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Highly reccomended.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: October 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Okey, the graphics are now somewhat dated. A lot can change in 6 years, but they're quite tollerable & very fun to look at. When I read previews for the upcomming Bioshock & old reviews on Grim Fandango; they reminded me of this. It's part 3ed Person Shooter & mostly adventure. There really aren't enough AI to stand in your way earlier on. You biggest & moct consistant danger throughout the game is falling to your death. Latter you'll have to deal with drowning, being eaten, & being squished by gigantic projectiles. Unlike most fighting games, the environment is you're worst & most challenging enemy. Despite limited exploring you may still become lost. If you play RTS games & find smothering same-looking enemies over & over to become boring, don't worry; this can be ammusing & strategicaly stimulating.

The scenery looks so awesome & unique it almost puts the Harry Potter games to shame. The voice acting is excelent & well suiting, though Cheshire's dialogue is vague & a bit cheesy, but the use of riddles stays true to the book. The flame effects are still realistic, there are all sorts of amusing & interesting things to watch like the insane children in the fortress & traveling through an anthill. You get a limited number of weapons but they're unique & each has a basic & a secondary attack, but if you jump, aim at the floor, or point up, you create new attacks that are not only very fun to watch, but can be terribly ammusing. It's reccomended that you develop a strategy using particular weapons against particular enemies or groups vs individuals. Alice will also interact with weapons differntly when left idol.

There are 8 levels, but they can last for days even with it's moderate difficulty (like I said, falling/drowning/being crushed/eaten are your biggest threats & you will likely die again & again). The soundtrack & sound effects are 2 more kudos to the game. Take the time to listen to them. Also, the cut-scenes are watch-worthy, so don't skip over them.

I most reccomend this game to girls, fans of twisted fairy tails, fans of Alice in Wonderland/Looking Glass Land, people who are just starting PC gaming, people who want a soft taste of a shooter game, or someone bored with combat & modern-realistic graphics who just wants a fun game with a good story.

Cons: Bad save; if you die, you'll be jettisoned to the begining of the chapter (thankfully not the begining of the level). While higher levels have more & more difficult enemies; the rose garden maze isn't as fun & challanging as it could have been had it 2 or 3 times as many apponants. Like Dungeon Siege 2; restricted wandering. It'd have been fantastic to explore wonderland with the freedom of traveling off the destined path & becoming hopelessly lost.

American McGee's Oz was sadly scrapped, but look forward to the episodic series; American McGee's Grimm on GameTap by Spicey Horse. If you like the level designs but want to do more shooting, I recommend Serious Sam II; which is a very ammusing game. If you like the uniqueness of the music, I recommend the Tragic Treasury by the Gothic Archies.

Love this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Had a difficult time finding it but glad I did. Its a fantastic FPS with great graphics and grand levels

Wonderland

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are old now, but it was top of the line at it's release. Fighting is easy... main problem I had was falling off stuff. Overall: music, story, and characters are very interesting. I'm a big fan of American Mcgee, and I can't wait for Oz to come out. Alice is definitely worth buying. It's super cheap. You won't regret it. ^_~

Original, Twisted & Unforgettable

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: April 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Yeah, it is older but what a gem. I loved playing this game!

Fun Creepy Remarkable

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

There comes a time for every gamer that when playing the same genre of games becomes boring. As we become less sensitive to more of the same FPS, RTS, RPG's, we begin to look for games that offer an utterly new and novel experience.

Alice is such a game, and it will make the most jaded gamer feeling stimulated and engaged. Its graphics are old (made in 2000), yet it is good enough that many parts of it seem to rival more recent games like Microsoft's Fable; its graphic relies more in ingenious design rather than technological breakthroughs. The story draws you in from the beginning right away, it's a highly nightmarish journey through a distorted Wonderland to the final confrontation with the Red Queen. Like other thematic games such as Half Life 2, the final boss presents itself subtly at the very beginning by having its evil web of tentacles laid throughout Wonderland (much like the cloud-penetrating Citadel in HL2). The cut-scenes, dialogs are very poetic, and reflect the tone and the theme of the story very well.

Wonderland is merely a fabrication of Alice's childhood imagination, but an familial accident left her numb and comatose that her mind is deeply disturbed. The Wonderland the gamer will play through will accentuate all of Alice's negative and disturbing feelings and emotions such as anger, guilt, and most of all fear. Such themes alone make the game worthwhile, and further emphasizes to the average Joe like me how catastrophic and crippling these negative emotions can be. But like i said, the graphic, sound, and playability are all outstanding.

Surreal and Moody

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm perfectly happy with the game. It plays really well, and the character design is ver interesting. The design for the settings are also pretty fascinating. It's so surreal and dark, I can't help but love it. Plus, the premise is pretty cool. I haven't finished the game yet, but it seems like it's sort of a journey to make Alice sane again through fixing her Wonderland.

One of the best games of the year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 82 / 88
Date: December 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have to admit, before I played this game, I really didn't think that much of it. Good third-person games on the PC are few and far between. Sure, we have MDK2, F.A.K.K. 2 is alright, and Rune is a nice title, but there aren't many great third-person games on PC. All of this changes with Alice.

