Before Chris Vrenna parted company with Trent Reznor, he was the perfect drummer/programmer for Nine Inch Nails. Vrenna was always very musical, and Nine Inch Nails is among the more musical and melodic outfits in the industrial field -- while some industrial bands have thrived on brute force for the sake of brute force (Skinny Puppy and Throbbing Gristle, for example), Nine Inch Nails offered melody and harmony as well as aggression. Not surprisingly, many of the alternative rockers Vrenna has worked with as a producer or programmer (Marilyn Manson, Hole, Rob Zombie, among others) have a strong sense of melody. This 2001 release, however, isn't alternative rock. Best described as instrumental electronica, this CD is the soundtrack to American McGee's Alice (a video game that is based on Alice in Wonderland). Those who associate Vrenna with alternative rock might find it surprising that he would compose instrumental music for a video game, but then, Vrenna has been a flexible musician/producer. And in one sense, this soundtrack isn't unfaithful to his history -- like a lot of the alt-rock that he has been a part of, American McGee's Alice is a perfect example of his obsession with the dark side. The melodies that he wrote for this soundtrack are quite dark and eerie -- in fact, they are downright creepy. No one will accuse Vrenna's Alice score of being bright and cheerful. They will, however, acknowledge that the CD is extremely memorable and well-executed; Vrenna obviously put a lot of thought into these melodies. One need not be a fan of video games to be impressed by this soundtrack and feel that it is among Vrenna's finest accomplishments. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Tracks
Track Title
Composers
Performers
Time
American McGee's Alice, video game music~Falling Down the Rabbit Hole
The third-person action adventure game American McGee's Alice, by Rogue Entertainment and Electronic Arts, runs on an enhanced version of the Quake III Arena engine. American McGee is famous for his brilliant Quake and Quake II level designs. Those same talents make Alice a dark, spooky, even macabre experience that takes us back to Wonderland to remind us how terribly exciting and marvelously scary Alice's adventures really were.
Perhaps the classic Lewis Carroll story enjoys such enduring appeal because it's a children's book that adults can also enjoy. American McGee's Alice takes a decidedly more grown-up approach to the tale. The game contains some graphic violence and mature subject matter that may not be suited for children (or adults, for that matter, who aren't prepared to be a little frightened).
~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
American McGee is not well. Anyone who takes the surreal, twisted world of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and turns it into an even more surreal, twisted version of itself can't be sane. But, whatever is going on inside his head, one can only hope it never goes away because that cranial cart wheeling has created one of the most unusual and spectacular games ever.
Although some detractors may feel the game's environment took all the developer's time at the expense of gameplay, one can contend that the environments provide a unique and original space necessary to experience the game. In case you haven't heard, American McGee's Alice was developed by Rogue Entertainment, best known for the Quake expansion pack Dissolution of Eternity and the Quake II mission pack Ground Zero. The game, based on Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, is published by Electronic Arts and uses the Quake III engine, two facts that only close inspection will reveal. The Quake III engine has been bent and twisted in such a way you won't even notice it since you'll be so engrossed in the environments it has created.
The game begins with an intro of a peaceful Alice asleep in her bed, clutching her stuffed rabbit (that rabbit is important, as those familiar with the story already know). Her real cat, skittish as cats tend to be, knocks over an oil lamp during a nightly romp and, before you know it, the house goes up in flames. Alice manages to escape, but only after failing to save her parents from the inferno. Things take a turn for the worse as we find Alice's new home is inside an asylum. She's still clutching her rabbit, but stripped of all emotion and severely damaged emotionally by her inability to save her parents, her demeanor has taken a downturn. Something or someone calls her, asking her to save them. She has no choice, and leaves the asylum to begin a journey to cleanse Wonderland of the evil plague induced by the Red Queen.
You control Alice from a third-person perspective and the beginning of the level serves as a pseudo-training period, beginning with Alice falling through a swirling maelstrom and landing right smack in Wonderland. The White Rabbit is there to greet her and beckons her to follow. Of course, he's in a hurry and can shrink to fit into a mouse hole. Unfortunately, Alice can't, so her options are limited, setting up her first task -- find a way to follow him.
