Not living happily ever after
Ever wondered what it would be like if Lewis Carroll's infamous Alice were to revisit Wonderland several years after the original tale ended? Me either, but that's precisely what has happened in EA's latest release, American McGee's Alice.
All is not well as we first meet our heroine in the stylish FMV introduction; lying comatose in a mental asylum bed, poor Alice has been traumatized by the death of her family in a house fire, which only she escaped alive and was then forced to stand back helplessly and listen to their final screams. Clutching at her last shred of sanity, Alice appears to have journeyed back to a very different Wonderland, deformed and macabre. Old friends, the white rabbit and Cheshire cat, are pleading for her help -- can she rescue her familiar yet altered fantasy world from the evil Red Queen's clutches and perhaps save herself along with it?
Intriguing plot, wouldn't you say? Dreamt up by ex-id Software level designer, American McGee (yes, his real name), he and Rogue Entertainment(creators of several successful Quake/Q2 mission packs) chose the 3rd-person action/adventure format to tell this exciting new chapter based on the Alice in Wonderland story.
He's still late
As you begin the game, Alice finds herself once again chasing after the white rabbit -- he's no longer the adorable bunny people will remember from the Disney cartoon. His face crinkled menacingly, ears bent back behind his head and an overbite that looks like fangs is just an example of how things in Wonderland have been skewed. It's Alice's job to traverse the 15 massive environments, jump some platforms, pull a few levers, and fight the hazards of the land and Red Queen's minions once again.
The controls and interface are pretty much as standard as they come -- seasoned gamers can dive right into the customization screen and set up their mouse/keyboard combination, just how they like it, in no time at all. Alice has little in the way of special controls -- just an alternate fire option for certain weapons and a key to call on the Cheshire cat's (enigmatic, and usually quite useless) advice when you need it.
Most noteworthy is the very well designed aiming system, which can often be a pain in the unmentionable bits for most 3rd-person games. Whenever you carry a ranged weapon, a targeting reticule is always visible to show you where you're aiming; more importantly, when you manage to get it over an enemy, it circles around them to denote Alice has locked in on the target, so the issue of preciseness and never knowing exactly what you're aiming at is not a problem. Another smart feature involves when you look towards the ground -- footprints will appear to help you anticipate where Alice is likely to land if you jump forward from your current position. This is immensely helpful for tricky platform hopping, which was also a common frustration with the 3rd-person viewpoint.
Fundamentally, gameplay remains pretty conventional for the genre. In true Tomb Raider fashion, your underlying objective is to always push linearly forward, find the exit, and possibly trip upon a few secrets/bonuses along the way. As Alice enters a new area, you'll usually get a helpful camera pan of the nearby environment -- it'll often show you the exit you need to reach, which isn't much of a spoiler, because it's getting there that's the real challenge. With a few exceptions, puzzles remain simplistic enough; agility (ie. jumping) and exploration are the keys to progressing.
Original
But wait - ***Alice ***is *far *from being easily dismissible. It's obvious that in the early developmental stages, instead of the traditional focus being on gameplay with a half-baked story tacked on at the end, the Alice universe is so finely and professionally crafted, it doesn't just mask what is essentially generic gameplay... it makes it completely irrelevant. The story, characters and overall attention to detail in the many wondrous environments is the driving force behind what is otherwise a tried-and-tested gameplay formula, and that's why Alice is a significantly more exciting title to play over other offerings in the genre.
So, what makes it special? Firstly, Alice utilizes the Quake3 engine in probably the most stunningly impressive way to date. Technically, everything about the graphics is first-rate: beautiful crisp textures, highly detailed characters, great animation etc. But it's the creative side of things that makes you literally gawk at the screen. There are not many action games where you'll find yourself wishing some sections weren't so fast paced, because you really just want to stop and take a look around. The endlessly unique and inventive level designs are constantly a sight to behold, and what better theme is there for levels like these than a warped Wonderland? From the floating "fortress of doors" to the colorless chess land, to the looking glass hall of mirrors, the environments almost make the levels in MDK2 seem common and dull! Combine these fantastical locations with an absorbing plot and characters, and Alice keeps you pressing on just to see what happens next.
