American McGee's Alice

The Good
Everyone agrees that this game's LOOK is amazing, and a real winner. It's a fantastic experience just to wander around in, to experience. If every game's world was this... amazing-looking, immersive... well... real life would seem remarkably dull.

The Bad
...but aside from that look, that style, that flash and thunder... everything else about this game is straight out of some other game. Throw-the-lever puzzles, find-the-pixel puzzles, figure-out-the-sequence puzzles, and the ever-popular jumping puzzles. LOTS of jumping puzzles.

Bleh.

And then, once you get past the puzzles, it's fragfest time, as you hack and blast your way through a horde of enemies, culminating in a face-off with a level boss.

...and then you start all over again on the next level, with the last level boss's weapon in your arsenal. Can you say "Mega Man?"

Aside from some very original scripted sequences, it's really more of the same.

The Bottom Line
In many ways, this game could be described as "3-D Goth Super Mario On Serious Drugs."

On the other hand, if you LIKE Mario-style 3-D platformers... well... it's great.