Alice: ...meets Laura Croft, meets Janis Joplin

YES! I've been waiting for this title for some time now. Anyone who knows American McGee's work, knew the exact quality of this game even before previews started to surface. He's known throughout the industry for his creative genius. And Alice delivers.

Preface and Disclaimer

I don't like Third Person Adventure Games. I really can't stand Lara Croft. I can barely stomach Third Person Shooters, much less all of the puzzle solving. There's nothing worse than missing a small visual clue and therefore spending an eternity on a single puzzle.

However, I am a huge fan of creative level design and visual effects. And this is exactly where Alice's merits lie.

Story Line

This is not a new chapter in the saga of wonderland. It's a novel or at least a feature length film. The original novel has often been misidentified as a simple children's story. But there are seriously dark yet wonderful undertones. The world is so surreal today, that children don't realize how remarkable the story is. But the novel is quite fanciful for it's era.

So leave it to American McGee to tell this tale in a modern medium, where adults and teenagers alike can really explore the insanity that is Wonderland.

The game shipped with a small booklet that is the log book of Alice's psychiatrist. It seems that Alice was severely burned in a fire, and went into a deep coma. That coma actually seems to be a long trip into Wonderland. And just as her world was burned and destroyed, so has Wonderland been oppressed and devastated. And so the story begins, with Alice trying to free Wonderland from the evil Queen and restore it to the joy and fantasy that we all know.

Gameplay

Don't worry. I don't think I've given away too much. I've only played through about 20% of the game. The game is long, but not really big. In other words, it's hard! With my First Person Shooter background, I tend to place importance in enemy AI and numbers. So I crank the difficulty way up. But most First Person Shooters don't have pitfalls and traps.

A Third Person Adventure game, on the other hand, is filled with puzzles and traps and not too many enemies. So prepare yourself for a series of puzzles--most of which you've seen before. Jumping puzzles. Ride the moving platform puzzles. Find this to unlock that to get through there and over there puzzles. You name it, it's in here. And this is precisely why I haven't beat the game yet. Very few of the puzzles are mentally challenging, but they're all challenging...making them frustrating if you can follow what I mean. :(

Controls

But the frustration of the puzzles is made up for by very smooth controls. Third Person games have really come a long way, starting with Heretic. With the protagonist in view, you can really interact with the environment much more. It does tend to make the gamer feel like they're controlling a character instead of playing as the character. Many Third Person games such as Drakan and Oni(Demo) make up for this by allowing you a host of moves and great melee combat.

Well Alice is quite small, so melee combat is almost out of the question. But the mouse and keyboard control scheme makes the puzzles so much easier than Tomb Raider. Mouse Look really causes you to feel like you're in the environment.

Eye Candy

Id kicks! The Quake III engine is superb, and McGee's team has used it well. The models and skins are wonderful and dark. If you're the type of person that hates those little porcelain dolls that your grandmother owns, then this game will scare the stuff out of you. I was in the Schoolhouse, waiting for a Card Guard to come around the corner when something hit me from behind. It whipped around (thank you Microsoft Optical Mouse) and then looked down. It was this freak child with a vise on his head...making this mechanical toy sound.

So the characters give the game a real twisted Charles Dickens meets Jim Morrison feel. And then the whole experience is completed with the maps. If you've ever wanted to pause Alice in Wonderland only to jump in and explore, then you're in for a treat. You'll find yourself finishing all of your enemies, and then looking around not to figure out puzzles, but just for the sake of exploration.

Single Player Heaven

Alice is a wonderful escape from life's doldrums, especially if you require more interactivity than a novel. But you'll be going it alone. There's no option in sight for multiplayer. But who cares. The industry has been on the multiplayer bandwagon, and there was a time when a game was doomed if it didn't have a multiplayer mode. But when dedicated multiplayer games like Quake III, Unreal Tournament, and Team Fortress II (I can't wait) are in the mix, who want's to play as the Chesire Cat?

Is it a buy?

Yep. It's a wonderful single player game. Alice is charming, and the whole experience of this new dark Wonderland is fantastic. And it's quite a bargain, because it's going to take you a long, long time to beat it.