I rarely pay attention to in-game music but in Alice's case, the ambient soundtrack possesses a fantastic chilling quality that perfectly complements the dark and sinister atmosphere of the game. While there are no real scare moments, the chorus of young voices and creepy instrumentals in the score (all originally composed by former Nine Inch Nails member, Chris Vrenna) keeps tension levels high. Sound effects, on the other hand, do not have as much presence and the voice acting could have been much better - it's not that the characters sound wooden per se, but you can tell each of the actors recorded their lines separately and the dialogue doesn't flow smoothly.
The minions
There are quite a number of enemies vying for Alice's blood, mostly from the Red Queen's army of card guards that chase you throughout; they get tougher and wield more powerful weapons as the game goes on. You also spend a good portion of the game shrunk down in size to only a few inches tall (much of the game parallels the original Alice in Wonderland story), and so come up against many enemies of the insect variety, such as huge bayonet-carrying ants and mutated ladybugs. You also have to be careful of the hazards in the environment itself -- flowers will pop up and spit spikes at you, and mushrooms come alive trying to suck you into their fang-filled orifice.
As in any action-adventure, you can expect to find your share of boss creatures to deal with too. Many of the bosses are also twisted incarnations of the characters from the original story that the rather snobby Alice didn't get along with, including the Mad Hatter and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. The Hatter's lair is actually one of the most depraved environments, as he's turned his home into a factory that manufactures automatons from living creatures. And what of the Hatter's companions, the hare and sleepy dormouse? You can find out their horrible fate if you delve far enough in.
On the weapons side, things remain just as imaginative and bizarre. Alice starts with a rather standard, but icky, blood-stained kitchen knife (or "vorpal blade"); but from then on, she finds much more interesting contraptions to fight with. These include the playing cards, which you can rapidly hurl; the mallet that serves as a club and a way of lobbing fiery Croquet balls at the bad guys; the Jackbomb that's a Jack-in-the-box which can explode like a timed bomb or rotate while breathing a stream of fire; and don't forget the toy "Jacks", which home in on targeted creatures and pummel them to death.
Conclusion
Admittedly, underneath the incredible level designs, absorbing original storyline and constantly delightful visual assault is your standard 3rd-person action/adventure, with a few of those familiar frustrations, like having to reload ad nauseam when you keep missing that required perfectly-timed jump. But what makes American McGee's Alicestand out is that it's the sort of game that you don't play for the usual satisfaction and ego-boost of completing the last level; you play because, like any expertly-crafted tale, you want to know what happens next and see more of the fascinating, seemingly alive world of Wonderland in its new, depraved form. If id were having any problems selling their Q3 engine license, this would be the game to showcase that anything in your imagination can be magnificently crafted onto the screen. The new variation on the Alice theme is obviously intriguing enough to attract attention from the mainstream crowd outside of gaming, as it was recently announced that Nightmare on Elm Street creator, Wes Craven, has signed up to direct a movie based on this game.
Alice is suffering and she needs help out of her dementia -- and even if you can't save her, you still get to venture forth through an obscenely twisted Wonderland. It's really a no-lose situation.
Review By GamesDomain








Comments and reviews
thank you guys for uploading this :') i love this game so much
Im soo desperate to play this game goshhhh im literally whining yearning dying forrr thisss can't i fkin play on my phone why cant i😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
Hey MC, I managed to make it work on Windows and Linux (Wine) with SafeDiscLoader https://github.com/nckstwrt/SafeDiscLoader2
Just run VersionInjector and then open the alice.exe
How to play Japanese ver
Hi, I installed the Repack version of the game for Windows and additional patches and everything works, however when I play the Beyond the Wall lvl and I have to adjust the switches in the Three-Tone Room, it just doesn't work for me and I can't do it. I don't know how I am supposed to pull them, there's no signs... pls help...
I ran it on Kubuntu 24.04, via WINE. it works well. I used the NOCD version I downloaded from this website.
I ran it on 640 x 480 I think. In the config.cfg, I put in, after seta nextmap "map pandemonium$player_start"
seta r_customwidth "1920"
seta r_customheight "1080"
seta r_swapinterval "1"
That doesn't work. Of course, this is based on Quake 3 which is a very ancient game and is a bit retarded. (Needs some code fixing, It probably doesn't use the Win API properly.)
