'' is a Third Person Shooter Computer Game released on October 6 , 2000 . It was developed by Rogue Entertainment and published, distributed and marketed by Electronic Arts . It was Designed by American McGee , and featured music composed by former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna with contributions from current Marilyn Manson keyboardist Madonna Wayne Gacy . The game is powered by the Quake III Engine .
Set years after '' Alice's Adventures In Wonderland '' and '' Through The Looking-Glass '', ''Alice'' features an older, more cynical and macabre incarnation of Alice .
It seems that shortly after her second adventure, Alice's parents were killed in a fire, and she could do nothing to save them, forced to listen to their screams as she lay in the snow on the yard. Driven Catatonic and having attempted Suicide (note her bandaged wrists), she is Institutionalised in Rutledge Asylum . Years later, Alice is called by the White Rabbit to the aid of a radically altered Wonderland , under threat from the Queen Of Hearts , the evil Despot who has enslaved its people. The Cheshire Cat now looks very little like it once did, emaciated and slightly crazed. The Cat is her constant companion throughout the game, popping up now and again to guide the player or offer advice.
The box art of the game was altered after release, allegedly received by the publisher from various consumer groups. The original box art (shown to the right) shows Alice holding a bloody knife. The altered version has Alice holding the Ice Wand instead. A third version shows Alice holding the Deck of Cards in her hands.
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The game's characters are generally based on the inhabitants of Lewis Carroll 's original novels, but they are not the same characters. Many of the characters are warped incarnations of their original selves. Among the notable:
- of the game. She's a demented, suicidal, regretful Teenager , and the future savior of Wonderland. After a Fire destroys her home and kills her parents, she falls into a Comatose state, and is committed to Rutledge's Asylum. It turns out that she has returned to Wonderland, only to find it wickedly deformed. It is revealed that the Queen of Hearts rules Wonderland with an iron fist, and no mercy in sight. But with the aid of the Cheshire Cat, and a wide arsenal of deadly toys, she must put an end to the Queen's Psychotic Dictatorship , and return Wonderland to its former glory.
- who wears a Waistcoat , carries a Pocketwatch , and is constantly late. He always seems to be way ahead of Alice during the whole time that she follows him. He is killed by the Mad Hatter, but is revived when Wonderland is returned to normal.
- . He often speaks in Riddle s and give a lot of cryptic advice. He has a near- Anorexic appearance, and appears to have undergrown Incisors . He has a tendency to appear and disappear without warning. Near the end of the game, he is murdered by the Queen of Hearts, but he is revived at the end, like the White Rabbit.
- The Troll Elder: A small, wise, elderly Troll that is the leader of the regular citizens of Wonderland when the Queen of Hearts isn't looking. He willingly helps Alice continue following the White Rabbit by giving her a Potion that allows her to shrink. He disappears after that.
- , but she only managed to capture his Shell . The Mock Turtle is rather fond of that shell, so he won't reveal the location of The Caterpillar to Alice unless she retrieves it from the Duchess's cold dead Carcass . After she does that, the Mock Turtle makes Alice an "honorary Reptile ", which allows her to stay underwater for a prolonged time without Drowning .
- (caused by the idea that she could have prevented the deaths of her parents), and overcome her fears. He also acts as the Wonderland Oracle .
- The Chesspieces: The White and Red Chesspieces are caught in an eternal game of Chess , and right now the White Pieces are losing. Their Queen has been captured by the Red Pieces, and is sentenced to death by Guillotine . The White Pieces enlist the aid of Alice to stop this, and give her a White Pawn for as-of-now unknown reasons. But unfortunately, the White Queen is executed before Alice can do anything about it. But then she remembers the pawn, and walks to the red area and uses the pawn to revive the White Queen. The Red King Piece is the third boss of the game.
- Bill McGill: Bill is a lizard Chimney Sweeper who Alice meets just when she is about to confront the Duchess. He complains about the Red Queen's style of housing, and continuously asks Alice for Brandy . Alice is sucked into the Duchess's cottage and Bill runs away screaming.