Before embarking on your quest, take some time to look around -- the architecture is immediately spectacular with Tim Burton-esque angles and buildings. The attention to every detail is apparent from the hopping rooftops of the mushroom houses, to the giant, lazily rocking castle floating in space. From the chessboard universe where Alice spars with evil red pawns and knights and is helped by malevolent white ones, to the textures used to bring them all to life. Every item in the game world, whether large or small, has personality that significantly adds to the immersion factor. Grandfather clocks sway back and forth, and whole rooms stretch and fall away, floating in violent, swirling vortexes and chessboard universes hovering in space. For those who take the time to notice, little surprises are everywhere -- the gate you looked through is seen from the other side as the entrance to the castle. The game never gets boring and always surprises and amazes with attention to detail. There is some minor puzzle solving, but nothing more than a pedestrian challenge.
None other than the Cheshire Cat guides you along, complete with a grin that makes you expect to see an empty birdcage and a feather sticking out of his mouth. He appears suddenly, offering cryptic and arcane advice at certain points throughout the game, then disappears just as quickly before you get the chance to ask him what the hell he's talking about. In fairness to the feline, what he meant usually becomes apparent right after he fades. You will meet several other friendly characters, an aspect that makes you feel as though the world is actually inhabited, not simply a wave of bad guys constantly attacking for no apparent reason. Speaking of bad guys, unique is the only way to describe the playing-card soldier baddies of lore who are playing cards with a head, arms and legs; flying militant ladybugs that drop bombs; floating, screaming, robe-wearing skulls (for lack of a better name); and chess pawns with eyes. Even on the medium setting, these guys are no slouches and you'll want to keep a close eye on your health.
The sound is spectacular yet subdued. If you are familiar with the soundtrack that accompanies Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, you'll have an excellent idea of what awaits you here. A brooding, haunting melody (created by former Nine Inch Nails member Chris Vrenna) escorts you throughout the levels. You'll probably find the soundtrack eliciting a more visceral response than the game itself. Sound effects are no different; used sparingly makes them so effective. The creaking of the rocking castle. The hissing of the gas collecting esophagi. The slow, deliberate ticking of the grandfather clocks. Every sound adds as much to every object and environment as the architecture.
The control scheme, familiar to those who have played Quake III or Unreal Tournament or any of about a hundred other similar games, defaults to the "WASD" control scheme and works well. Control is smooth and responsive with the only exception being jumping and climbing. Alice tends to have a delayed response when jumping and that leads to plummeting into a swirling vortex.
Additionally, climbing up from a hanging position is somewhat of a chore with repeated key-presses required to get Alice to perform the action. You can't shoot when hanging, but you can be hit, so get to a standing position fast. Climbing and swinging on vines, on the other hand, is easily accomplished using the "Enter" key for climbing and the W and S keys to swing back and forth.
Weapon selection is as unique as the game itself. Alice picks up a knife early on, but soon comes across a staff that shoots bolts of energy, playing cards that can be hurled individually or in groups of four, dice that emit a deadly gas, a watch that stops time and, my favorite, jacks that assault enemies with multiple hits. Even the knife is a very effective weapon; the alternative fire throws the knife to hit distant enemies without using your magical energy, important since taking them on exclusively hand to hand will quickly put you down. Other weapons have an alternate fire option that uses some magical energy. Since Alice has only a limited supply, you'll want to pick up more of it when you get the chance. Defeating your foes and collecting their meta-essence regains health and energy. Get all you can -- the longer you take to collect it, the more it decays until it disappears altogether.
Unfortunately, multiplayer isn't supported, without any indication of a future patch, but I'm keeping my hopes up. Deathmatching as the Pawn, White Rabbit or Jack of Spades would warrant the purchase price alone. Unfortunately, without a multiplayer component, the game doesn't offer much replay value. Once you've been through it, you'll already know what lies around each corner and the surprises from the first time just aren't as effective a second time.
The documentation is also a bit disappointing. A sparse guide explains the keys, interface, loading, and saving conventions. Manuals should be complete (as this is), but should also be written to accommodate the novice as well as the seasoned gamer. This manual assumes a certain level of familiarity with the genre that isn't necessarily possessed by all gamers. Also included is a very interesting casebook illustrating Alice's external manifestations of her delusional journeys through Wonderland by means of entries written by her asylum caretaker.
