nightmarish soundscapes, including instances of them laughing maniacly, screaming, crying, and singing in an eerie, child-like way these sounds gave the game the nightmarish landscape it represents.

Extras:

Well there's not much to look for here except the 2 hidden weapons the Eye Staff and the Blunderbuss, the eye staff is scattered in pieces through out the game so you have to look for them and there is no going back once you pass a stage. and the blunderbuss is a little tricky to get but its worth getting as its the most powerful weapon in the game.

Games ups and downs

Up:

-A dark take on the Alice in wonderland franchise so expect to see some survival horror elements and good story.

-Challenging difficulty

-Large variety of weapons

-Good Sounds

-ability to save anywhere at anytime

-easy to pick up controls and their adjustable

-the game does not require much ram power, processor speed or hard drive space. even with 1gb of ram and a 1.00GHZ processor you can run this game on max quality settings and get no in game lag what so ever.

Down:

-Cryptic puzzles

-some platforming stages can be a little frustrating

-combat animations can be sluggish

-graphics could have been better for a game of its time

-not much to do after you finish the game except play it on nightmare mode but you wont get anything for clearing the game on that difficulty setting.

Overall:

mgee's alice will satisfy some gamers and will frustrate some its not a good game or a bad game but a pass, although getting your hands on this game legit will cost you alot since the game is worth over 500 usd's on ebay yes this is one of those rare games. but anyway if you manage to get your hands on this game give it a shot

Twilights Extra's:

SEQUEL

Release date: June 14 2011.(if you buy this game you will get a code in which allows you to download the game i just reviewed)

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR5CoDoVfYc&feature=fvwrel

Gameplay:

http://www.ea.com/al.../alicegameplay1

~twilightknight~

[LegatoSkyheart]

Quick! Get this for $8 at Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_359853422_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000768951&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0RQ8M4NWF0DJY791CZZ3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1345113402&pf_rd_i=2445220011

[Ultiɱℯciɑ]

Just got it as bonus with the sequel, Madness Returns

[LegatoSkyheart]

Oh snap. I thought this was Madness Returns. lol The Sale is actually over now, but I got it and can't wait to play.