McGee’s Alice

Herald rating: * * * *

PC

Rogue Entertainment

MA15+

Review: Peter Eley


Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland defies description as much now as did when it was written at the turn of the century. Is it an out-and-out children's tale or something much darker from a cocaine-addicted mind?

No one seems quite sure and images from the books have surfaced in popular culture, from kiddie cartoons to Jefferson Airplane's song about drugs, White Rabbit. Now we have a computer game based on Carroll's characters. American McGee's Alice is definitely from the dark side of the ledger, with a plot based around murder and insanity.

Alice has suffered a psychotic episode and must delve deep into her subconscious to reclaim her sanity.

In doing so, she encounters characters from the books, such as the Cheshire Cat (a maniacally grinning psychopath), the evil White "off with their heads" Queen, and others.

The game is powered by the Quake Arena 3D engine and is visually stunning, but you'll need a Pentium 111 400 and a good graphics card.

Alice looks like a typically troubled American adolescent: dark-eyed, sullen and pouting. In contrast, the levels weave odd perspectives and strange shapes into the complex texture of a waking nightmare.

It's well done and provides an interesting and effective background for what is at heart a first-person action game, although the hero is a teenage girl rather than a battle-hardened macho man.

Don't be misled, though. Alice is more than ready to use her dagger and some of the other weapons from the game, and there's no shortage of gore, hence its stiff MA15+ rating.

petereley@herald.co.nz