American McGee's Alice

American McGee's Alice
Studio	Rogue entertainment
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Senior Developer	American McGee
Erstveröffent- lichung	October 6, 2000
platform	PC ( Windows , Mac OS )
Game engine	id tech 3
genre	Action adventure , horror
Subject	Alice in Wonderland
Game mode	Single player
control	Mouse , keyboard
medium	2 CD-ROMs
language	English German
Age rating	USK PEGI

American McGee's Alice is an action adventure game for Windows and Mac OS . It was developed by the US development studio Rogue Entertainment under the direction of former id designer American McGee and published by Electronic Arts in 2000 . It is thematically based on Lewis Carroll's children 's fairy tale Alice in Wonderland .

action

The plot of the game is a sequel to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Alice Behind the Looking Glass (1871). Alice lost both parents in a fire in her parents' house. Because she blames herself for their death, she withdraws completely into herself and now lives in an asylum . There the call for help from the wonderland overtakes them. Due to her mentally broken condition, the wonderland, which in principle only exists in Alice's fantasy, has become a threatening and dark place in which the Queen of Hearts has established a cruel regime of terror. To save herself and Wonderland, Alice must arm herself with knives and defeat the Queen of Hearts. A loss-making fight against the self, as it turns out.

Almost all of the “weapons” found in the game are toys as they already existed in Carroll's time. Alice's opponents and allies are based on the characters from Carroll's novels, sometimes cruelly alienated, but always recognizable.

development

The basic idea of a "twisted fairy tale story" (Engl. Twisted fairy tale ) goes back to American McGee, the concept during a trip on the California State Route 1 developed. He was influenced by a few lines from the song Trip Like I Do by Crystal Method :

Another world

Another time

In the age of wonder

Another world

Another time

This land was green and good

Until the crystal cracked

Through word association he combined these lines with Carroll's Wonderland story and influenced by other songs like Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie finally formulated McGee the idea of Alice continued, in the wonderland got through certain events a gloomy, threatening crack. Together with RJ Berg , McGee worked out a rough narrative concept at the Electronic Arts headquarters and, with the support of graphic designers Terry Smith and Norm Felchle, created the first design studies. Eventually, the developer Rogue Entertainment was commissioned with the implementation, who completed the project in two years. The decision to use McGee's name to name the game was made by EA for marketing purposes:

"[...] I never had the power / control to force my name on a box of anything. EA legal and marketing decided it was a good way to establish a version of the "Alice" name which they could own and control. "

“[...] I never had the leverage to force my name on the packaging or anything else. EA's legal and marketing departments decided this was a good way to have a variation on the Alice brand name that they could own and control. "

- American McGee

Alice was the first to EA from the Entertainment Software Rating Board as Mature (suitable from 17 years) classified game. The game's packaging was changed several times, according to the provider EA because of complaints from consumer protection groups, but according to McGee because of internal concerns from the company's top management. The bloody vorpal blade was replaced by other weapons in two different versions and the skeletonized appearance of the Cheshire cat was concealed. Porting the game to PlayStation 2 has been discontinued.

technology

The character Alice is controlled from the third-person perspective , so that the game plays like a third-person shooter (with bizarre, fictional firearms). Technically, American McGee's Alice is based on the third generation of the Quake engine licensed by id Software . The music for the computer game comes from Chris Vrenna , a temporary member of the band Nine Inch Nails , and was also available separately as a soundtrack CD.

reception

Rating mirror

publication	Rating
4players	90%
GameStar	81%
PC action	86%
PC Games	87%
PC joker	89%
PC player	84%
Computer Gaming World	3.5 out of 5
EuroGamer.net	8 of 10
Game Informer	9 of 10
GamePro (US)	4.0 of 5
GameSpot	7.3 of 10
GameSpy	93%
IGN	9.4 of 10
PC Gamer (UK)	80%
PC Gamer (US)	88%
PC zone	75%
Meta-ratings
GameRankings	82.81%
Metacritic	85 out of 100

Reviews and Awards

American McGee's Alice received mostly positive reviews ( GameRankings : 82.81% / Metacritic : 85 out of 100).

