YMMV / American McGee's Alice

• Annoying Video Game Helper: The Cheshire Cat. Less annoying than other examples since you actually have to summon his help but, the character's eponymous quirks being what they are, his "help" is often enigmatic to the point of uselessness. The 2011 remastered version that was included in Alice: Madness Returns, oddly enough, removed this feature altogether.
• Awesome Art: No one denies the art direction is exceptional, even if the accompanying gameplay is filled with problems.
• Awesome Music:
  • A good majority of the soundtrack, thanks to the musical talent of Chris Vrenna (who now plays with Marilyn Manson). The best example would have to be either "Village of the Doomed" or "Flying on the Wings of Steam", the latter of which had a remix that was put on the album.
  • Time to Die and Battle with the Red Queen.
• Cheese Strategy: The fight with the Duchess can be cheesed outright by simply making Alice jump on the mantle and pelt the Duchess with knives or cards.
• Goddamned Bats: The ladybugs aren't small, but they fly, they're hard to hit, they respawn infinitely (albeit slowly), and even if you kill one, it's likely to fall right on top of you and self-destruct, damaging you in the process. This makes them by far the most annoying enemy in the game.
• Game-Breaker: Once you get the Ice Wand and/or Jacks, they'll pretty much be your most-used weapons. That is, until you get the Jabberwock's Eye Staff, which works wonders on larger groups of enemies.
  • The Ice Wand deals extremely consistent and rapid damage, but killing certain enemies with it, like the robots in the Hatter's lair, can drain most of your mana.
  • The Jacks are a lot more efficient, but their damage output varies wildly from one use to the next. They also need a surface to bounce off of, so forget using them against banshees above bottomless pits.
• Memetic Mutation: "Running away, are we?"
• Nightmare Retardant: The fairly dated graphics can certainly detract something from the Horror, especially since the game is from 2000.
  • The roasted dodos.
  • The death of the Cheshire Cat is sad, but the weird squeak/meow noise he makes when it's happening is hard not to laugh at.
• Once Original, Now Common: In the decades since the game was initially released, the Fractured Fairytale and Grimmification tropes have become incredibly common, and far more violent games have become just as popular, leading some to see Alice as needlessly edgy and bloody. Back during its initial release in 2000, the game was seen as unflinchingly brutal and dark for a video game, while its aesthetics were like nothing seen prior in the medium.
• That One Level:
  • Pretty much the entire Vale of Tears and Wonderland Woods is difficult (due to including both Goddamn Bats and That One Boss), but by far the worst single level is the one where the player goes river rafting with the Mock Turtle. Doing this on Easy is even more tedious and difficult, and requires more save-scumming, that fighting the Queen of Hearts on Nightmare. The level where you follow his bubbles underwater, by contrast, is fairly painless.
  • The Majestic Maze, purely because you can make the entire level unwinnable if you make the mistake of using the Watch before Alice needed to do so (forcing you to replay the entire level).
  • Waterlogged. Remove every weapon other than your knife, fight hordes of fish monsters while also fighting with the camera and bad melee hit registration, and include the possibility of drowning. Perfect recipe for a terrible level.
• That One Boss: Although the Centipede has an obvious weak spot, he's not obligated to expose it... ever. His actions are 100% random instead of following a scripted pattern, so this fight can last for hours without him taking any damage.
  • The Jabberwock's first stage is hard enough, but the second fight against it takes the cake as it flies around and breathes hard to dodge fire that could absolutely eviscerate you if you don't bounce around like crazy to reach the essence.
• Rated M for Money: Apparently, Alice's insanity means violence, bloody decapitations, sorts of stuff Alice probably wouldn't have imagined by that point in her life (considering she was catatonic after all), and the ads seemed to merely show that this is not the family friendly Alice in Wonderland that Lewis Carroll gave us. Apparently, Executive Meddling is to be blamed for this, since American McGee himself has stated in an interview that the developers were pushed to make the game a lot Darker, Edgier, Bloodier and Gorier than they had originally envisioned it. But then again, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
• Ugly Cute: The Oyster Starlets and the dodos.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Although it's based on the relatively tame Alice In Wonderland books, the game's rated M for a reason.
• The Woobie: Pretty much anyone that isn't violently insane applies, namely Alice herself, The Mock Turtle, and The March Hare and Dormouse.