American McGee's Alice

American McGee's Alice
Box of American McGee's Alice Box of American McGee's Alice
Developer(s)	Rogue Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	American McGee
Engine	Quake III engine
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS, Mac OS X
Release	October 5, 2000
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter, Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single player

American McGee's Alice 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. 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. Such treatment of a children's classic is not entirely new. In the mid 1980s in particular, there were several films with a surreal, partially dark mood such as Labyrinth.

Synopsis

Shortly after her second adventure, Alice's parents are killed in a fire of which she is the only survivor. Driven catatonic and having attempted suicide (as found in the case book), she is institutionalised in Rutledge Asylum. Years later, Alice is called by the White Rabbit to the aid of a radically altered Wonderland now under the despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts. The Cheshire Cat in particular now looks very different from Sir John Tenniel's original illustration: he is shown here as skeletally thin and his grin looks more devious than mischievous. Alice comments "You've gone quite mangy, cat, but your grin's a comfort" on his appearance. The Cat is Alice's 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 due to complaints received by the publisher from various consumer groups. The original box art (shown in the top picture) showed Alice holding a bloody Vorpal Blade. The altered version had Alice holding the Ice Wand instead. A third version showed Alice holding the Deck of Cards in her hands.

Characters

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Alice as seen in American McGee's Alice.

Template:Spoiler 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 them are warped incarnations of their original selves. Among the notable:

• Alice: The protagonist of the game. Alice is a demented, suicidal, regretful teenager, the savior of Wonderland. After a fire destroys her home and kills her parents, she falls into a comatose state, and is committed to Rutledge Asylum. She returns to Wonderland, only to find it wickedly deformed. With the aid of the Cheshire Cat, and a wide arsenal of deadly toys, she puts an end to the Queen of Heart's psychotic dictatorship, and returns Wonderland to its former glory. Alice is voiced by Susie Brann.

Allies

• The White Rabbit: A bipedal white rabbit who wears a waistcoat, carries a pocketwatch and is constantly late. He always seems to be way ahead of Alice the whole time that she follows him. While reduced in size, he is deliberately stepped on and crushed to death by the Mad Hatter, but is revived when Wonderland is returned to normal. The White Rabbit is voiced by Andrew Chaikin.

American McGee's Alice's Cheshire Cat.

• Cheshire Cat: Another one of Alice's allies in Wonderland, and also her principal companion. He often speaks in riddles and gives a lot of cryptic advice. He has an emaciated, almost anorexic appearance, wears an earring and appears to have undergrown incisors. He has a tendency to appear and disappear without warning, but can be summoned at nearly any time by pressing the C key (default), to offer advice - although this is usually cryptic and near useless. In an early screenshot of the game, the Cheshire Cat was seen fighting alongside Alice, but this was not included in the final version. Near the end of the game, he is murdered by the Queen of Hearts, but is revived at the end, like the White Rabbit and the Gryphon. The Cheshire Cat, along with the Mad Hatter and the Jabberwock, is voiced by Roger L. Jackson.

• The Torch Gnomes: Small gnomes that inhabit the Village Of The Doomed. The regular citizens of Wonderland, the Torch Gnomes are oppressed by the Queen, and are forced to wear heavy glowing globes attached to their backs - both to provide light when slaving away in her dark mines and factories, and to remind them of the inescapable predicament they are in. They are generally a cynical and sarcastic lot, who enjoy speaking in riddles, and are rather dismissive of the White Rabbit's claims of a savior of Wonderland. They do, however, give Alice some information of Wonderland's current situation, as well as telling her where to find the Gnome Elder.

• The Gnome Elder: A small, elderly, and apparently wise gnome who is the leader of the Torch Gnomes when the Queen of Hearts throws her attention elsewhere. He is somewhat dismissive of his implied wisdom, however, and, indeed, when Alice first encounters him, asking to benefit from his wisdom, he asks her why, if he were clever, he would cower in the deepest pit of the Yur Mine. Regardless, he, after a small favour on her part, willingly helps Alice continue following the White Rabbit by transporting her to the Fortress Of Doors and helping her to concoct a potion that allows her to shrink.

• The Insane Children: These poor creatures were once other children who were called, like Alice, to Wonderland to help return it to normal, but, unlike her, they were not successful. Now they have been driven mad and horribly mutilated as a punishment for their failure. There are many around the Fortress Of Doors and the Hatter's Realm, where the Hatter transforms them into Clockwork Automatons. Although technically too deranged to function as proper allies, they do not harm Alice and, while annoying, can unwittingly be used to help her at one point in the game.

• The Walking Rocks: When Alice becomes tiny, she encounters several brown coloured herds of Walking Rocks. These come in large and small varieties, and prefer to be left alone; they tend to run away from Alice whenever she gets close to them. They don't directly help Alice in her quest, but they aren't harmful.