Finally, the game ran well, even on a lowly 450 MHz Pentium II with a Riva TNT2 Ultra video card with no slowdowns or choppiness. Quick loading was practically instantaneous and kept the gameplay moving. The Quake III engine really shines in this regard.
Ultimately, American McGee's Alice leaves good impressions, even with some minor negatives: difficulty in hoisting Alice onto ledges from a hanging position, occasional unresponsiveness as far as the jumping is concerned, fluctuating difficulty in some places, and one ultra-irritating jumping puzzle. However, these concerns are so minor when compared to the splendor of the game's universe, you will gladly overlook them in order to see what bizarre setting lies beyond the next portal. It's safe to say that the adventure is a must buy and will most certainly be a contender for game of the year honors.
~ Darren Denenberg, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
What's not to love? The Dr. Seuss-ian environments are incredible and diverse, the music is perfect, the enemies are unique and creative, adding up to a complete package. Some minor control issues and questionable puzzle solving serve as temporary distractions, but the overall game is so well designed these can be overlooked.
~ Darren Denenberg, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
It's the Quake III engine bent and twisted in such spectacular ways that you'll forget what was used to create the game to marvel at the creation. It's ironic that showing creative engine use causes you to forget all about it.
~ Darren Denenberg, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
Chris Vrenna may not have been the main man in Nine Inch Nails, but his eerily haunting soundtrack sets the mood perfectly, bringing the whole game experience to another level, becoming an integral part of the game.
~ Darren Denenberg, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
There are some structural differences between difficulty levels. On a medium difficulty settings, {%Alice} jumps from floor tiles as they disassemble and reassemble, but on the easy setting she walks across the floor with no jumping required. Most other differences are in the form of less and faster-decaying meta-essence released by enemies. Enemies aren't any harder to defeat, nor do they appear to come in higher numbers. The main reason to play again would be to take the time to examine the environmental details missed the first time through, not to actually experience the game a second time.
~ Darren Denenberg, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
An interesting casebook, supposedly written by one of {%Alice}'s nurses while she was in the institution, introduces {%Alice}, her situation and mental state. It would've been nice to see the style used in the casebook used in the gameplay manual. The gameplay documentation does cover the controls, loading and saving, all the standard stuff, but in a very straightforward manner inconsistent with the rest of the presentation. It's acceptable, but could have been more.
~ Darren Denenberg, All Game Guide
Production Credits
Casebook Written by: Greg Ransch; Cover Design: Joel Thomas; Design: Big Idea Group; Sketches: Ben Hall; Special Thanks: R.J. Berg, American McGee, Rogue Entertainment, Rich Fleider, Ben Hall, Joel Thomas, Ed Clark, Genee Higgins, Julie Clark, Dave McCormick, Mike Kaiser, Justin Holst, Andrew Young; All Songs Composed and Performed by: Chris Vrenne; Publishing Courtesy of: Almo Music Corp.
The game is based on the Quake III Arena engine. A PlayStation 2 port was in development but was canceled. The box art of the game was altered after its release, allegedly due to complaints received by Electronic Arts from various consumer groups, although McGee has stated that the alteration was because of internal apprehension within Electronic Arts, and not from outside.[1] The original box art showed Alice holding a bloody vorpal sword. The altered version instead showed Alice holding the Icewand, as well as toning down the Cheshire Cat's skeletal anatomy. A third version showed Alice holding the Cards in her hands.
Shortly after her second adventure, Alice's house is burned down by an accidental fire, killing her family, and leaving her as the only survivor. Due to her survivor's guilt, she tries to commit suicide (bandages can be seen on her wrists), and becomes catatonic. She is institutionalized in Rutledge Asylum, where she remains insane and is consistently mistreated by the workers. Ten years later, the White Rabbit summons Alice to aid a radically altered Wonderland, which became a twisted version of itself as it came under the despotic rule of the Queen of Hearts. The Cheshire Cat serves as Alice's companion throughout the game, frequently appearing to guide her with cryptic comments.
