This review was originally written in 2019.
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| screenshots c/o Mobygames |
Taking the motto of “we’re all mad here” literally, the game presents a shattered Wonderland as symbolic of Alice’s psyche after being the only survivor of a fire that killed her family. She spends a decade in an asylum completely shut down while fighting a battle in her mind. When the game begins, she’s nearly an adult, and has pulled together just enough of her identity to wander through Wonderland again, but it’s now a twisted, oppressive dictatorship under the rule of the Red Queen, who has seemingly merged with the Queen of Hearts.
What follows is a middling third person platformer, with design conventions common to FPS games of the era (American McGee got his start with id Software after all) and slathered in junior high goth crap.
Okay,
that’s a little unfair. This kind of aesthetic has not aged well at all
and I historically have tended to find it incredibly cringey, but I’ll cop to the fact that it’s a
relatively unique look for games of the time, and unlike many FPS games
of the era, the aesthetic stays consistent throughout. The level design
is mostly linear, but it reminds me quite a bit of the two Castlevania games
for the Nintendo 64 in that there’s a bit of a different gameplay
conceit in most of the stages. The latter half of the game, however,
eventually chucks out all pretense and reverts to a more straightforward
approach as you’re assaulting the queen’s castle. It’s also really
obvious that this game was designed by people who cut their teeth on the
likes of Doom and Quake. Like Iikka Keränen, for example — many of the later levels had detailing that reminded me of his Doom work, for example the classic deathmatch map pack Gothic DM,
which he had previously worked on. If I had to pick out the worst
level, it’s probably “Pool of Tears,” which is a teeth-gritting mess of
having to ride a leaf down a stream while annoying little fish bastards
attack you constantly. There’s also a later level where the mirror maze
gimmick, initially interesting, quickly wears out its welcome.
Also like traditional FPS games, you’re armed with a full hyperspace arsenal of weaponry inspired by Lewis Carroll’s writings that uses a single source of ammo, “willpower.” On lower difficulties willpower will refill, which helps.
The controls will take some getting used to. Late 90s FPS engines were not really suited to platforming (hello, Xen from Half-Life) and the floatiness of the Quake III Arena engine means you’ll often just walk right off ledges without meaning to. While the HD release that’s included in copies of Alice: Madness Returns
comes with full controller support, if you’re playing on PC it’s
probably still better to just stick to mouse and keyboard for that
reason. Though be warned: while if you own Alice: Madness Returns on XBox 360 or PlayStation 3, the HD version of American McGee’s Alice
is already bundled with it, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to get
the game on PC anymore through legal means. Previously you could get it
if you bought the Alice Complete Collection on Origin, but even that seems to no longer exist.
The real treat of this game (aside from the sinister-playroom-of-doom soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails' very own Chris Vrenna) is the voice acting. None of the voice cast are well known, except possibly Roger Jackson, the voice of the Cheshire Cat (and Mojo Jojo on Powerpuff Girls.) I can’t really say enough how great the voice acting is. At a time when voice acting was still mostly considered an afterthought, American McGee’s Alice is on par with the likes of Thief or Metal Gear Solid. It really is an unsung gem in that regard.
All in all, while I can’t really say the game has aged well in aesthetic or gameplay, it’s not a BAD game — it’s a relatively amusing 8–10 hours with some fun levels and great voice acting. Maybe next time we’ll get that Strawberry Shortcake game.
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