• The Mock Turtle: Yet another friend of Alice, although he is not all that useful. The Duchess wants to eat him, as she loves mock turtle soup, but she only manages to obtain his shell. The Mock Turtle won't reveal the location of The Caterpillar to Alice unless she retrieves his shell from the Duchess's lair, where it hangs on the wall. After Alice kills the Duchess and returns him his shell, the Mock Turtle leads her to the Wonderland Woods and makes her an "honorary reptile", which allows her to stay underwater for a prolonged time without drowning. Alice responds to this with a dry "Lucky me."

• Bill McGill: Bill is the original Bill the Lizard, now old and sarcastic, who tried to help exterminate Alice from The White Rabbit's house in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He complains about the Duchess's style of housing, and constantly asks Alice for brandy (in Alice's Adventures, the drink is administered to him as a panic suppressant by a pair of guinea pigs - probably the source of his obsession with it). Bill resolutes to help Alice, but when she is sucked into the Duchess's cottage he merely runs away screaming. He returns with the Mock Turtle after Alice has killed the Duchess, and explains he'll have the leeches to clean up the mess.

• The Caterpillar: The wisest creature in Wonderland, who informs Alice of how she can return this twisted place to its former happy, if rather odd, self. He reveals to her that the only way to return Wonderland to normal is to destroy the Queen of Hearts, get over her guilt (caused by the idea that she could have prevented the deaths of her parents), and overcome her fears. He also tells her how she might regain her "human size" and acts as the Wonderland Oracle. The Caterpillar is voiced by Jarion Monroe.

• Humpty Dumpty: Humpty Dumpty appears briefly in the Caterpillar's Plot area of the Wonderland Woods. Since the events of Through The Looking Glass, Humpty has fallen of his wall, and now sits hopelessly broken at the foot of it. He now feels disinclined to talk to Alice, and has taken up smoking, but he helpfully points the way to the activator of the Bluderbuss' secret passage to those who can interpret his meaning.

• The White Chesspieces: The White and Red Chesspieces are caught in an eternal game of chess, and when Alice happens upon them, the White Pieces are losing. Their Queen has been captured by the Red Pieces, and is sentenced to death by guillotine. The White King enlists Alice's aid to stop this, and give her a White Pawn. Unfortunately, the White Queen is executed before Alice can do anything about it. But after killing the Red King, she walks to the red area and uses the pawn to revive the White Queen. Note that, in Through The Looking-Glass And What Alice Found There, Alice exits the Looking-Glass world when either she or the Red King wakes up, while, in this video game, she actually enters that land when he is killed (thus, his death might be viewed as an eternal slumber in which Alice's Looking-Glass adventures take place). Furthermore, the Mad Hatter is the one who takes Alice in the Looking-Glass land (in the video game), which is reminiscent of the fact that there are two characters in Through The Looking-Glass And What Alice Found There (Hatta and Haigha) who are believed by many to be the same Mad Tea Party members (the Mad Hatter and the March Hare) Alice met in Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.

• The March Hare and the Dormouse: Formerly tea party pals and good friends of the Mad Hatter. But now that the Queen of Hearts is the ruler of Wonderland, the Hatter made them his test subjects, although they (especially the Dormouse) seem barely aware of this situation. They are both made into clockwork cyborgs, and the Dormouse is drugged regularly, which makes him very sleepy.

• The Gryphon: A brave and trusted friend of Alice and The Mock Turtle, and the strongest of the Wonderlandian rebels. He is locked in a cage by the Mad Hatter, but is later freed by Alice, allowing him to lead the rebel forces against the Queen. However, he is defeated in an epic battle with the Jabberwock, and dies from his wounds. He is revived at the end of the game.

• Demons: With the Demon Dice, Alice can summon a small variety of demons to help her against the Queen's minions. There are lesser demons, who are small, weak, hovering creatures with the meagre power to fire bolts of electricity from their hands. There are normal demons, who are snake like creatures which can throw fireballs and whip their enemies with their long tails. And finally there are demon kings, who have skull faces and huge wings. These terrors are grounded because of their huge weight but can charge towards the enemy as well as firing large bolts of ice from their hands. It should be noted that if a demon is summoned when no enemies are around then the demon will attack Alice, and multiple demons may attack each other. The type of demon summoned by the dice is based on the number of dice that get a summon result (1 die=lesser, 2 dice=normal, 3 dice=king), but the numbers shown on the dice are difficult to see, and the number(s) required for a summon is therefore not known. To summon medium and king demons, Alice must collect at least two or three dice, respectively. Normal and king demons drop a small amount of Meta-Essence when killed.

Antagonists

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American McGee's Alice's Mad Hatter.

