The Official American McGee Site

We’ve mentioned once or twice that our community is international, that we have fans and members on every continent and in a large number of nations.  Today’s guest entry comes to us from Hungary and our friend sum-blink.  I’ve let most of the phrasing the same and only corrected minor spelling errors:

My first meeting with American McGee’s Alice was only a short article in a magazine about 11-12 years ago. I always loved the Tomb Raider series so I’ve every time looked for the clones. But those short article with those four or five lines got me very curious about the game: why they’re made a sequel for those old child books and why in 21th century? There was only one picture with the small Alice, the Rabbit and Cheshire – and I knew it: it’ll be more much than a simple Tomb Raider clone. I was always liked interesting tales like the similar visualised Nightmare Before Christmas.

When the game was released (in Hungary a bit later than in the US, February of 2001) I bought a magazine with Alice on the cover. I played the demo through immediately – it was quite long but I couldn’t stop it. And read the article. Watch the trailer. It was shocking for the first time though. I didn’t liked the concept of the story – poor Alice I was so deplored her! But in the demo I saw her in Wonderland, with beautiful designed levels, and a lot of amazing ideas. The beginning of the game was gripping, and later the Woods, then the Chess level… They were amazing reflection to the books with incredible design and feel! I loved the great, really special, atmospheric music I ever heard in video games – it was quite unique. The main characters became were so kind to me (especially Cheshire cat with his fantastic voice) everyone who helped Alice – even if they looking weird. The foes were such deliberated, well designed characters too!

A few years later I can buy the full game. I was so happy and concerned. When I finished the game I finally understand: that was all along a Fable of Volition! The hardly, sometimes brutal fighting in the game, the hourly twisted events, the creepy atmosphere were symbols. And Alice of the game – like all of us in real life – fighting, she never gave up and finally healed. Those circa half minutes video in the end of the game gave me so much positive energy – and still every time I see it – because I loved the message of the video: you have to keep going, even the hardest times, and you reach what you want. And it is STILL a fairy tale for me, not a common horror game – the goods are won, the evil are failed. Most people (unfortunately in nowadays too) only see the surface: the twisted, dark looking of the game. It’s became a fashion in our world to be „badass”, the evil characters are the „cool”, like Kratos. But Alice is different. There is more deeper message in here, the violence not just empty brutality – we have to see the whole game to made an opinion. Alice not only a crazy girl, with a bloody knife – as a lot of people think about her. She has feelings. It’s only an alter ego of a tiny, lonely girl. So the game became one of my favourite computer games. Alice became my favourite character. I started my virtual career on the AMA forum, I read so much in the theme, then made „fan-arts” (designs mostly) of Alice, and a few months ago started the one and only Hungarian fan-site for the game and the whole Alice theme.

http://alicefans.wordpress.com/

I became a fan: I bought the original books, read them a lot of times, played through the full game so many times (and every time I’ve found something new in that.) When I heard about the second game i was so happy of course and started collecting every little news and pieces of new information. I’m waiting the sequel so much. I hope they won’t be cruel about Alice Liddell’s alternate fate and the lot of fight and those tragic event will be fruitful in the end of the second game too. First it was an odd, interesting idea to mixing the Asian culture, with the Victorian era, but now it looks more and more operable. Of course times are changed in the trends of the video games too: games became simpler, but shinier but I hope (I know!) there will be so much creative ideas as in the case of the first game and there will be nostalgic ideas and references for the old fans too like me. American McGee’s Alice was an underrated gem in video game history! A piece of art. But now every new gamer will be met with this classic, thanks for the sequel.

About sum-blink (Kiss Ákos): “I’m 28 I live in Hungary, and try to be working as a webdesigner. I love to do creative things since I was a child – drawing, then digital drawing, writing. I love music too, I’m started to playing on drums, and my favourite band is Blink 182. I love nature, my girlfriend, my mother and every kind people. And I almost forgotten: I want to make the World Peace…”