At the Game Developers Choice Awards 2001, the game was recognized for the best level design, it was also nominated in the visual design category and for a Game Spotlight Award. The game sold around 1.5 million times.

filming

A video game adaptation called Alice was originally planned for 2010, with Sarah Michelle Gellar as the leading actress. The implementation was described in 2010 by the occasionally involved screenwriter John August as extremely unlikely. Independently of McGee's adaptation, Disney released Alice in Wonderland by director Tim Burton in the same year , which had certain similarities, but otherwise had a separate plot. It tells the return of the meanwhile adult Alice to the "Unterland". To the online magazine Kotaku, McGee was disappointed with the implementation.

continuation

→ Main article : Alice: Madness Returns

In the summer of 2010, Electronic Arts announced an official successor to American McGee's Alice . It was released in June 2011 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and continues with the story ten years after its predecessor. The game was developed by American McGee's development studio Spicy Horse. The editions of the game for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 also included a version of American McGee's Alice adapted for the first time for consoles .

Web links

• American McGee's Alice at MobyGames (English)
• American McGee's Alice in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• American McGee's Alice (Original Score) on Allmusic (English). Retrieved February 15, 2013.
• Schöffmann, Andreas: The evil in Alice . December 21, 2011. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
• Interview with American McGee on Golem.de about the film Alice and the planned sequel Alice 2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Mike Richardson (Ed.): The Art of Alice Madness Returns . Dark Horse Comics , Milwaukie 2011, ISBN 978-1-59582-697-8 , pp. 6-7 .
2. ↑ http://www.reddit.com/r/tabled/comments/16zx0w/
3. ↑ Chris Kohler: Q&A: American McGee Returns to Alice's Nightmare Wonderland . In: Wired . Condé Nast . July 26, 2010. Archived from the original on July 28, 2010. Retrieved on July 26, 2010.
4. ↑ AmericanMcGee.com: Alice and moral panics? ( Memento from March 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ 4players.de: Test (evaluation) to Alice . Retrieved March 8, 2018
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} PC Games Database: American McGee's Alice - Press Review . Retrieved January 15, 2013
7. ↑ Jochen Rist: American McGee's Alice . In: PC Player . No. 01/2001 , January 2001, p. 78-82 ( pcplayer.de ).
8. ↑ Alice Review ( English ) In: EuroGamer.net . EuroGamer Network . January 16, 2001. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
9. ↑ Sean Molloy: Review: American McGee's Alice ( English ) In: GamePro . IDG . December 5, 2000. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
10. ↑ Erik Wolpaw: American McGee's Alice Review ( English ) In: GameSpot . CNET . December 8, 2000. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
11. ↑ Carlos Salgado: American McGee's Alice ( English ) In: GameSpy . News Corp . December 5, 2000. Archived from the original on June 7, 2003. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
12. ↑ Vincent Lopez: American McGee's Alice ( English ) In: IGN . News Corp . December 5, 2000. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
13. ↑ PC Gamer 02/2001, p. 50
14. ↑ ^{a b} GameRankings : Average rating of the game , based on 31 ratings. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Metacritic : Average rating of the game , based on 35 articles. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
16. ↑ http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/archive/gdca_1st.html
17. ↑ gamestar.de
18. ↑ Borys Kit, John Gaudiosi: Universal to put Gellar in Wonderland ( English ) In: The Hollywood Reporter . August 9, 2012. Archived from the original on September 25, 2008. Retrieved on October 9, 2012.
19. ↑ Screenwriter John August on the Alice film adaptation
20. ↑ Stephen Johnson: Battle of The Alices: Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland Vs. American McGee's Alice ( English ) In: G4TV . March 3, 2010. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
21. ^ Brian Ashcraft: Alice Creator On Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland ( English ) In: Kotaku . September 16, 2010. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
22. ↑ Alice's announcement: Madness Returns at derstandard.at
23. ↑ Alice: Madness Returns comes in a double pack . Electronic Arts . April 20, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2011.