• The Duchess: A repulsive, cannibalistic ogre. She loves mock turtle soup, but has only managed to capture the Mock Turtle's shell, which hangs in her spartan living-room. When Alice arrives inside her cottage, she comes down and out of the chimney with a big sneeze, and calls Alice a "handsome dish". Alice isn't interested in becoming a light snack to the disgusting ogre ("I'm not edible."), so she combats the beast, who uses deadly black pepper to perform teleportation, become invisible, and attack Alice. When her health is depleted, she starts sneezing excessively, which causes her head to explode. The Mock Turtle and Bill McGill eventually arrive once the danger has conveniently passed. The Duchess is the first boss of the game.

• The Voracious Centipede: A tiny creature of great evil, the Centipede rules over a legion of Army Ants, Ladybugs, and Antlions. He himself wears the uniform of a 19th century Prussian officer, and can be seen in a chilling mural at the Fortress of doors, along with some of his warriors. Alice must steal the Toadstool Of Life from his iron grip to become normal sized again, but is captured by his Army Ant servitors and taken to his lair for punishment and disposing. Luckily, he keeps the Toadstool on a platform inside this evil sanctum. The Centipede is invulnerable to all damage, save for a small glowing spot on his underbelly. He can spit acid from his horrible mouth and project small centipede larvae whose sole purpose in life is to attach themselves to Alice's back and suck the life-blood out of her. The Voracious Centipede is the second boss of the game.

• The Red King: A Chess Piece who lives under the shadow of his Queen. He is armed with a staff that fires diamonds, and a glowing royal orb, which he can use to fire lasers and throw as a grenade. After killing (or checkmating) him, Alice places a White Pawn on the very extreme end of the Red Castle and thus restores the White Queen to life (as is the case in the actual game of Chess). This turns the tide of battle in favour of the White Chess pieces. The Red King is the third boss of the game.

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American McGee's Alice's Tweedledee.

• Tweedledum and Tweedledee: The Mad Hatter's two cronies, who collect and ready Insane Children in their Funhouse to be turned into Clockwork Automatons. Both are extremely obese, and though Tweedledee is far taller and larger, and is very slightly less intelligent than Tweedledum, both of them are idiots beyond measure. They have the ability to open up their stomachs and release smaller, flying versions of themselves (like Russian Dolls, but with hinges). They can also retrieve wooden swords stored in various places about their persons (including inside their mouths), and project grenades from special rattles. Tweedledum and Tweedledee are the fourth boss of the game.

• The Mad Hatter: Ironically, his voice is one of the ones that saved Alice from the fire when she was younger. One of the Queen's lackeys. This deranged "genius" used to hold one everlasting tea party with his friends, but he's not so interested in that nowadays. He has remained a time-obsessed madman, but, currently, he is one who makes Clockwork Automatons 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 his so-called friends (of which he also invites Alice to become one of) - The March Hare and the Dormouse. He has also written a book entitled The Technical Marvels Of M. Hatter (And Other Machinations), a small and somewhat blurry portion of which can be seen in the games credits, including a sketch of the Dormouse. Alice envokes his wrath by stealing his piece of the Jabberwock's Eyestaff. He can fire rockets from his fingers and throw teapots from his mechanized hat, as well as lashing out with his cane. He is revealed to be more than half robot himself at the end of the fight, as he malfunctions and his head explodes in a shower of sparks. At the end of the game, he comes back to life and is "normal" again. The Mad Hatter is the fifth boss of the game.

File:Jabberwock McGee.jpg

American McGee's Alice's Jabberwock.

• The Jabberwock: The Queen of Hearts' guardian, the incarnation of Alice's guilt, and a boss whom she battles on two occasions. Taken from Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky, the Jabberwock is an evil, sadistic, fire-breathing creature who antagonizes Alice about the death of her parents, and how she could've prevented it. The first battle takes place inside Alice's burning house and concludes when she obtains his eye with the assistance of the Gryphon. The second battle is fought outside the Queen's castle, with the Jabberwock severely injuring the Gryphon (who later dies from his wounds), before battling and being killed by Alice. He can breathe an extensive amount of flame, fire lasers and exploding projectiles from his eyes (the same attacks as the Jabberwock's Eyestaff - hence its name), and fly great distances to swipe at Alice with his sharp talons. The Jabberwock seems to have been rebuilt by the Mad Hatter after its defeat in Carroll's poem, and its torso is now essentially a small furnace, while its wings are now metal and bat-like. Aside from that, it resembles the Tenniel illustration from the book, except its mouth is now more beak-like, as opposed to rodent-ish appearance in the illustration. The Jabberwock is the sixth boss of the game.