I ran alice.exe and it has no effect. Still runs at 640 x 480
Also, installing it from the CD has the same effect as on Win 10. It forgets to copy some pk3 files from the CD, but you can manually copy these to your HDD.
I bough this via Steam years ago. You can find a decent how to play guide via the Steam community:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=645862676
How can I set the game to Spanish? It's supposed to use the default Windows language, but it always shows up in English.
i finally dowmload tihs game yay
this game is very weird but alice is so cute.
As I downloaded this, my computer made a weird noise and now won't boot up, on inspection by a professional computer person the drive was killed.
Suspected virus attached to this file, now is going to cost me about £400 to repair it 🤬😤
Proceed with extreme caution
"Repack by MagiPack (configured for modern systems, includes sound fix) English version 605 MB" for Windows fails to download. I tried twicw under linux and once under Windows 10. It seems to download the whole file and says "Failed". The file cannot be unzipped.
This is amazing, a real mind trip. The game runs perfectly and it is a true time caplse
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/kcl6r58acbhxoeijp9jns/ww.jpg?rlkey=aakx37h1qk184zd2ywolyaii6&st=a8melhqa&dl=0
i very ike this game cuz you cant download if you cant have account but you need a acoount and you can download with click and play thats so easy right.
wow well l think this wonderful game
it says "could not load opengl driver" I'm using it on crossover how to fix
I don't know what kind of error this is but i only get the savefiles working after launch by starting a new game while having protected folder access blocking my alice.exe.
The remastered version works great with the VorpalFix ( https://github.com/Wemino/VorpalFix/releases/ ), it does the following:
- Allows the game to launch without Alice: Madness Returns and/or prevents the game from launching back into Alice: Madness Returns.
- Ability to switch the game's supported language (English, German, French, or Spanish).
- Restores the random sound selection function (e.g. Cheshire Cat summoning, Vorpal Blade hit sounds).
- Fixes "Hard Disk Full" when the game is installed on a disk with more than 2TB of free space.
- Options to correct GUI, HUD, and FMV scaling in widescreen resolutions.
- Custom framerate limit, with the option to match the monitor’s refresh rate.
- Configurable Field of View (FOV), with the option for automatic adjustment based on aspect-ratio.
- Force the game to use highest quality models with enhanced LOD.
- And many other bug fixes and features.
Unable to save game after trying every fix imaginable. No save game directory is recognized, I keep getting the "Hard Drive is Full" error but there's no saved games to delete to make space.
Just want you all to know that the only thing there work without any crash is the "repack" version. The other solution just crash and have some weird video graphic problems.
The sound is all crunchy and messed up, I downloaded the sound mod and I don't know how to use it
Can someone help me? when i run the game, it doesn`t working and show me this message:
GLW_StartOpenGL() - could not load OpenGL subsystem
if you're looking for the remastered version which has fewer bugs try this link
https://archive.org/details/alice_202106
Its not perfect but less buggy than the original release
thank u My Abandonware, great game!!!
When trying to run the remastered version i get the error can not load default.cfg. Has anyone had this issue ( **note this is specifically the remastered version)?
DRM-Free Installer
Source: Czech Magazine Score Cover DVD 2024/03
Language: English
https://archive.org/download/score242dvd/Score_2014-03_242_DVD.iso/American%20McGee%27s%20Alice%2F0x0409.ini
https://archive.org/download/score242dvd/Score_2014-03_242_DVD.iso/American%20McGee%27s%20Alice%2FAmerican%20McGee%27s%20Alice%28tm%29.msi
https://archive.org/download/score242dvd/Score_2014-03_242_DVD.iso/American%20McGee%27s%20Alice%2FData1.cab
https://archive.org/download/score242dvd/Score_2014-03_242_DVD.iso/American%20McGee%27s%20Alice%2FSetup.ini
https://archive.org/download/score242dvd/Score_2014-03_242_DVD.iso/American%20McGee%27s%20Alice%2Fsetup.exe
@ADMIN It's the version I downloaded from this site, so it should apply?
My only guess is that the Windows 10 fix doesn't contain/fix the language code.
