American McGee’s Alice is a third person psychological thriller video game that was first released in 2000. The storyline of the game takes place after the events of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland novel. In the game, Alice’s house burns down killing her family in the process. She is taken in Rutledge Asylum. After a decade, she is taken back in Wonderland where she must kill the Queen of Hearts and restore order in Wonderland.
Players control the character of Alice as she travels through the different locations in Wonderland. There are several creatures and beasts to encounter along the way. Alice makes use of different items to use as weapons including a croquet mallet, demon dice, playing cards, a vorpal blade, and an ice wand. There are two bars that represent the character’s statistics. The red bar is Alice’s sanity bar and represents her health. The blue bar is Alice’s strength and represents the power for her weapons. All the other weapons use up power except for the vorpal blade.
Collectibles can also be acquired in different locations. There are three items that improve Alice’s abilities and strength for a short period of time. These are:
• Looking glass – makes Alice invisible
• Rage box – makes Alice stronger
• Grasshopper tea – makes Alice jump higher and run faster