• The Queen of Hearts or The Red Queen: The main antagonist of the game, and ruler of Wonderland. An insane, murderous dictator who rules with an iron fist, and no 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 other negative feelings, and wants to keep things the way they are. When Alice first encounters her, she takes a mostly human form, but with tentacles instead of legs and hair, and head with no face - which she covers with a mask. At the end of the first fight with the Queen, it is revealed that that version of her was merely a puppet. Soon after that, her real form is revealed, which is a gigantic, repulsive, pink, tentacled, evil demon-like behemoth. She leans down and grins nastily at Alice before opening her mouth, inside which is the Mad Hatter's head, which opens his mouth leaving Alice looking at her own head. The Queen then proceeds to taunt and demoralize Alice, as well as commanding her to leave, through a replica of her own mouth. Alice decides not to back down and does battle the real Queen, as 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. It is implied that the Queen of Hearts and the Red Queen are actually the same character, although she takes on a more Queen of Heart-like form. The Queen Of Hearts is the final boss of the game.

Minions

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The Cardguards.

While not major antagonists in their own right, there are quite a few enemies in the game whose sole purpose is to find Alice and destroy her. All these enemies leave behind Meta-Essence when killed. These minions are:

• Cardguards: These unimaginative dolts are the tools and soldiers of the Queen of Hearts, and, though cruel and sadistic, they are cowardly and will try to run away if severely injured. Like playing cards, they are almost flat, and have their suit printed on the front of their uniform. The Club guards have spiky spears, and can only attack from close up. Diamond guards have staves with sharp spinning diamonds on the end, with which they can slash at Alice, and also fire razor sharp diamond projectiles. Spade guards have pointy spade spears that can shoot exploding spade projectiles, and Heart guards have heart staves that can be used to power up and expel a seeking and exploding heart. Cardguards can be found pretty much everywhere, apart from the Pale Realm, the tiny areas and the Hatter's Realm.

• Boojums: Boojums are flying ghost-like creatures with detached heads. They have horrifying screams that can physically damage Alice and push her backwards. Their name comes from Lewis Carroll's poem The Hunting of the Snark - in fact, these beings are supposed to be the dreadest kind of snarks (making their preys disappear and "never to be met" with, ever again). Boojums have revolting table manners and will eat absolutely everything. They haunt many areas of Wonderland, and first appear around the Fortress of Doors.

• Army Ants: Once Alice becomes small, she must face small enemies, such as the Army Ant. Army Ants wear blue American Civil War-era uniforms and carry muskets with bayonets that they use with extreme prejudice and with little provocation. They also have large mandibles with which they can slash at Alice. There are also Army Ant corporals, which are tougher, wear green uniforms and carry sabres and grenades. There is a painting of some Army Ants in a mural at the Fortress of Doors. Like Cardguards, Army Ants will run away if injured.

• Ladybugs: Once a member of the good side of Wonderland, Ladybugs have recently defected and enlisted in the Voracious Centipede's army. They are loud irritating pests that carry and drop acorn bombs on an unsuspecting Alice when she is reduced in size.

• Snarks: From the poem, The Hunting of the Snark, Snarks are annoying fish-like creatures with legs. In the Vale of Tears they specialize in gnawing the flesh from Alice's bones if she falls in the water, but when she reaches Wonderland Woods they also start to spit acid and pull her into the water with their long sticky tongues. Alice meets more of these pests (presumably a larger species) in Queen Of Hearts Land. There are also Fire-Snarks, which inhabit lava-pools and spit fire instead of acid.

• Blood Roses: These gigantic flowers are exceptionally aggressive, and enjoy spitting thorns at an unprepared Alice. They camouflage themselves as normal, small roses; growing to their large size when Alice approaches them. They are fairly fragile, however, and can be killed without too much effort.

• The Big Fish: While in Hollow Hideway it is unwise for Alice to swim in deep water, as at a moments notice a large fish can emerge from the water and swallow her whole. Hence it is more wise for her to stick to land or shallow areas. She also meets another while swimming in an underwater temple. These fish are probably some full-sized Snarks, which Alice meets again when she has regained her size.

• Evil Mushrooms: Large, eyed and toothed mushrooms which remain dormant until Alice gets near them - much like the Blood Rose. When woken up they try to suck her towards them and digest her with powerful acids. If she gets too far away for this to be possible, they spit the acids out as a poisonous gas.

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A concept sketch of the insectoid Antlion.

• Antlions: Perhaps as an odd parody of the real insect, these Antlions are half ant, half lion. They have long, hairy faces with very long, sharp and forward facing teeth as well as chunky bodies, skinny insect legs and barbed stingers. They are powerful diggers, which they use to great effect as a shock tactic and to escape attacks. They are sometimes seen with Army Ants, as a sort of hunting dog, or on their own as wild predators. Some Antlions are also included in the mural at the Fortress of Doors.

• Fire Imps: Fire Imps are minuscule devils who usually dwell around their native lava pools, but can occasionally pop up in other places. They aren't very tough, and have no ranged attack, but in large numbers can be rather irritating. They are a good source of Meta-Essence however.