Alice has a winning combination of great graphics (thanks to the power of the Quake 3 engine) and wonderful gameplay. I'll start off with the graphics. The textures are highly detailed, and perfectly fit the atmosphere of the game, which is dark. However, what really makes this game shine is the originality and detail of the levels. Each level is much different from any other. You'll walk on huge chess boards rendered in black and white, where you Alice will be the only thing of color on the screen. You'll go through castles that have clocks that sway from side to side. Other places will have tables flying and twirling all about. No other game has levels quite like Alice, and no other game has the originality of Alice. I suppose the best way to describe it would be a 3D Castlevania game done right.

Now onto gameplay. The problem with most third-person games is that many leaps of faith are required. Jumps become tiresome and just plain hard. Alice avoids this with a very nice "lock-on" jump system. You'll land right where you want to. It is a great addition, and jumps never seem tedious. The combat is quite a bit similar to Rune's. Most weapons are melee, but there are some projection weapons. All weapons have a secondary fire, which usually projects something. The game also has a "lock-on" system for combat, which avoids the frustration of continually missing an enemy.

Alice also has quite a few nice touches that make the gameplay more enjoyable. There is a cat character (the one on the cover, standing right next to Alice) who helps you out on your journey. He only speaks in riddles, which gives him a nice personality. The sound is quite nice, and you're in for a real treat if you have a Soundblaster Live! card. The music is great, and perfectly fits the game.

Another thing that makes Alice great is its atmosphere. If you just look at the pictures, you'd think that the game tries to induce nightmares. This is very wrong. The atmosphere is more...well, it is hard to describe, but you should have no problem playing it with the lights off. I guess you could say that the game really "feels" like Wonderland. Great job by the developers there.

The game run's nicely on my middle of the road P3 500 MHz with 128 megs of RAM, and a now outdated TNT card.

The bottom line: this game does to third-person action/adventures what Half-Life did for first-person shooters. Get it now. If you can't get it now, make sure it is the first thing on your want list for the Holidays.

This game begs to be played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 44 / 47
Date: December 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I was stunned that American McGee announced the game a while back. I've been waiting anxiously for months for this game to be released and here it is! The story takes place after "Through the Looking-Glass". When Alice returns from Wonderland, no one believes that she has been there and is placed into an insane asylum (exactly the same thing that happens to Dorothy from OZ). It's not long before the White Rabbit pays her a visit and tells her she must return to Wonderland because the Red Queen has taken over again. So back down the rabbit hole she goes but, to Alice's surprise, Wonderland is no longer the same place she remembers. It's darker and more dangerous than before. Cheshire returns to accompany Alice on her trip (Cheshire actually acts like a Dæmon, similar to a witch's black cat) and gives her tips. And like Wonderland Cheshire's health is in question, skin hanging off of his bones, nasty tattoos, a pirate's earring and bad teeth makes Cheshire one very nasty looking cat. Of course the rest of the characters have fallen on hard times as well. Mad Hatter sports gears in his body, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum look like they've been dead for a few days, White Rabbit looks like he should be in the asylum. Wonderland also sports several new funky characters like giant oversized Ants, nasty fire Imps, and flying Jabberspawn (don't ask).

The game sports very nice dark brooding graphics suitable to Wonderland. The controls are very nice and solid given time to get used to the unusual third person view. (This is the same view and control found in Rune and MDK2) The levels are nice and detailed, however, I wonder why better use of curved surfaces is not utilized, since the Alice engine is based on the fantastic Quake 3 engine. Interestingly enough, the same curved surfaces are in use during the "Psychedelic" levels with twisting and warping backgrounds and what not. (I recommend a bucket next to the PC if you suffer from motion sickness.) All of these special effects require hefty PC power.

The PC requirements are bit steep, but no worse then when Unreal was first released. Follow them like the bible since fine tuning Alice is very difficult. I'm also severely disappointed that the advanced features are poorly documented and that some of the advanced command issues do not work (strangely enough). And worse, Alice does NOT come with a level editor, this alone shortens the life of Alice down to mere months. A very unusual move since American McGee did work at ID software and knows the value of throwing in the editing package along with the game. (look at games like Doom, Quake I, II, III, Half-Life, Unreal, and Rune)

The minor drawbacks do little to outweigh the game as whole, get the game or "borrow" your friend's. You'll certainly enjoy the game. If not, well . . . You're too old to be playing games. You should be sitting on your couch reading the media's latest attack on violent games and how it causes the youth of America (snicker) to be violent.

Even Better Than We Hoped...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 31 / 37
Date: December 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I will keep this simple. This review is based on the demo released December 2. The graphics are unbelievable and just what were promised in the trailers and screenshots. You can do so much with the Quake 3 engine, and this proves it. The music is creepy and sets a perfect mood. This is similar in atmosphere to Sanitarium, released in 1998, but the gameplay is smoother and the story much more inviting. The weapons are minimalist, but effective. This is not a place for rocket-launchers and railguns. The Cheshire Cat is your smarmy guide, perhaps a bit bitter. You already know these characters, and though the twist that has afflicted Alice and Wonderland is severe and dark, it is not beyond probability. Alice has to grow up. Wonderland did not cease when she left. The Red Queen didn't rest easily. Go. Look at the box, it practically says "BUY ME" ...

