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Question: When is a croquet mallet like a Billy club?
Answer: Whenever you want it to be.
American McGees Alice is the delightfully twisted
continuation of Lewis Carols stories. Since Alices last visit,
Wonderland has become dark and twisted under the iron rule of
the tyrannical Queen of Hearts. Alice herself isnt in much better
condition, being half mad from just barely surviving a terrible
tragedy where her house burnt down with her parents in it, and
she herself suffering massive burns. Nevertheless, Alice is called
upon by the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat, who has grown
gaunt and is covered in tattoos, to attempt to save Wonderland.
But Alice is not the first to be called. Many children have come
before her, and all have failed, to be trapped forever in the
madness.
Ok, ok, enough background stuff already, lets talk
game specifics. The game play style is that of a 3rd person shoot
em up, utilizing enhanced Quake III technology, which basically
means that the camera is floating up and behind Alices head.
Alices arsenal of weapons includes a trusty carving knife, and
an assortment of toys ranging from Gambit-styled razor sharp
throwing cards to demon-summoning dice to highly explosive
jack-in-the-boxes. The game attempts to go beyond the
standard shoot em up motif by employing more challenging
obstacles such as mazes and puzzles, with just enough bad guys
to keep you on your toes. Bad guys range from Card Guards to
Ant Soldiers to Fire Imps. End bosses include the
Jabberwocky, the Mad Hatter, and the Duchess, among others
(Ive made it to the Duchess, who ran around chasing me with a
pepper mill, trying to eat me (I found out the hard way about the
being eaten part, hehe)).
Lets see, what else - Graphics. This game takes a hefty
amount of power to play, but the graphics are quite excellent,
and Im not even running it in the highest quality mode. Music-
The music score is done by . . . * checks back of box * . . . Chris
Vrenna, the founding member of Nine Inch Nails. Personally, I
find the soundtrack somewhat lacking. It is rather
unremarkable, and I dont really notice it while playing, so I
guess the bottom line is that while it isnt great, they are nice
enough not to shove it down your throat. Umm, yes. Control.
Controls are easy. The mouse points, WSAD keys move you,
space jumps, and number keys select toy/weapon. It has a very
nice, simple, easy to use interface.
Other stuff. The dialogue between characters during game
play is hilarious. Both Alice and the Cheshire Cat have sharp
wits and even sharper tongues. It really is quite amusing,
especially if like sarcasm and dry wit. The general twistedness
of the game is also most excellent (and the picture of the Mad
Hatter and Alice having tea absolutely rocks).
Final ratings. As it seems Ill be doing reviews now, Ill
probably be experimenting around with different systems.
(Hmm . . . maybe I could feature a different rating system each
week! No? You dont like that idea? Spoilsport!) For now I
shall use your basic 1-10 scale, 10 being the highest, for
different categories. Lets see:
Graphics: Most Excellent
Sound: Passable
Gameplay: Pretty Good
Replay Value: Average
Difficulty: Challenging
Spiffiness: Most Excellent
Overall: Pretty Darn Good
OK, so I lied. I changed my mind between there and
here. I supposed a Pretty Darn Good would rate around an 8.5
or so, give or take a point. Really though, I like the game
because its twisted. If you go for twisted, youll like Alice.
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