• Phantasmagoria: Not quite as frequently seen as the Boojums, these large ghosts are just as frightening, and make a lot of noise. They are essentially a swarm of ghosts that have melded together and formed one entity, and you can see the heads of some of the original ghosts poking out. They cannot physically harm Alice, but can sap her Will, which makes it harder for Alice to use her more powerful weapons. They can also fire long chains from their eyes which can freeze her, leaving her vulnerable to other enemies, although this is possible to avoid, which can lead to the Phantasmagoria freezing their own side. This can be useful against Automatons before you acquire the Jacks.

• Magma Men: These large molten men are harmless from a far distance when not provoked. Like Fire Imps, they are commonly found wherever there is lava. They dwell in lava spits, but when they see Alice they drag themselves out of their homes and attack her. They spit balls of fire, and can lash out with their extremely elastic arms. They eventually cool down to a grey, rocky state, which makes them slow and lethargic, so they prefer to pull themselves back to the pits again to melt. They are very strong creatures and should be engaged with caution.

• The Red Chesspieces: Far more aggressive than the White Chesspieces, the Red Pieces have fought their way into the White Pieces' village and even as far as the outskirts of Caterpillar's Plot. As such, Alice will meet them all over the Pale Realm and near its borders. The lesser pieces come in four varieties:
  • Pawns: Rather cute and a bit slow, but still deadly to the unprepared. Despite their small size, Red Pawns have quite a vicious headbutt attack, so it is best to shoot them from a distance. Jackbombs are very useful against swarms of them.
  • Knights: Horseheaded brutes, Red Knights can hop along quite quickly on their bases. They can slash at Alice with their swords and block her ranged attacks with their large shields. They, like Pawns and Rooks, have no ranged attack so should be dealt with from a distance.
  • Bishops: Bitter and more intelligent than the other Pieces, Red Bishops enjoy firing at Alice from a distance with their laserbeam enhanced crosiers. They are the only lesser Chesspiece with a ranged attack, and can be quite dangerous and hard to hit.
  • Rooks: Red Rooks are thugs, and enjoy displaying their ample muscles to each other when they are alone. When they can see Alice, they will charge at her with surprising speed, and are very difficult to stop. A pair of Rooks is very dangerous, and the deadly pieces must be dealt with quickly. They are the strongest lesser Chesspiece.

• Clockwork Automatons: Converted from the Insane Children in the Hatter's Realm, the Clockwork Automatons guard this dreadful place. They attack Alice as soon as they see her and, like Phantasmagoria, also choose to hide behind some of the mirrors at the Tweedle's Funhouse, smashing through and using the element of surprise on any intruder. The Queen has also recruited some of them to guard her own lands. They are capable of projecting clouds of scalding steam and firing seeking Hat Missiles.

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The ravenous Jabberspawn.

• Nightmare Spiders: These creatures like to disguise themselves as a wall ornament with legs disguised similar to an antique table and the head of a China doll covering their spindly bodies. Hidden behind this mask, however, they have small, rat like faces with many eyes and skinny arms ending in medical syringes. They are good at spitting acid and swinging around using their long tongues. Their bite and syringe stings are poisonous, so will cause delusions which cloud Alice's vision for a short time. They are quite tough for their size and guard the Mad Hatter's Realm and the asylum area of the Tweedle's Funhouse.

• Jabberspawn: The monstrous children of the Jabberwock, who bear little physical resemblance to their winged father, but have inherited his lust for carnage. Jabberspawn can be found in areas later in the game (starting in the Land Of Fire And Brimstone). They are very fast, ravenous creatures with their eyes on their feet, large sharp teeth and two large legs with which they can run and leap at a very high speed. They can shoot bolts of electricity from vents on their heads as well as leaping at Alice and biting her, slashing at her with their huge claws and whipping her with their long tails. Jabberspawn come in green, blue and orange varieties. While not on duty, they are lazy creatures and can often be found catching a nap when unaware of Alice's presence. Jabberspawn are, however, some of the strongest minions Alice encounters, second only to the Automatons and Magma Men.

Unincluded Characters

There are a few characters that, while still technically included inside the game, do not appear in any of the levels:

• Fish and Frog Footmen: These can be dealt with together, as they are essentially the same character but with slightly different appearance and voice. A remnant of Wonderland's peaceful days, the Fish and Frog Footmen wander hopelessly around the Wonderland Woods. The Footmen will follow you peacefully, but if hurt they will draw small daggers and enlist the aid of Cardguards.

• The Fungi: A very odd character, which is essentially two characters tied together. It consists of a large, inflated, bloated creature, who floats upside down. Hanging from this is a small, slightly humanoid creature with a childlike face, an insect-like tail, no legs and long arms with big gloves on the end. When encountered, the Fungi will try to follow you, but will not inflict any damage. Nothing much is known about the Fungi, and its original whereabouts in the game remains a mystery.

Environments

• The Village of the Doomed: A network of tunnels and caves, inhabited by downtrodden Torch Gnomes and the Red Queen's Cardguards. Alice finds herself here when she falls down the rabbit hole at the beginning of the game.

