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| By Brad Cook Who can forget their first trip down the rabbit hole? Whether you entered through the animated Disney film “Alice in Wonderland” or through the Jefferson Airplane song “White Rabbit,” or perhaps through the words originally written by Lewis Carroll, chances are you were never quite the same afterward. |
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But you’d very much like to visit again and say “Hello” to White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat and all the other denizens of Wonderland, wouldn’t you? Perhaps you’d like to find what else that magical place has to offer. As Morpheus says in “The Matrix”: “You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes? Well, you’re in luck — you won’t need any pills or potions, just a copy of American McGee’s Alice, the adventure game for both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 from the friendly folks at Aspyr, who like to make games for the kid in all of us (heads up, parents: this one is rated “M,” for mature players).
Through the Computer Screen
Alice isn’t like anything you’ve ever played on your Mac before. Thanks to the incredibly creative American McGee (who’s best known for his level designs in DOOM II and Quake), you’re going to see a version of Alice unlike any you’re familiar with. And that’s a good thing.
“Alice is probably the most unpredictable game available today,” states Aspyr president Michael Rogers. “From the opening scene, and continuing throughout the game, Alice is a slightly disturbing, eerie, and wickedly fun experience.”
Assist the downtrodden.
Here’s the story: Alice is a little older than she was in her first two tales, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (in fact, developer Rogue Entertainment considers this the third chapter in her story). An accidental house fire has claimed the lives of her parents, leaving her so guilt-ridden that she descends into madness and must be institutionalized.
Note: American McGee’s Alice is no longer available from Aspyr, however you may still be able to find it at your local retail store.
Download the Universal Binary patch 
Wonderland beckons again, of course, but that fanciful place has been transformed into a barren, awful wasteland under the iron-fisted rule of the Queen of Hearts. That doesn’t stop Alice from returning there for more adventures, but this time the action is all in her mind, and you must not only help her defeat the Queen but also help her regain her sanity.
A Demented Ride
“Alice is definitely a vast, far-reaching game with settings that pull you into the story,” says Rogers. “Literally, in some cases.”
Let’s go for a ride.
The game starts with the levels Dementia and Pandemonium, wherein the Cheshire Cat shows up to drop some vague hints about how to proceed to the next level (as he does throughout the game; it’s up to you to figure out what he means when he makes such statements as “Entering skool requires a real leap of logic.”). Other characters, such as the White Rabbit and some of the people who have been enslaved under the Queen, will also talk to you and advance the story or give you some clues.
Every level in the game is reminiscent of a demented Disneyland ride, especially the mining cart that Alice rides in a cut scene in Pandemonium. Tentacles writhe and wiggle in one dark corner. Doors and walls jut out at odd angles. Strange — and deadly — goo bubbles below the rickety wooden planks you have to walk on. Giant gears turn the motor of some enormous, unseen machine (whatever it’s doing can’t be good).
Not Your Parents’ Alice
“There’s no mistaking this Alice with the Alice in Wonderland,” says Rogers. “Visually, it’s so different from any Alice artwork or past recreations of the story that you don’t even really recall the ‘old’ Alice.”
Read the Visitors Guide to Wonderland on page two.
