It’s a children’s tale most of us can relate to. You feel a little lost and confuzzled, you ingest something strange a ‘friend’ gives you, and woah baby, the cat is suddenly talking to you and demanding Chinese food.
Despite what you think, Alice in Wonderland actually isn’t an allegorical tale of drug consumption and metaphysical self-exploration. Its author, Lewis Carroll, was in fact making a statement about the monumental shift in science in the 1860s, a time when Euclidian mathematics (where things are grounded in reality) were being surplanted by a new wave of math, a movement that dreamt up bat-shit ideas like imaginary numbers and the hypothosis of an inverted squared triangle’s arse (or, whatever).
Regardless of what Carroll was metaphorically trying to state, it’s accepted that Alice in Wonderland is pretty freaky. The aforementioned talking cats, manic milliners and that whole ‘follow the white rabbit’ side-quest. If something is crazy enough for the Wachowski brothers to incorporate it into one of their films, you know it’s out there.
It’s of little surprise, then, that the Alice tale has been reinterpreted and twisted since its first appearance 150 years ago. The Beatles were big fans (though they espoused the whole ‘let’s get messed up and listen to the Queen of Hearts talking backwards’ notion), as was game producer American McGee (real name).
American McGee’s Alice was released in 2000 on the PC and Mac to critical acclaim. Set after Alice’s second adventure (Through the Looking Glass), an accidental fire renders Alice both an orphan and, no doubt connected with drinking randomly found elixirs and talking to anthropomorphic characters, clinically off her trolley. Institutionalised, the macabre and often saturnine story saw Alice’s insanity as a pernicious force that threatened the very fabric of Wonderland. Players had to not only return Alice to saneness but, in doing so, also save her colourful “make-believe” friends.
News of a sequel to Alice appeared back in July, with American McGee (still his real name) promising another twisted and psychologically harrowing tale of delirium and vorpal blades. Alice has relapsed, the Cheshire Cat once again appearing to her in hallucinations. And off we go again down the rabbit hole.
Alice: Madness Returns is set for release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in Q4 2011.
Boomshanks
The closer we get to the final 10 the more exciting this gets. Love to see games in here which I haven’t heard about yet, such as this one. Sounds interesting to say the least.
Also I’m really curious where Resistance 3 will end up. Hope it’s in the top ten but I have my doubts
moshi
More sinister the better for me .