• The Fortress of Doors: A Boojum and Cardguard infested stronghold, the Fortress Of Doors is not all it appears from the outside. Within its dilapidated and crumbling walls there lies a Skool, in which Alice must find the ingredients for a shrinking potion.

• Vale of Tears: Now Alice has shrunk to about the size of an ant, and there are many tiny terrors awaiting her as she follows the White Rabbit through this damp region. Army Ants, Ladybugs and Blood Roses are just a few of the monsters that will try to stop her as she seeks out the Duchess. Mere trickles of water are wide rivers and roaring waterfalls that need to be navigated if she is to progress.

• Wonderland Woods: Deadlier still than the vale of tears, the Wonderland Woods are inhabited by ever more Army Ants, ravenous Antlions, Evil Mushrooms and nasty, acid spitting Snarks. Fungi have established a tight grip on this once pleasant woodland, and the place is filled with choking fungal spores. Alice must seek Caterpillar's advice and then recover the Toadstool of Life from the mighty Voracious Centipede.

• Looking Glass Land: The many turrets and towers of the Chess Citadel have turned grey since the Queen's rise to power, and now have been stained red with the blood of endless battles between the white and red Chesspieces. Alice establishes an alliance with the White King, and must recover the White Queen from the depths of the Red Castle.

• Behind the Looking Glass: The Hatter has gone even more insane since the upheaval, and he now controls his own land of madness and despair. Nightmare Spiders and Clockwork Automatons fill his clock infested home, and Alice must fight her way through his Tweedle henchmen and enlist the Gryphon's help to find the vital pieces of the Jabberwock's Eyestaff.

• Land of Fire and Brimstone: A place of smoking ash and boiling lava, this is the lair of the Jabberwock. Alice has a long, fiery trek before her if she is to face the Queen's right hand monster, and her own burning guilt.

• Queen of Hearts Land: A place of mystifying hedge mazes and devillish mechanics, the lands of the Queen are the most deadly Alice has yet faced. Alice has to keep herself alert and her toys at the ready to avoid being decapitated.

• Queensland: The palace of the queen looms overhead, a symbol of all Alice has yet to conquer. Tentacles and other repulsive appendages protrude from every wall, as Alice journeys to the centre of the Heart Palace - the home of the queen, and the centre of her inner demon.

Graphics

The game was released in 2000, and the graphics were very elaborate for the year of its release. Many of the levels depict a world of chaos and wonder. The general atmosphere of a world, which is a mixture of fairy tale and horror, is similar to the films of director Tim Burton.

Some of the game levels look like the inside of an asylum or a madhouse, linking Alice's Wonderland to her reality. The exterior views of Wonderland show the Red Queen's tentacles dipping out of buildings and mountain sides (especially around Queensland).

Game Engine

EA Games licensed out Ritual Entertainment's Heavy Metal FAKK2 engine, which is in turn a modified Quake 3 engine. The most notable changes in the engine include the use of the Tiki model system, which enables the engine to use skeletal animation among other things, the Babble dialog system which enables lip syncing of audio with character animations, dynamic music system, scriptable camera, particle system and extended shader support.

Changes were made to fakk's game engine for alice, however minimal. The BSP (file extension) files still retain the FAKK headers, albeit with different version number.

Weapons

Template:Spoiler Alice can collect various weapons (called toys) to defend herself throughout the game. Most of these have two ways of using them, called primary and secondary attacks. Most of these use Will, and cannot be used when it is depleted. When you pick up a toy, it completely refills your Will bar and sometimes you may find some of the weaker ones in certain places as an instant refill powerup. The toys that Alice may find are:

• Vorpal Blade: Alice starts with nothing more than a slightly rusty, bloodsoaked knife which is named from the weapon in the poem Jabberwocky. This is the only weapon in the game that uses no Will to use. It can be slashed with, or thrown, doing more damage at a range but with a long time to recharge. This is probably the weakest weapon in the game, although the secondary attack does slightly more damage than the Croquet Mallet. You find this in a passageway very soon after falling from the Rabbit Hole at the start of the game.

• Playing Cards: A deck of razor-sharp seeking projectiles that can be thrown like shuriken. These drain Will very quickly and are arguably even less useful than the Vorpal Blade, but is the only weapon besides the slow Vorpal Blade that you can acquire before you reach the Skool. The Cards first appear outside the Cardguard's Compound in the Village Of The Doomed.

• Croquet Mallet: A flamingo that has recently gone through rigor mortis while in the shape of a croquet mallet, but has been magically enchanted to cause electrical damage to enemies when struck. This is not simply the only other melee weapon in the game, but it has a secondary fire function which launches croquet balls as deadly missiles. The secondary ranged attack requires Will, although the primary melee attack does not. It can first be picked up on a ledge in the Skool's main lobby.

