McGee: Alice won't go "over the top"

By Robert Purchese Published 3 September, 2010

But will tackle "adult" and "mature" topics.

American McGee has told Eurogamer that his new game Alice: Madness Returns will not squirt blood and gore "for the sake of getting an M rating".

Quite the opposite: McGee said his game would favour "adult" and "mature" topics over injections of puberty for a new console audience.

"No, no no no. This is definitely an M-rated title," McGee told Eurogamer. "The first Alice, we never set out to get an M-rating. It was more about trying to be true to the fiction that we created from the well known books.

"This time around it's the same thing: we're trying to be true to this version of Alice that we've created and the world in which she lives and the problems she has. That means we are going to be dealing with what you could call adult or mature topics; she's not living a happy or easy life.

"But, that being said," he added, "we're not trying to go over the top and use blood and gore and violence just for the sake of getting an M rating. This will be an M title, but it's going to be in the sense of mature, adult content, not over the top violent, horror content."

American McGee's Alice was published on PC 10 years ago by EA. A decade on and EA is ready for a sequel; American McGee himself unveiled Alice: Madness Returns at a publisher showcase during the summer.

Alice: Madness Returns will be released on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011.

We'll be publishing our full interview with American McGee about Alice: Madness Returns next week.

That's Alice: she's mental.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (26) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #1 1 year ago

    Alice won't go "over the top"

    Then surely Fieldmarshall Haig will have Alice shot for cowardice!

  • sneetch #2 1 year ago

    /standing ovation

    Sheer genius Mentalist(air)!

  • schnide #3 1 year ago

    Will it also tackle good gameplay?

  • f00b_inc #4 1 year ago

    What about GAME injections of pubes?

  • Zephro #5 1 year ago

    Great if it's true.

  • drxym #6 1 year ago

    American McGee's Ego

  • Magiced #7 1 year ago

    Adult and mature topics?

    So alice will be paying tax, reassure her boyfriend that she doesn't mind his gradually thinning hair (she does) and have to drink moderately in order to cope with the slow dawning realisation that her real life isn't as exciting as her fantasy one?
    That is a scary game!

  • kangarootoo #8 1 year ago

    This is one of several subjects that just makes me think "by his actions may a man be known". I am not remotely interested in words about American McGee's projects, I just want to see a final game that is actually good.

    All I can recall seeing so far from the man is either "nothing whatsoever for ages", or finished titles that were middling at best. Was Alice an industry changing masterpiece, or was it (as it appeared to me) a functional-but-nothing-special FPS/TPS in a funny hat?

    It truly baffles me that this chap gets as much publicity as he does. I can only put it down to the word American appearing in his name.

  • RodHull #9 1 year ago

    Hurray! American McGee's games always live up to his subtle hype! This game is going to be at least as utterly brilliant as Tim Burton's finely crafted-and-in-no-way-a-complete-and-utter-bilious-mess of a film!!! Woooop!!;/)'@£"and(â

  • Lee_Morris #10 1 year ago

    I hope EA are going to put out the first game on PSN and XBLA about 6 months before this game releases.

  • FogHeart #11 1 year ago

    I look forward to traversing a twisted insane landscape of horrors without seeing the game revert to gushings of gore and mutilations for cheap thrills.

    /Fixes Dante's Inferno with a death stare

  • AphoticCosmos #12 1 year ago

    American McGee?

    That name should be illegal.

  • metallicorphan #13 1 year ago

    @Lee_morris

    agreed,i hope EG asked him if there was a chance of it...that would actually be my first question,as i would love to see it

  • arcam #14 1 year ago

    "Injections of puberty"?

  • WrongShui #15 1 year ago

    Who remembers Bad Day LA?

    I sure as hell don't

  • schnide #16 1 year ago

    Hi, I'm Tits McGee.

  • raion #17 1 year ago

    *reads statement*
    *re-watches teaser*
    uhm, I guess the marketing department wasn't in on this crucial bit of info?
    I think that fan trailer from a while ago was more appropriate, then.

    liked the atmosphere of the first one a lot, but I can't say the same for the gameplay. regardless colour me interested.

  • spudsbuckley #18 1 year ago

    All I can recall seeing so far from the man is either "nothing whatsoever for ages", or finished titles that were middling at best.

    TimSchafer.txt

  • GreyScale #19 1 year ago

    @Kangarootoo: absolutely 100% spot on. It annoys me whenever I see American McGee bigging up his own projects, as if he is such a omnipotent auteur and artisan that we are waiting on baited breath for him to grace us with his divine touch.

    Alice was a pretty game, but with naff repetitive annoying gameplay and a cheesy 'kids book made dark and adult' theme. No big deal. What else has he done? Crapland and some Doom levels. Why the hell does he deserve all this attention?

  • metalangel #20 1 year ago

    Funny how people slag off American McGee for making shitty games and one good one (the original Alice) yet Peter Molyneux is on a fucking pedestal beyond the reach of all criticism.

  • Red-Moose #21 1 year ago

    American McGee's I've Been Trying To Become The Tim Burton of Video Games With My Alice Game, Grimm Brothers Game And Wizard Of Oz Game But Have Only Been Able To Release A Lot Of Fail Games And In Any Case No One Plays Quake Anymore It's All Battlefield Now So Like John Romero I Am Sort Of Obsolete Plz Halp.

  • oupe #22 1 year ago

    The original Alice is like an arthouse game. For this reason alone this sequel is interesting.

    ps. What's up with all the developer hate going around here? I'd like to see you bunch of 13 year olds do better.

  • metalangel #23 1 year ago

    @oef!: "I'd like to see you do better" is a 13 year old's comment. I don't have be a Michelin star chef to spot a bad meal.

  • 1471 #24 1 year ago

    "...yet Peter Molyneux is on a fucking pedestal beyond the reach of all criticism."

    That isn't true at all.

  • Lawlost #25 1 year ago

    Really enjoyed the first Alice games wasn't it developed using the Doom3 engine? Let's see what the demo is like

  • fargelsnarf #26 1 year ago

    @Lawlost it was the Quake 3 engine not Doom 3, you were close though.

    The first Alice was a great game, one which I would occasionally take a turn at now and again 10 years on, I can only hope this new one does it justice.