American McGee looks to free Alice from EA to crowd-funding ‘Alice 3’

By Anthony John Agnello March 14, 2013

American McGee has carved an unusual path through the video game industry over the past two decades, a career that’s taken him from the insular and crazy successful early days of id Software, to seeking new fortunes in the ever-growing Chinese gaming market. While McGee followed the older gaming tradition of branding games through their designers, slapping his name in the title of his games, he’s never managed to break fully into the mainstream. Yet for all the failures like Bad Day L.A., McGee’s goth take on Lewis Carroll, American McGee’ Alice has held onto a devoted group of fans. The designer is now looking to those fans to make the Alice series into a trilogy.

McGee took to Facebook on Wednesday to drum up interest in Alice 3, hinting that he plans to crowd-fun the game provided he can win back to the rights to his series. “Questions for you: 1) If we could get the rights from EA, would you play Alice 3?” asked McGee, “2) If you’d play Alice 3 would you back it on Kickstarter?”

“If you said yes to those two things, make some noise—I’m trying to gauge interest in case I happen to discuss this with EA during GDC in two weeks. The more interest there is, the more seriously they’ll take the conversation.”

A large number of developer’s have had great success funding sequels and spiritual successors to games from around the same era that the original American McGee’s Alice came out. Dreamfall Chapters, a sequel to The Longest Journey which came out within months of Alice back in 2000, raised $2.5 million during its Kickstarter campaign.

The 2011 sequel to Alice, Alice: Madness Returns, wasn’t a big enough success to merit a third entry according to EA. McGee believes this wasn’t due to the game’s quality, but mismanagement on EA’s marketing department.

Alice 3 has been in McGee’s mind all along, though. Tentatively titled Alice in Otherland, McGee has discussed the game on and off since July 2012, hinting that the game would be delivered episodically and follow Alice as she enters the minds of various characters she meets rather than just returning to Wonderland.

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Anthony John Agnello

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…

Gaming

Alice: Madness Returns debuts a new gameplay filled trailer

Last week at GDC, American McGee took the stage to debut a brand spanking new trailer for Alice: Madness Returns, before allowing those in attendance a chance to try the game out. Many have heard of the original American McGee’s Alice, but honestly, few have actually played it. So for the vast majority, Alice: Madness Returns will be the introduction for the series.
The story is set in both Victorian England ten years after the events of the original game, and in Wonderland, which has grown twisted and broken to match Alice’s psyche. Alice is currently the resident of an asylum following the horrific death of her parents, and the world she used to escape to has been shattered by the events in her real life. To reclaim her sanity and escape her predicament, Alice returns to Wonderland to help free the citizens and discover the truth behind her parents’ deaths.
In the demo shown in San Francisco, the game is a somewhat traditional hack and slash title, but with a few twists. Alice will carry several weapons, and each is necessary in order to progress. Her primary weapon is the vorpal blade, but along the way she will also find giant hammers to destroy barriers, and even the odd machine gun among others.
Close quarter combat is the primary focus, and a dodge function will be instrumental in surviving. The controls are tight and responsive, and fighting multiple enemies at once is fairly intuitive. There is also an emphasis on platforming, and the Alice’s jumping abilities will be put to the test repeatedly.
Alice: Madness Returns is a game in the vein of God of War, but with a slightly less significant emphasis on the combat, and more on the environment. It is still too early to tell how it will all meld together, but what the demo showed seems promising.
Check out the trailer below, and look for Alice: Madness Returns on PC, PS3 and 360 on June 14.
[Warning: Trailer may not be suitable for all ages]

Gaming

American McGee’s Alice returns to a twisted Wonderland in this Alice: Madness Returns trailer

When the original American McGee’s Alice was released back in 2000, it was a messed up game. Since then there have been far more disturbing title released, but Alice set the bar high for the time. Filled with twisted and psychotic characters, it took the iconic ideals of Lewis Carroll's Wonderland and made them into a psychological horror-filled war zone. The game quickly gained a cult following, and interest in the title has led to a series of aborted movie adaptations that began in 2000 just a few months after the game was released.

Rumors of a film adaptation refuse to die, but while a movie may be mired in Hollywood’s dreaded limbo, a sequel to the game itself is due later this year, and a new trailer has been released to show off what you can expect from Alice: Madness Returns.

Gaming

The best upcoming PS5 games: 2023, 2024, and beyond

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