American McGee
American McGee's Alice

"Alice enters the school theater, where her guide of the moment was waiting for her, the only free person in Wonderland. On the stage, there are three children: one of them has his head split open and his brain exposed, and another has a clamp tightening his skull; they are ugly, gaunt, and worn out. The first is laughing and crying intermittently, another is tracing an imaginary square on the floor, waving his hands in front of his face and making strange jerks with his head, and the third is begging his own fist not to hit him, then hitting himself in the face, and praying to it again, and hitting himself once more, in a loop of madness."

Just like music albums, video games also have the work of one (or more) minds behind them, they too are born in a specific context, where they can be compared with their contemporaries in the genre, and they too are either able to bring something new to the era or not. Some are authentic masterpieces.

After an initial review of a game that was neither + nor -, I bring you a game that represents a milestone in the history of video gaming, and beyond.

The game in question is "American McGee's Alice", created by American McGee (already known for the famous Quake), who claims to be an "aspiring new Walt Disney. Just a little more malevolent."

The story (re)begins when little Alice sees her parents dying alive in a fire caused by the cat, a circumstance for which she blames herself. In a coma for 10 years, Alice is now locked up in an asylum, accompanied only by a dirty plush rabbit, "sentinel of Alice's deep madness"; her utterances to the world are limited and meaningless. She speaks little, and when she does, she describes the hell she lives in her head, violent, fantastical, and absurd. She attacked the nurses when, to belittle her, they began to spoon-feed her rabbit with porridge: she tore the spoon from their hands and caused them deep lacerations, then tried to slit her wrists with the same.

Wonderland, once a paradise of nonsense, now resurrects terrifyingly in Alice's coma, distorted by the pain of her parents' death. Its inhabitants are mutated, deformed projections of their originals, and all live in slavery to the Queen of Hearts. Even many of the characters who will help Alice are destined to be killed during the story. Alice's mission is to restore order in Wonderland. To do so, she will have only her imagination, a knife, and some types of toys, not exactly harmless ones.

The game's settings are as good as one could wish for, senseless, absurd, and terrifying, a trip into the absurdities of the "mad" mathematician Lewis Carroll, retold and enhanced by American McGee. The characters are well characterized and drawn, in a way that is both original and faithful to Carroll’s original (which was already quite out there, in my opinion). Even the scenarios we'll navigate are absurd, chaotic, and at times truly spectacular. Alice's own characterization is spot-on, with this white apron stained with blood, leather boots, a knife in her hand, and green eyes that reveal no emotion (almost a reminder of her coma).

Worth mentioning is the soundtrack, composed by Chris Vrenna himself, former drummer of Nine Inch Nails from the The Downward Spiral era. Never lively and never repetitive, it's a constant loop of plucked strings, piano notes, and more. It fully immerses in the absurdity of the situations. What more could one wish for? (Trent himself?)

The gameplay is simple and intuitive; if you want to have fun, play it in "easy," so you can enjoy the settings without thinking excessively about the game itself (the loading when you die interrupts our trip). If you're looking for a challenge, medium and hard will do just fine.

Flawless graphics (within the era's limits), which in any case do not detract at all from the beauty of the scenarios.

Another note of merit is the fact that alongside the original game, the instruction booklet is sold along with another booklet, the diary of the professor who cared for little Alice. A great appetizer to whet your appetite while waiting to play.

Truly a masterpiece. Recommended for all lovers of the absurd, nonsense, dark settings, partly splatter, and especially for all lovers of Alice in Wonderland. A must-try. If you want a taste, watch the trailer.