Setting
The game's setting presents a considerably more macabre rendition of Wonderland than that of Lewis Carroll's original portrayal. Wonderland, being a creation of Alice's mind, has been corrupted by her insanity, which becomes the prevailing theme of the game; if Alice manages to save Wonderland, she will save her sanity as well.
The new Wonderland is composed of nine provinces. When Alice falls down the rabbit hole, she finds herself in the Village of the Doomed, the home of the Torch Gnomes. The Village of the Doomed is composed of a network of tunnels and caves, patrolled by the Queen of Hearts' card guards. Beyond the subterranean village is the Fortress of Doors, where the main attraction is a school of insane but harmless children. Within the school lies an ancient book of recipes for magic potions, as well as the ingredients for one concoction in particular which will be useful to Alice.
World map of Wonderland
Across a rough, uncharted landscape from the fortress lies the Vale of Tears. This is where a few of Alice's friends, the Mock Turtle and Bill McGill, as well as the cannibalistic Duchess reside. Apart from the giant river that runs throughout the mist-shrouded, rather gloomy landscape, there is also an underwater location accessible through a well inside Bill McGill's house, though this well is sealed until the Duchess is slain.
Beyond the Vale of Tears lies Wonderland Woods, one of the largest regions in the game. The woods are initially filled by ponds, cliffs and jump mushrooms, but much deeper into the woods is a region of rock and magma. This section leads to several new regions including the Cave of the Oracle, the Pale Realm, the Jabberwock's Lair and the Majestic Maze. The Cave of the Oracle is home to a wise entity that is revealed later to be the Caterpillar.
The Pale Realm's settings make a transition to the surface of a chessboard, as delving further into this area leads to the White Castle of Looking Glass Land, which is home to life-size chess pieces; the White pieces join Alice in the fight against the Red pieces, a deviation from her normally unhelpful "allies" from earlier portions of the game. Alice is twice transformed into a chess piece herself to pass certain obstacles.
Following this is a distorted version of Rutledge Asylum (where Alice has been incarcerated since her parents' tragic deaths). It is run by Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee and also houses the Mad Hatter's laboratory.
The path to the Jabberwock's Lair delves into the Land of Fire and Brimstone, a volcanic region of Wonderland and a reminder of the fire in which her family died. It is here that the terrible Jabberwock, a semi-mechanized servant of the Queen of Hearts and the incarnation of Alice's guilt, resides, in the remains of Alice's old home.
The Majestic Maze leads to the road to Queen of Hearts Land, a region heavily guarded by card guards, boojums, and other members of the Queen of Hearts' personal army.
Queensland is the final province of Wonderland. In it lies the Heart Palace from which the Queen of Hearts commands. Tentacles and other repulsive appendages are seen protruding from every organic wall in this area, and numerous areas even resemble body parts, giving the impression that Alice is travelling through her own body.
The game's characters are generally based on the inhabitants of Lewis Carroll's original novels, but they do not demonstrate the same identities. Many of them are warped incarnations of their conventional selves. The casebook[2] of Q. Wilson suggests that many of the characters Alice encounters in Wonderland are symbolic of real life people who get through to the catatonic Alice in some way. Other characters within the game are metaphors for Alice's own feelings, and because she is unhappy, they have become twisted. Some people (Cheshire Cat, White Rabbit) help her; others (Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts) try to cause pain, first by taking away those she loves then taking her down with them.
Development
Electronic Arts licensed Ritual Entertainment's Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.² engine, which is in turn a modified Quake III Arena 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 synching of audio with character animations, dynamic music system, scriptable camera, particle system and extended shader support.[3] The changes implemented to the engine for Alice remained minimal however. The game's .bsp files even retain F.A.K.K.²'s headers, albeit sporting a different version number.
An early version of the game offered the ability to summon the Cheshire Cat to aid the player in battle. Though this feature was removed from the final product, beta screenshots of this version do exist online. An Alice port for the then-unreleased PlayStation 2 was also in development but was later cancelled causing Rogue Entertainment to shut down, another decision which aroused the fury of American McGee. Notably, the gore factor was toned down from the demo which was released prior to the full game.