Like I said, the version defaults to US and the availiable .pk files are pak0.pk3, pak1_large.pk3, pak2.pk3 and pak3.pk3. I can add/remove any pak4_(language).pk3 but it doesn't change anything. The only remaining option would be if the other .pk3 files are the english version but split and must be completely substituted by the new pak4.pk3 but the game straight up doesn't work if I remove them.
@CLUELESSROOKIE Try to rename copied file, giving it same name as old file, I guess. Also, language file not necessary should be .pak3, it can be called like pak1_french.pk3 or something, but it should have prefix/postfix with selected language (like _english, _french, _german, etc.)
Check in Windows settings if hidden files are visible, maybe language file is hidden. And that instruction is only for USA CD version, I don't know if it will work for any other versions
this is literally 1:1 the Quake 3 engine, meaning i can create crazy aliased commands and controls.
here are a few useful ones:
seta cg_cameraScale "1" ;Removes Camera smoothing / laggy aim
seta cg_3rd_person "0" ;Enables First Person View
and an entire .CFG I built with scrollable camera distance, togglable 1st / 3rd person, and weapon sets.
https://pastebin.com/g7HtmMAC
5 out of 5 game. psychological af.
@ADMIN No, the problem is that you cannot replace the default language .pak because it doesn't exist (they only go from pak0 to pak3). Even if you copy another pak4 from disc 2 into /base, the program simply ignores it. In other words the pak4 don't exist as far as the game is concerned.
@CLUELESSROOKIE the language files are on CD2, not in the folder with installed game. Read my instruction more carefully, it was the example if you want to change the English language to French. If you have the game on some other language, like Dutch, and want to play it on English - delete pak5_dutch.pk3 in American McGee's Alice/base folder, then copy pak4_english.pk3 from CD2 and put in American McGee's Alice/base folder
@NIGHTMARE Use specialized utility like WinCDEmu or Daemon Tools Lite, MDF/MDS files could be opened only with disc image utilities
I can't instore(open) Japanese version.
This File [ALICE00A.mdf]
About the language change: The /base folder does not show any pak4 files except the one I copied into it so I cannot delete pak4_english and the language never changes
(In fact it shouldn't have been in english to begin with because that's not my system language)
@ED MURPHY
- Magipack repack is for original game, it is the installer with all files included, we added it for users who may have troubles with configuring the game for modern systems. It has full English version of original 2000 game
- Remaster doesn't have Cheshire Cat's tips probably because of some technical reason, other than that it has same content as original game
thank you for letting these gems still available. i have a couple of questions:
-is the magipack repack the original version or the 2011 remake?
-is that repack a stand alone version or an installer?
-besides the cheshire cat tips not working, is there other content missing in the 2011 remaster?
thank you in advance
Make sure you download the HD pack on Nexus mods for this, makes the game look amazing in 2023
guys just download the Magipack repackaged version, it works without any fixes or additional downloads :-))
We have updated this page, added new files for PC versions: new language versions, many fixes and Remastered edition. All instructions are in description, make sure to check it.
Also, we converted old disc images to ISO images, for convenience. And added Mac version that wasn't added before
just have to mount the cue files not the image and you wont get an error
This is one of those games that has a unique style that pulls you in. it is also entertaining well written and the eerie soundtrack really draws you into the experience. Ifind that I pull it out every few years and play it again. one of my favorites!
Doesn't work at all, tried everything with w10's image tool and Daemon tools, NONE WORKED
THEY ARE NOT CORRUPTED, these images are in a format not supported anymore natively by newer versions Windows (8, 10, 11, etc) and wont mount that way. You will need to get Daemon Tools lite or some other ISO mounting software, or, burn it to a CD using nero or other disc burning tool. DO NOT USE WINDOWS TO BURN THE DISCS, IT WILL NOT USUALLY WORK CORRECTLY!!
The CD's are both saying it's corrupted. Can someone help?
Can you fix the ISO version? Both CDs are corrupted.
hello! i do not understand how to run it. when i click mount it says the file is corrupted
Works great on my vista box. I don't download old games to play on my win11 machine.
Using low definition install & windows 10 the game freezes my system when loading the first level. Any ways to fix?
