American McGees Alice PC Games

American McGee is best known for his work on shooters like Quake III, but he split off from id Software recently and his first effort is Alice, a twisted romp through his own version of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland. The trick is that Alice, now older, is the lone survivor of a house fire that kills her family. She's stuck in an asylum and must regain her own sanity by returning to the madcap Wonderland she visited as a child. She's a darker person now, and, perhaps consequently, Wonderland is correspondingly dark.

The Queen of Hearts cruelly rules the land, the White Rabbit is tattered, the Cheshire Cat sports a pirate earring and a mangy, emaciated look, and the Mad Hatter is even madder than before. Alice, armed with her characteristic politeness, athletic ability, and a large knife, must venture through this dark Wonderland righting wrongs while thwarting the Queen and her army of playing-card guards.

The game itself uses an over-the-shoulder perspective and has Alice running, jumping, and swinging from ropes like a younger and primmer Lara Croft. Controls are easy to use and aside from difficult jumping puzzles and an odd problem where Alice slides on surfaces, the game is easy to play. Wonderland here is dark, like a Tim Burton film, but still easily recognizable to fans of the classic novel. If anything the game is woefully linear--there's only one path and therefore no need to replay the game after you've finished it. The result is a game that feels more constrained and conservative than its source material should have allowed, but the atmosphere makes for an exciting action-adventure nonetheless. Mature subject matter is strewn throughout, so always remember that this isn't an E-ticket Disney ride. --Bob Andrews