The game was ultimately released on October 6, 2000, receiving praise for its visuals; the graphics were very elaborate for its time. Many levels depict a world of chaos and wonder, some looking reminiscent of the inside of an asylum or a madhouse, visually linking Wonderland to Alice's reality. The exterior views of Wonderland show the Queen of Hearts' tentacles dipping out of buildings and mountain sides, especially in Queensland.
Audio
American McGee's Alice Original Music Score
All of the music created for the fittingly twisted official American McGee's Alicesoundtrack was written and performed by Chris Vrenna with the help of guitarist Mark Blasquez and singer Jessicka.[4] Most of the sounds he used were created using 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 were manipulated into nightmarish soundscapes, including instances of them laughing maniacly, screaming, crying, and singing in an eerie, child-like way.
The music creates an eerie and horrifying feel to the world Alice is in. The Pale Realm theme, as well as the track "I'm Not Edible", features the melody of the chorus of a popular children's song, "My Grandfather's Clock". As well as this, there are a great many instances of the ticking and chiming of clocks being used as a musical accompaniment.
Marilyn Manson was originally involved early on in the game's production for scoring the music.[5] His composition has been described by American McGee as "very cool" and having "a very beautiful Beatles-in-their-harpsichord-and-Hookah-pipe-days-sound to it." Manson's contributions persevered on into the final product, however, notably the influence of alchemy and the character of the Mad Hatter whose adaptation was somewhat influenced by him; for a time it was considered that Manson be the voice actor of the Hatter.[6] The music written may resurface in the future for Manson's own darkened perspective of the story of Alice, or rather its author, in his forthcoming film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll.
American McGee's Alice Original Music Score was released on October 16, 2001 by Six Degrees Records. It features all twenty original compositions by former Nine Inch Nailslive drummer and studio collaborator Chris Vrenna, spanning over a 2-disc set, including a previously unreleased theme as well as a remix of "Flying on the Wings of Steam".
American McGee's Alice Original Music Score (74:02)
#
Title
Length
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.
"Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum"
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.
"Battle with the Red Queen"
4:11
18.
"A Happy Ending"
3:44
19.
"Pool of Tears"
4:08
20.
"Flying on the Wings of Steam (Remix)"
4:03
Legacy
Film 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.[7] 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.[8] In February 2002, Dimension Films signed brother screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber to write the screenplay for Alice.[9] In July 2003, the brothers announced that they had completed the script for the film adaptation.[10]
In 2004 the project moved from Dimension Films to 20th Century Fox, but in 2005 Universal Pictures acquired the rights. As of June 2008[update], producer Scott Faye indicated the film was in "turnaround" from Universal. He admitted that the script needed development, but would be used to attract the attention of a new studio.[11]
Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar and director Marcus Nispel had both been attached to the project, but Faye confirmed that they no longer are. Rumours of Jean Marsh as the Queen of Hearts are also incorrect.[11] It is rumored that cartoonist Danny Antonucci is interested in making Alice as an R rated animated movie.
Sequel
With a movie adaptation of American McGee's Alice in the making, Electronic Arts had also expressed interest in releasing a remake of the game, although initially details were unclear whether it would be a remake, an update, or a sequel.[12]
On 19 February 2009, EA CEO John Riccitiello announced at D.I.C.E. 2009 that a new installment to the series is in the works for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. It is being developed by Spicy Horse, who recently worked on American McGee's Grimm.[13][14][15] Two pieces of concept art were also released, depicting Alice and large allied birds fighting an oversized, semi-mechanized snail and its children on top of a lighthouse[16], and Alice swimming in a pond, with the Cheshire Cat's face in the background.[17] Although no official date has been announced, it is planned for release early 2011.[18]
In November 2009, an unofficial teaser trailer was released for the game.[19][20] The trailer explains that Alice is still in therapy after a relapse, nine months after the events of the first game and appears to hallucinate an image of the Cheshire Cat in place of her doctor. The trailer mixes stop motion and a CG Cheshire Cat for a surreal effect.
However, this trailer proved to be the work of a fan. As it seemed quite professional, many gaming sites posted it as a real trailer for the return of Alice, only to correct themselves in the hours, or days following said posting. But the fact remains that the video was fan-made and has no actual relation to the Alice Sequel.[21]
