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American McGee's Alice

American McGee's Alice

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An incredibly beautiful game with emphasis on the surreal
Review: The initial concern I had with this game is the potential controversy this title could generate. On the cover you're seeing a bloodstained little girl wielding a knife and lately the game companies have been churning out FPS games that rely more on excessive gore and satanic references than anything else. Fortunately, I can say this game is a creepy enough to deserve the "M" rating (definitely not for small children), but the emphasis is on the surreal and the violence is not terribly overdone. Other reviewers report bugs. Visual glitches? Haven't seen any. I have a P266 with 128MB RAM and a Voodoo3. With the settings down to a minimum the game runs fine with the exception of some of the fight scenes where the framerates get choppy. I may have to break down (finally) and upgrade. I think the system requirements Amazon listed are incorrect. I wouldn't suggest getting it unless you have at least a P350, 128MB RAM and a fast video card (3DFX or NVidia).

Visually, this game is chock full of eye candy. Clocks sway back and forth, steam churns out of the chimneys of mushroom houses, and Alice makes her journeys through giant gardens, castles, outer space, and swirling tunnels and passageways reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. Lots of color and lighting effects - I'm going to go out on a limb by saying it's the most beautiful game I've seen yet.

The gang's all here - from the white rabbit to the cheshire cat to humpty dumpty, everyone's been rendered and animated in painstaking detail. Most of the game's characters (and maybe their programmers) have spent less time eating and more of their time in the clubs, tattoo parlors or on drugs as hinted at by the game's L-oad S-ave D-elete screen. The voice acting is well done and the music, infused with a combination of bells, xylophones, and children's wind-up toys, is especially atmospheric. Another nice feature is the super-quick quicksave which easily allows you to return to where you last left off.

The gameplay, on the other hand, is remarkably normal. I spent the first part of the game jumping around on all these places I wasn't supposed to be and tried hacking my way into mushroom houses or into caves and passages I thought I could fit in. Eventually I realized the game plays like your basic linear FPS. The only difference? There's a madness meter that drops based on how much she uses her weapons. If she whacks too many people and it drops to zero, Alice is reduced to just using her knife for reasons I'm still unclear about. There's a sprinkling of puzzles here and there, mostly platform jumping or switch flipping, but nothing too difficult (good!) Overall, I'd have to say the gameplay is probably the weakest point of the game. There just isn't much to do. Quake or Unreal players wanting fast action are going to be disappointed. Instead, you more or less wander from place to place, checking out the scenery, defeating whoever is in the room, then figuring out where to go next.

That's not to say it's not fun to play - at the time of this review it is still one of my top picks and good enough to deserve 4 stars. It's just not one of those games that's going to keep you up all night like Half Life, Civilization or Command and Conquer. Perhaps that's a good thing?

If you want the eye candy, get this game. If you're more into gameplay, check out No One Lives Forever. Hope my review helped!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Killer
Review: This is a great game. I think the graphics are so-so; polygons are pretty obvious. I expect better graphics in a PC game--the graphics in Alice are equivalent to those found in most N64 games. The psychadelic atmospheres are unbelievable. It is an amazing game. The artificial intelligence is decent. The fact that I cannot use a keypad or joystick with this game is annoying. The keyboard/mouse commands are confusing until you get used to them. Aside from the cons--the fact of the matter is that Alice is FUN--FUN FACTOR = 9 out of 10.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: In defense of the game
Review: Level design is unparalleled.... Gameplay could be stronger, but serious gamers should play on the hardest level.... Lesser difficulty will be more than challenging for anyone who doesnt devote their life to playing games.

From what I hear, anyone who complains about glitches and crashes is playing an illegal, pirated, "warez" version of the game and gets what they deserve. I had no such problems with my payed-for version.

Bottomline -- its a lot of fun, which is what a game should be!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: 2 for graphics
Review: When I first heard of this game, I was looking forward to it. By the time I had played it, I was really disappointed. The AI is horrible, and there are glitches all over. There's not much else to the game but the graphics... probably the best use of the Q3 engine yet, but graphics can't carry a game. American McGee should have stuck with level design, he's obviously way over his head here.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Alice is surreal at it's best
Review: The graphics and action will keep you on the edge of your seat

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent 3rd Person Title
Review: Generally third person action titles have some serious gameplay problems, but to my surprise Alice avoids these and as a result is one of the best single player experiences I have had since Half-Life and System Shock 2.

THE BAD: To get straight to the point, Alice is a fun game that I recommend for any FPS or 3rd-person Action/Adventure fan. So why didn't I give it a 5? First off, I for one have become used to great replay value on PC titles through multiplayer, something that Alice lacks. Half-Life was a 5 even if it had no multiplayer, Alice isn't quite that good. My other big problem with Alice is that, even though as I said earlier it generally avoids the gameplay problems 3rd person games usually have, it doesn't avoid them entirely. The auto-jump feature is nice but not practical during combat or for longer jumps, which can sometimes turn jumping into a chore. There were also a few level-specific gameplay problems none of which are worth mentioning alone, but combined take away a little enjoyment from the game. Also, the enemy AI is no better than average.

THE GOOD. Alice has a pretty good storyline which is a logical extension of the classic story, and the help of the Cheshire Cat was a nice touch. While the animation is only OK, I really liked the artwork, textures and models in this game. The surreal Wonderland environment is great as are its denizens, and the level design is perhaps the best thing about this game. With few exceptions the levels are very original and well-designed. Alice is about adventure just as much as (probably more than) action, and the weapons were designed accordingly. No railguns or rocket launchers here, but instead magic items with two firing modes for some variety. All the weapons use the same type of magical ammo (mana?), which is another nice touch to distinguish this game from the pack.

As for system requirements, Alice uses the Quake 3 engine and performs very similarly to that game. The minimum system requirements on the box, 400mhz/16mb RAM/16mb video card, are probably a little higher than necessary except in the RAM department. Of course you will have to turn the resolution down to 640x480 and turn the texture detail down if you want to play Alice on a computer close to the minimum requirements.

Basically, if you don't mind putting down some cash for a good single-player only action/adventure game, then Alice is for you. Go get it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This game begs to be played
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good game w/ great graphics
Review: I have to say that I am judjing this game from the demo. This game has some of the best graphis that I have ever seen. The fire looks great and the swaying clocks look extremely real. One thing I just have to bring up is that I do not think that it is all that viloent, and it recieved a "m". Another wierd thing its that whenever you kill a card it always gets cut in the same place, no matter where you attack it. I is also cheap how when your your enemies die they shrink and dissapare. The sound is great and the music is scary. Overall it is a good game.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Beautiful but annoying
Review: The character and landscape models and textures are beautiful, no doubt. But the AI is often brainless, the character movement is awkward and sometimes gets stuck, the character animations are avg to stiff, visual glitches are more common than they should be, and overall gameplay is just disappointing. Looks like another product was rushed out the door for those infamous Christmas sales figures, and quality be damned.

If you're expecting what the Alice theme implies.. clever puzzles, witty prose, novel adventures, and so forth... look elsewhere. The *idea* of this game is excellent, as is the artwork, but the gameplay is no better than a pointless B-grade 3rd person shooter.

Disappointing, because I really had such high hopes for this game.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely engrossing.
Review: A masterpiece. Every aspect of the game - music, sound, graphics, mood, gameplay, story - is top notch. American McGee has captured Alice's insane wonderland and made it that much more so. The quake 3 engine has never looked so good. Move over Lara, Alice is here.


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