- , and the Dormouse is drugged regularly, which makes him very sleepy.
- The by the Mad Hatter, but is later freed, allowing him to lead the rebel forces against the Queen. However, he is killed by the Jabberwock , and revived at the end of the game. Though a good fighter, he is considered to be fairly arrogant.
- Ogre who is the first Boss of the game. She is responsible for stealing the Mock Turtle's shell. She loves mock turtle soup with great intensity. So much, in fact, that when she only managed to capture the Mock Turtle's shell, she decided to have it immediately. When Alice arrived in her Cottage , she came out of the Chimney , and calls Alice a "handsome dish". Alice isn't interested in becoming a light Snack to the disgusting cannibal, so she combats the beast, who uses deadly Black Pepper to perform Teleportation , become Invisible , and sprinkle it on Alice as an attack. When her health is depleted, she starts Sneezing excessively, which causes her head to explode.
- s. They're each extremely Obese , though Tweedledee is taller and larger, and slightly stupider than Tweedledum, although both of them are idiots beyond measure. They have the ability to open up their stomachs and release smaller, flying versions of themselves. They are the fourth boss(es) of the game.
- The used to hold frequent tea parties with his friends, but he's not so interested in that nowadays. Now he's turned into a Time -obsessed Clockwork freak who makes killer robots out of Insane Children . He has two minions of his own ( Tweedledum And Tweedledee ) who assist him with this. He also conducts gruesome experiments on The March Hare and the Dormouse. He's the fifth boss of the game and is revealed to be a robot at the end of the fight.
- The who wear American Civil War -era uniforms and carry muskets with bayonets that they use with extreme prejudice and with little provocation. To be honest, Alice probably wouldn't have bothered with the Centipede or his army if she hadn't been shrunk down to their size. As it is, though, they are a serious threat to her. The Centipede is invulnerable to all damage, save for a small spot on his underbelly. He is the second boss of the game.
- The 's poem Jabberwocky , the Jabberwock is an evil, sadistic, Fire -breathing creature who teases Alice about her parents' death, and how she could've prevented it. The first battle takes place inside Alice's burning house, and the second one is fought outside the Queen's Castle . Alice steals the Jabberwock's Eye with the assistance of the Gryphon to complete the Jabberwock Eye Staff, and the creature is very angry about it. As a result, he kills Gryphon, just before battling and being killed by Alice.
- The Queen of Hearts: The main Antagonist of the game, and ruler of Wonderland. An insane, murderous Dictator who rules with an iron fist, and hardly any mercy, she is feared by all except Alice and the rebels. She is the very incarnation of Alice's guilt, Anger , Regression , and all her negative feelings, and wants to keep things the way they are. At the end of the first fight with the Queen, it is revealed that the version of her the player just faced was merely a puppet. Soon after that, her real form is revealed, which is a gigantic, repulsive, pink, tentacled, evil demon-like Behemoth . Only by destroying the Queen of Hearts will Alice finally regain her Sanity , revive all of those who have died during the Queen's reign, and return Wonderland to normal. She's the final boss of the game.
Although the graphics aren't spectacular by today's standards (the game was released in 2000, and was very elaborate for the year of its make), many of the levels are very clever and creative in design. Often, these designs inspire a world of chaos and wonder. A number of levels have a touch of M.C.Escher 's art. Many levels look like the inside of an asylum or a mad-house, linking Alice's Wonderland to reality. The exterior views of Wonderland shows the Red Queen's tentacles dipping out of buildings and mountain sides (especially around Queensland).
Though she starts with nothing more than a slightly rusty, bloodsoaked knife (called the " Vorpal Blade ") , Alice can collect various weapons (called toys) throughout the game. Some of the toys that Alice may find are:
- A deck of razor-sharp Playing Cards that can be thrown like Shuriken
- A Croquet Mallet in the form of a pink Flamingo head on a stick
- The Demon Dice (Dice that can be used to summon a random demon ally)
- The Jack-bomb (an explosive Jack-in-the-box )
- An Ice Wand that sprays an ice-cold substance that freezes enemies solid
- Jacks of Death
- Dead Time Watch , a pocketwatch that stops time
- The Jabberwock 's Eyestaff
- The Blunderbuss , the most powerful weapon in the game, but very, very well hidden.
