Something special

Not very many games try to be scary or freaky, and succeed. Fewer still do it without a lot of gore and 'boo' tactics. This one does all that and more. There's so much in American McGee's Alice that is creepy, demented, or just plain out there. That makes it a unique and very enjoyable game. (And for those of you who need an explanation: American McGee's Alice is a 3D shooter-type game for the PC. You use different weapons to defeat enemies, jump around, and collect life and more weapons. It has a horror twist to it, as well.)

Now, let's start with the story. Basically, it's a fairy tale gone wrong. The game begins with an Alice that's happy enough, albeit a little odd, getting so lost in her book about Wonderland that she can actually hear the characters' voices. She's got her mom, her dad, her kitten, and a nice house. Then it all goes wrong. A fire breaks out, and Alice's parents are trapped in their bedroom. The girl cries out to them, tries to help them, but there's nothing she can do. If she wants to live, she's gotta escape. She jumps out a window.

A little ways down the road, she's recovered physically from the incident. Mentally, however, she's a mess. In fact, she's admitted to an asylum. She's mute, and may as well be blind and deaf, by how she acts. She attempts suicide with a soup spoon (that, and other occurrences, are documented in a booklet that comes with the game). She has a strong attachment to her rabbit doll, which is seemingly the only thing that has survived the tragedy. She hears the doll speaking to her, asking her to save wonderland, because, like the state of Alice's mind, the place is royally screwed up. So, she has to go in and do a little cleanup.

This is where you take control. The Cheshire Cat, now looking emaciated and wearing an even more unnerving grin, appears to give you a little bit of advice. He does this throughout the game, and can also be called upon whenever you choose. This helps you to finish the quests given to you in this game, such as collecting ingredients for a shrinking potion, or reaching a certain area in a level. He also gives descriptions for each new weapon you get (I think there are nine weapons total, plus a few power ups). The weapons in themselves are quite interesting. There are fairly generic weapons like the blunderbuss (a shotgun), or the vorpal blade (which is your basic knife, except that you can throw it at your enemies). Then the rest are unique. There's a deadly deck of cards, some dice that can summon a demon, or a bunch of jacks that bounce around and slice into your enemies. There is a quality not unlike a child's toy to some of these, as you can tell.

That's something that recurs during this game. An early level is called "Skool Daze" which, as you would guess, takes place in a school. It's no normal school, though. Among the monsters, there are a few children around, but something's not right with them. It could be the nails sticking out of their heads, or the fact that they howl and hit themselves. Maybe Alice actually has been absorbing something during her stay at the asylum.

You continue on through levels such as a garden (but not from a normal point of view; you've been shrunken down so the insects could take a big bite out of you), a land of chessboards and the chesspieces that dwell there (you take the side of the white pieces and help to defeat the red pieces, who are really controlled by the evil Red Queen), and later, the remnants of Alice's home. Each level is different, with its own enemies, its own look, its own compelling story.

So the story, the weapons, the levels, they will all capture your attention. But if the controls suck, then it might not be worth it to see it all. Not to worry, it's just fine. You use keyboard keys to move, and the mouse to control your camera and aim your weapon. The movements can be a little twitchy at times, and the combat is on the simple side, but it's not a real problem.

The last thing to discuss is the production value. The sound in this game is excellent. The voice acting isn't too over-the-top, but it matches the characters and what they must be feeling. The music suits the surreal fantasy world well, taking songs that would normally seem innocent and pleasant, and putting a unbalanced sort of spin to it. There are also songs that just sound sad or dark, or with eerie voices or mechanical sounds mixed in. The diverse and distinctive music means you won't get bored with it as you might in some other games. The same goes for the graphics. The environments, enemies, etc are quite detailed, without recycled rooms and objects. The quality is great, especially considering that this is an aging PC game.

So, if you like a darker game that puts a twist on something you know well, this is for you. The only problem is whether this game will work on your computer or not. When I went back to play this last time, I had trouble getting it started, and had to tweak some options on my computer to get it to work. But other than that, it's definitely something to try out.