• Demon Dice: Demon Dice can be used to summon a random demon ally, which will attack enemies, or Alice if there are none about. It is mostly random whether the dice will actually summon a demon or not if used, but it helps if they land close together. If no demon is summoned, your Will will be refunded. The more dice the player manages to find - up to the complete set of three (although you can actually collect four) - the more powerful the demon that can be summoned. The Demon Dice do not work when fighting a boss, and have no secondary attack. They can first be found in the Skool, and later on in the Fungiferous Forest, Pale Realm and the Hatter's Realm next to the Grypon's cage.

• Jackbomb: The Jackbomb is an explosive Jack-in-the-box, with a secondary firing mode that renders it a rotary, stationary flamethrower. It requires caution to use, however, as both attacks will harm Alice if she gets too close, and the primary attack can render her dead from full health at the epicenter of the blast. The Jackbomb is first placed in the Duchess' house, and you must collect it to start the battle with her.

• Ice Wand: The Ice Wand is a very useful instrument that sprays an ice-cold substance (in a similar way to a flamethrower) that freezes enemies solid, or forms a wall of protective ice. Although will draining, the Icewand's primary is very useful in a confused situation or against mass enemies and is especially effective against Boojums. Also, the protective wall can do more than just protect - it can serve as an object to hold down floor buttons and as a platform to aid jumping to hard to reach areas. The Icewand can only be found once - in an ice cave underneath Wonderland Woods.

• Jacks O' Death: This homing weapon's primary attack repeatedly pummels the target enemy and, if used correctly can arguably be the most powerful non-super weapon (Eyestaff, Blunderbuss) in the game. They are especially useful against very tough enemies such as Automatons or Jabberspawn or even bosses such as the Mad Hatter. The Jacks can also be thrown at once at an extremely high velocity with the secondary attack, which, while not doing very much damage compared to the primary attack, does knock the target back a very large distance and can be used at a greater range. The Jacks are first found behind one of the mirrors at the Tweedle's Funhouse and are well worth searching for, but they also appear in the Land Of Fire And Brimstone and in a maze at Queen Of Hearts Land.

• Dead Time Watch: A pocketwatch that stops time, originally owned by the White Rabbit but stolen and improved upon by the Mad Hatter. This is useful for passing through an area unseen, destroying enemies who cannot fight back or keeping things just the way they are for longer. This is really more of a powerup than a weapon, as it has a use duration and requires no Will, the difference being you can use it at any time. It takes six minutes for it to power up again after use. Does not work against bosses themselves, but can freeze any minions in a boss fight. The Dead Time Watch is on a platform in the Hatter's Realm and must be collected to reach the next level. Please remember that the White King mentioned to Alice how difficult it is to "stop a minute" ("you might even try to catch a bandersnatch.")

• The Jabberwock's Eyestaff: A reputedly incomparably powerful weapon (second only to the secret and draining Blunderbuss) the Jabberwock's Eyestaff is the only thing that can break open the gates to the Queen's kingdom, and Alice must collect the pieces scattered around Wonderland to reach the final showdown. The primary attack warms up for several seconds and then continuously emits a napalm-like beam (like the one from Jabberwock's eye) damaging enemies and making them burn for a while. When it is released, the beam stops and a powerful, exploding projectile is unleashed straight ahead (this can damage Alice if she is not careful). In alternate fire mode it consumes willpower for as long as you charge it, then summons a number of meteors based on how long it was charged, which rain down with explosive power on the enemies Alice is looking at. When no enemies are on line of sight, meteors fall on Alice (the first one or two will easily kill her). This attack is difficult to use and is advisable only in large, open areas. The pieces of the eyestaff are found on a raised platform in the Caterpillar's Plot area, inside the Hatter's Realm and finally in the Jabberwock's Lair.

• The Blunderbuss: The most powerful weapon in the game, but very, very well hidden. It requires a full Will bar, and when used it drains it completely and fires a huge exploding projectile which causes massive damage and sets on fire everything in the surrounding area. Alice is also rendered immobile for a few seconds and is pushed backwards, so be careful when near ledges. It has no secondary attack. The Blunderbuss can be found in only two places; when you enter the Caterpillar's Plot area for the second time, a Humpty Dumpty marks a protruding brick which, when pushed, opens a subterranean chamber housing the Blunderbuss. The second is on a lowered ledge in the final battle with the Red Queen.

Power-ups

Besides collecting toys throughout the game, while in Wonderland, Alice may also receive various power-ups during her journey. These include:

• Sanity Shards: 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.

• Will Power: The amount of damage Alice's toys do, with the exception of the Vorpal Blade, 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.

• Meta-Essence: A combination of Sanity Shards and Will Power, they, naturally, refill both Alice's sanity and willpower. This is dropped by most enemies when you kill them.

• Rage Box: 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 two pairs of horns, jaundice-yellow eyes and long fingernails, à la Hellboy. Usage of the Rage Box is limited, and only lasts for about a minute.