Besides collecting toys throughout the game, while in Wonderland, Alice may also receive various power-ups during her journey. These include:
- : The amount of sanity Alice has is like health in most games: when Alice runs out of sanity, her journey will come to an abrupt stop. Sanity Shards are found all about Wonderland, and are red. They can also be found after killing an enemy. Sanity Shards range in various sizes.
- : The amount of damage Alice's toys do all depends on her will power. Will power is refilled by gathering sanity shards, but can also be found in other locations throughout Wonderland. Will power can also slowly refill itself on Easy and Normal gameplay.
- : A combination of Sanity Shards and Will Power, they, naturally, refill both Alice's sanity and willpower.
- : An item which enables Alice to do twice as much damage to her enemies. During the time of usage, Alice's appearance changes to a blood-red color, with horns, and long finger-nails. Usage of the Rage Box is limited, and only lasts for about a minute.
- : Found from a graspphopper jumping about, when Alice drinks Grasshopper tea, she turns green, just like the creature she drank from. This particular item enables Alice to run faster, and jump farther, and, just like the Rage Box, has limited usage.
- : The Looking-glass allows Alice to turn invisible for a brief time, enabling her to sneak past enemies quickly. The usage of the Looking-glass is also limited.
The sound and music adds much to the atmosphere. Although they are not your typical scary, horror-themed genre, the music is incredibly disturbing. One such example is in the "Skool's Out" level, where the insane children who attend the skool constantly alternate between laughing maniacally and crying in sorrow. The background music in Skool's Out is an innocent, yet creepy, Lullaby .
All of the music created for ''American McGee's Alice'' Official Soundtrack was written and performed by Chris Vrenna . Vrenna's soundtrack to the video game is fittingly twisted. Most of the sounds he used were created with toy instruments and percussion, music boxes, clocks, doors, and sampled female voices (including Jack Off Jill singer Jessicka ) were manipulated into nightmarish soundscapes.
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The following songs appear on the album, in this order:
# Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
# Village of the Doomed
# Fortress of Doors
# Fire and Brimstone
# Wonderland Woods
# The Funhouse
# Skool Daze
# Time to Die
# I'm Not Edible
# Taking Tea in Dreamland
# Fungiferous Flora
# Tweedledee and Tweedledum
# The Centipede
# Pandemonium
# Flying on the Wings of Steam
# Late to the Jabberwocky
# Pool of Tears
# Battle with the Red Queen
# A Happy Ending
# Flying on the Wings of Steam (Remix)
It should be noted that the background music in the game sounds somewhat different from the songs on the album. There are also tracks in the game that are missing on the album; the album also goes out of order, too. The original opening is not featured on the CD, however, sound bites from it are, in the first track, Falling Down the Rabbit Hole.
With the game, a casebook was included, telling of Alice's stay in Rutledge Asylum. The casebook is written by Heirnymous Q. Wilson, Alice's doctor. It starts from November 4th, 1864, and ends August 24th, 1874. From this, we get a view of how Alice behaves while in the asylum, as well as when she visits Wonderland. The casebook includes several drawings, as well as a poem (which is split into several verses, told in different entries). By the end of the casebook, Dr. Wilson seems to be skeptical of Alice ever regaining her sanity (as well as himself keeping his own sanity); the second-to-last entry reads:
''Sometimes, she appears to be so close, but at other times I'm certain it'll never happen and she'll spend the rest of her life housed behind Rutledge's gaunt brown walls...with me.''
The final entry of the casebook is the last verse to Alice's poem.
A film with the title '' Alice '' is currently in pre-production and will be based upon the dark storyline and characters in this game.
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