Check this link if you're having trouble installing
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/American_McGee%27s_Alice#Game_does_not_install_correctly_on_Windows_10
Can someone help?? I keep getting the error message "Couldn't mount file, the disk image is corrupted".
Strange it works fine for me tho I am playing one from steam bundled with madness return
I can't even get the base install to work on Windows 10. Whenever I mount the CD1 image, the loader comes up to install it and then Install Shield gives me an error about the CDCode being invalid and to fill out EReg Config Form to obtain a valid CDCode Build. I tried putting in the CD Key ahead of time in the American McGee's Alice_eReg.exe that is inside the eReg folder on CD 1, but this didn't help. I have tried a bunch of other stuff too like running as admin, etc.
I know that usually on Win 10 you need the installer fix (which I have) but I'm pretty sure to even apply this you must first install the game (which I can't get too because of that error).
After doing some searching I can't find anything related to this, does anyone else have this issue or have a solution?
fix for the voicelines issue: put the folder in your C drive, this gets the non-alice voicelines to play
This game keeps glitching in the 2nd grayd area when I get the mushroom jumbo or whatever, it keeps making the camera give an over view of the room and I can't adjust it and only one that works is the low definition one, can anyone help with the camera problem though?
i like smoking cheese sticks and taking shots of mozzarella water
worked like a charm thx
after months of searching for a good download, i found this. following another comment (thank you so much wanrich), i installed the low definition version...only to find that the only voicelines working are alice's. help!
Never mind it was the mods -_-
The low definition version was the only one I managed to get working because the other two kept having "the disk image file is corrupted" error, no matter what I did. Plus that version automatically runs at 1920 x 1080. But the pool of tears runs at such a low framerate its impossible to play, and very nauseating. I did install an enhanced textures mod, so I will try my backup clean install, but if it isn't that, does anyone know what I can do to fix it? I was hoping there would be something like the fix for fallout new vegas where it would let the game use more cores, but I haven't found anything, most results are for madness returns.
A user on patreon named Dr Peixoto made a patch software that can put this game into fullscreen resolution automatically without using the console, this patch also offers graphical improvements for many other games. You can download it here, follow the instructions to make a unique shortcut for the game to get the program to work. Download for free at the second link
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=44312848
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21ALVhB0MrkWKtjVk&cid=0619FB6EE413CE91&id=619FB6EE413CE91%2119598&parId=root&action=locate
I wanted to play
i didnt know there's an older version!!! thanks
the low definition version works on windows 11
doesn't work, even on windows 7 vm :/
There is an artist called "English-Sheep-Shagger" from London who has released a new HD texture pack for AM-Alice this on his website.
It also fixes the black screen issue when running on Windows 11.
Image is corrupted
The ISO version says "disk image is corrupted" when I try to mount it
The game is not working at all
(Windows 7 and Windows 10)
- All compatibility modes tested
- Install have multiple missing files
- Image also damaged
I love this game!
I have no idea how to play this now that it's downloaded.
Anyone having issues with the dialogue not playing for anyone but Alice just move the folder into your programfiles(x86) folder.
The only dialogue that works is Alice, and even the sound effects do not work. Downloading the "High quality sounds" did not fix the issue. Just download from this site instead: https://steamunlocked.net/american-mcgees-alice-free-download/
The first PC game I ever bought, still have the original CD :) The in-game music is absolutely gorgeous, composed by Chris Vrenna former Nine Inch Nails member (apparently with some input from Trent Reznor).
growing up it was only my brother who got brand new gifts and video games and it would make me sad whenever I'd tell my parents which games I'd want only to see my brother get them for his birthday or Christmas instead. So as soon as I was able to work and buy my own computer I very quickly learned I can buy games online and bought myself a copy of Alice Madness returns on steam! Thank you for such a wonderful game! My goal now is to be able to play the first Alice
Audio and frame rate isn’t perfect but it runs fine aside from that
Their is no voices during gameplay
the text is going by way to fast to read
Vorpalnose - The "sound" folder should go into the folder in the game directory called "Base"
Where exactly do we place the higher quality audio to? Do we place the "sound" folder on the root of the games folder?
Phatoume: You don't need the Madly Enhanced mod or any other mods for it to work properly on Windows 10, just the Windows 10 fix file in the mega.nz link is enough.