A brilliant whirlwind of graphic artwork

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: May 02, 2001
Author: Amazon User

...NEVER have I seen a game that has so totally moved me. From the graphics, to the incredible 3D rendering to the haunting minor-key music, this Victorian-Gothic fantasy come to life will literally keep you in awe. (No kidding -- I showed my friend last night and when I turned around to see her reaction her mouth was literally open and she was speechless.) The music, the scenery and the graphics play so much like a twisted dream that you can't decide if you'd rather watch or play -- great indication of a good game.

This game is made somewhat like Quake (in fact, it's by the people who made Quake,) and the storyline is supposed to be a third chapter of the "Alice in Wonderland" novel series, only this is more of a very dark twist. Technically, after rereading "Alice in Wonderland," I can see how McGee looked at it from an insane perspective for the story could be perceived that way. Alice is witness to the untimely deaths of her parents in a house fire and quite simply, loses it. She winds up in a Victorian insane asylum and your objective as Alice is to help her regain her sanity by defeating the red queen and rescuing Wonderland from the dark depths it has fallen into. VERY dramatic, very well done and very, very mind blowing.

From the concept alone I could write volumes, but American McGee (who is the designer of the game) literally captured the perception of insanity in this game with this fantastic imagination. From the furniture floating in space outside the windows as you run by, to the insane children punching themselves and giggling but being unaware of your presence, to the vast maze of mirrors that is simply that -- a maze of mirrors for you to find your way out it is literally DISTURBING, which makes it brilliant. True artwork intrigues the viewer and this is a masterpiece of the senses.

The game itself is chock full of adventure. There are puzzles and mazes galore as well as plenty of "weapons" to use against the baddies consisting of floating, screaming Boojums and cards of every suit with powerful weapons around every corner. The weapons that you find are toys with a diabolical twist (a jack-in-the-box that explodes, dice that conjure a demon to assist you and eventually a musket that blows anything away within the first 300 feet in front of you, let alone a bloody butcher knife that you begin with. But, this is NOT an easy game. As I said, there are plenty of mazes to start with, dodging the bad guys' weapons is difficult enough on the easy level, but throw in the Cheshire cat giving you clues in riddles in order to figure out what to do, let alone the mazes, and you have a game that is going to take you awhile to get through, but addicted to, nonetheless. Also, the controls, just like Quake, can be custom set to your own preferences. Plus, while working the game in the third-perspective, there are two helpful additions: first, there is a bright blue laser-type dot to help you lock on your target with weapons. Second, a pair of high-heeled transparent footprints show ahead of her to indicate exactly where she will land if she jumps. Very helpful. (Of course, if you're the impatient type, you can find the cheat codes on the internet.)

Probably the best part of the game would be it plays like a movie. The polite, but sarcastic conversation about butcher knives and killing between the Cheshire cat and Alice is wild and well written. There are specific characters she has to interact with in order for you to understand what you're looking for, clues that take figuring out and maybe a hint as to something nearby. If you're stuck, the mangy Cheshire cat, with a amazingly calm London British accent, pops up after pressing "c" on your keyboard and throws a hint or explains a new "toy" that you've found with dark sarcastic humor: "52 pickup is a staple of juvenile humor, but when the deck slices and dices, it's no laughing matter..." No kidding. Alice's insanity makes her quite sadistic for when she uses her butcher's knife as a weapon, she literally splatters blood--as well as body parts.

The design of the game's atmosphere is beyond brilliant. Keeping with the Victorian era, the game never steps out of that time period. Look around at any of the "machines" during this late 19th century game and you'll see that everything was thought through concerning the steam-powered machinery and tapestries -- I can't think of a moment where something "modern" was accidentally stuck in. Every bit of this is molded after this particular era giving a stepping-out-of-time feeling. You'll literally "shift" back to reality when you quit the game. :)

The downside to this game is that it is so incredibly high in graphics it needs high speed and high RAM requirements as well as high drive space; you need to have a system that is up to par. I just happen to buy a new system that I had been saving up for, so I had no problem. MAKE SURE you check the requirements because in order to get this type of quality you should have a little more than the minimum requirements or it might be choppy. Don't buy the game if you don't have the minimum requirements and then get ticked off because it doesn't work as well. Good excuse to upgrade your system, but bad idea if you don't have the money to do so.

Alice is quite simply, brilliant. This is a keeper of a game and has made such an impact that Alice's homepage has informed the fans that the rights to a movie have been sold...(I suggest you check out their web page for more graphics and demos as well as teasers -- I have no doubt that this will be considered a classic -- and somehow they'll think of a sequel. Wonderland will literally leave you in awe. I guarantee it. It is dramatic, beautiful, and creepy and will leave you speechless for I still am in awe of the beauty of this game. Top notch!

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