• Grasshopper Tea: Found from a tea-cup with grasshopper legs jumping about, when Alice drinks Grasshopper Tea, she turns green, grows antennae, her eyes become entirely black and she sprouts small wings, just like the creature itself. This particular item enables Alice to run faster, and jump farther, and, just like the Rage Box, has limited usage.

• Darkened Looking-glass: 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.

Soundtrack

The sound and music add much to the atmosphere.

The voice acting and writing in has been commended; when acquiring the Rage Box, instead of hearing a soulless "You got a strength powerup!" the Cheshire Cat appears and comments "How fine you look when dressed in rage. Your enemies are fortunate that your condition is not permanent. And you're lucky too. Red eyes suit so few." Characters frequently talk in riddles, adding greatly to the Wonderlandian atmosphere.

The music creates an eerie and horrifying feel to the world Alice is in. One such example is in the "Skool Daze" level. The background music in Skool Daze 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 (in a short documentary about the making of the game that appeared on TechTV, the music box used appears to be an antique Fisher-Price music box pocket radio), clocks, doors, and sampled female voices (including Jack Off Jill/Scarling. singer Jessicka) were manipulated into nightmarish soundscapes.

The following songs appear on the album release of the soundtrack, in this order:

1. "Falling Down the Rabbit Hole" – 1:20
2. "Village of the Doomed" – 3:35
3. "Fortress of Doors" – 3:51
4. "Fire and Brimstone" – 3:46
5. "Wonderland Woods" – 3:59
6. "The Funhouse" – 3:38
7. "Skool Daze" – 4:10
8. "Time to Die" – 3:55
9. "I'm Not Edible" – 3:09
10. "Taking Tea in Dreamland" – 3:44
11. "Fungiferous Flora" – 3:35
12. "Tweedledee and Tweedledum" – 3:46
13. "The Centipede" – 3:31
14. "Pandemonium" – 3:55
15. "Flying on the Wings of Steam" – 4:35
16. "Late to the Jabberwocky" – 3:17
17. "Pool of Tears" – 4:08
18. "Battle with the Red Queen" – 4:11
19. "A Happy Ending" – 3:44
20. "Flying on the Wings of Steam (Remix)" – 4:03

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; such as the music from the "Dry Landing" level, and a completely new track; "Taking Tea in Dreamland". The album also goes out of order, as well. The original opening is not featured on the CD, however, sound bites from it are, in the first track, "Falling Down the Rabbit Hole".

Casebook

Included with the game is a casebook 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; the penultimate 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 in Alice's poem.

Connections can be made between the characters in the casebook and the ones Alice encounters in the game. It seems that the people Alice knows in reality are warped into people for her alter reality of Wonderland. For example, in the casebook Alice tells H.Q. Wilson that she "only takes tea with friends!" and in the game Alice yells the same phrase to the Mad Hatter. The two orderlies who torment Alice at Rutledge with their sadistic teasing and lascivious taunts are analogous to Tweedledum and Tweedledee. An incident in which she pursued one of the twin orderlies with a spoon and gave him a nasty gash is described. It is mentioned in a note in the margins that the twin orderlies are the Superintendent's nephews. When battling Tweedledum and Tweedledee she says "Despicable, grotesque and smelly louts, I'll fill your bellies all right!" in response to their taunts, which are of a similar nature to the type the orderlies at Rutledge hurled at her. Also, H.Q. Wilson describes a cat who seems to be quite protective of Alice, much like the Cheshire Cat in Wonderland. In fact, the cat Wilson describes stands on Alice "As if claiming property or territorial rights".

Movie Adaptation

In December 2000, director Wes Craven signed on to develop a film adaptation of the game, with screenwriter John August hired to adapt the game for the big screen. American McGee had begun negotiations with Dimension Films 10 months before, with the studio committing to the project before Craven's signing. In September 2001, August explained that he had turned in a script treatment for Alice and was not attached to develop fuller drafts for the film adaptation. In February 2002, Dimension Films signed brother screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber to write the screenplay for Alice. In July 2003, the brothers announced that they had completed the script for the film adaptation.

In March 2004, the Alice project was moved from Dimension Films to 20th Century Fox. In June 2005, Universal Pictures acquired the rights to Alice. The studio attached director Marcus Nispel to helm Alice with actress Sarah Michelle Gellar in the lead role.

External links

• American Mcgee's Official Weblog
• Alice (2007 movie) at IMDb
• American McGee's Alice at IMDb
• American McGee's Alice at MobyGames
• Down The Rabbit Hole
• Trailer for the Alice game, on apple.com
• Essay comparing American McGee's Alice with Alice in Wonderland
• Website with original concept sketches of the Alice characters (near bottom of page).
• A FAQ and Strategy guide for defeating the Alice bosses, as well as some other game hints.
• All Music Guide review of the soundtrack
• The tiki model system