The OG Version doesn't install correctly on windows 10, you need certain files for it to fully install and run, I'll link them here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxsjlkG4eTY&t=218s
https://www.moddb.com/mods/american-mcgees-alice-madly-enhanced
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1P54riPxUKFMFYR8ifhoK30xx89nSzfRK
https://mega.nz/file/CdpBXYxK#9DxJkL5Hfz5BwEXgrQP-vPG2qJu-BHy3U1Mifvbhu-c
https://www.nexusmods.com/americanmcgeesalice/mods/1?tab=files
https://www.play-old-pc-games.com/2014/02/09/american-mcgees-alice/
JACKO - in the "ALICE" folder there is alice.exe which you can double click to start the game
This copy of the game has low quality audio for some reason. You can download higher quality audio for it from this link, just extract it and drop it into the "ALICE" folder
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TVzD1TBQnAKne-4RcqTSNuJu9jTGnNIy/view?usp=sharing
Grew up with this game, holds a special place in my heart as it was my very first 'violent' videogame. Hell, my father had the original copy when it came in those silly art boxes, I even have the journal that came with the game box detailing Alice's treatment at Rutledge insane asylum. This game holds alot of great memories for me, much like Thief 2 and Thief: The Dark Project before it became 'Thief Gold'.
I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes grim twists on childhood fairytales.
Thank you so much. I am obsessed with "Alice In WOnderland" and played this game when it came out, also played "Madness Returns." With help from this site, I am finally playing American McGee's Alice in Windows 10 and I am so thrilled, I cannot believe it. Thank you!
This Archive has no Setup.exe or Alice.exe to run the game.
StixsmasterHD:
I'd still consider it abandonware because you can't just buy it, you have to buy the sequel. Plus the version here is the original release version while the sequel is bundled with an HD remaster which some people might not want since remasters usually have things not working properly or change things in a way that not everyone likes.
technically this isnt abandonware
you can buy it legally from here with its sequel: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/alice-madness-returns-the-complete-collection
I can understand the -1 point on the Raspberry Pi 4 comment but let me explain... I'm using Twister OS with a program called box86 that let's me run x86 wine which let's me run this game and a ton of others.
This runs great on my Raspberry Pi 4!!!
It almost runs perfectly for me... except that all the ingame conversations are skipped and I can't hear any audio from them. All other audio works just fine.
If you are having trouble with the DRM, get the Good Old Games front end and register Alice in it. They remove the DRM and make it boot up.
"Not allowing me to save? Keeps saying full hard drive and to delete saved games, but there almost 4tbs free on my hard drive.... and this is my first play through, just launched it .."
If you installed the game into your "Program Files" folder, sometimes it causes problems because Windows won't allow the game to modify any of the files, which could include creating a save file. Try running the game as an administrator, or moving the game folder somewhere outside of the Program Files folder.
Not allowing me to save? Keeps saying full hard drive and to delete saved games, but there almost 4tbs free on my hard drive.... and this is my first play through, just launched it ..
I had problems running this game above 640x480 but I found a fix. If anyone ekse has graphics problems with Alice on a modern system here's how to fix it. Install the program called "nGlide" and check the compatibility section of the nGlide website for the rest of the instructions on how to make it work properly. You need to install another file into the Alice directory and use a console command, but after that it should work properly at any resolution.
I need an entire code that can be found in a white box at the left of the back of the cd. Does any one have it?
It worked for me with W10 x64 without any tweaks.
Hi, I just downloaded it. I'm using Windows 10, it does run it, however the screen is cropped and moved a bit down and to the right. I can't get it to center. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks a lot.
This game is lovely!
I am having trouble with graphics. The blue Will bar is in the middle of the screen. No red Sanity bar visible except golden line to left of will level, again mid screen. Toy indicator is crammed behind these two. ANy fix?
Thanks,
Bill
Thank YOU!
I recommend playing it in FullHD, it's awesome :-)
just open console by "~" key and type:
seta r_customwidth "1920"
(enter)
seta r_customheight "1080"
(enter)
seta r_mode "-1"
(enter)
vid_restart
(enter)
and it's done. Enjoy! (of course you can use other resolutions too, depending on your monitor)
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.