American McGee's Alice Boss Strategy/FAQ Created by: Rapskallion (AKA BrianR755) Date: January 2001 Copyright 2001 Brian Renbarger Table of Contents: I. Introduction II. General Boss Strategies III. The Bosses -1. Got Alice?: The Duchess -2. General's Revenge: The Centipede -3. Checkmate!: The Red King -4. Double Vision: Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee -5. Tea Time!: The Mad Hatter -6. Flyin' Fiend: The Jabberwock -7. Flyin' Fiend on Steroids: The Jabberwock part 2 -8. Big Bad Momma: The Queen of Hearts -9. Bigger Badder Momma: The Queen of Hearts part 2 IV. Frequently Asked Questions V. Credits VI. Legal Stuff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Having trouble with those hard to beat bosses in American McGee's Alice? Have no fear, Rapskallion is here! I've gone back and beat every boss numerous times, trying out many different strategies at all difficulty levels, and now I'm here to tell you the easiest way to beat these freaks. If you have any suggestions, ideas, comments, complaints, or criticisms, please let me know. E-mail me at Brian755@home.com with whatever you have to say. I appreciate your ideas and also appreciate your praise :). Oh, and please don't email me spam, I really do not like it. If you think you've got an easier way of beating a particular boss, send it to me. If it is something good, I'll add it to this FAQ and give you the credit you deserve. Oh, and one more thing. Please do not use this FAQ on any other site without my permission. If you are interested in using this FAQ on a webpage other than GameFAQ's, e-mail me at Brian755@home.com to get permission first. Thank you, and enjoy! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- II. General Boss Strategies ----------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a few things to remember when fighting the bosses in Alice. If you follow these basic strategies, it should make your battles easier and less frustrating. Save all the time: Possibly the most important thing to do is to remember to save your game whenever you get the chance. My suggestion is to just use the quicksave feature (f4 by default) during the battle. Every time you get in a hit without taking too much abuse, save your game. Every time you pick up some meta-essence, save your game. That way you don't have to start over if the boss gets in a good shot or you fall over the edge. Don't forget about the meta-essence: On all of the bosses, there is an unlimited supply of meta-essence. It usually moves from place to place, but there is always a pattern. Once you learn the pattern, just run from one to the other, attacking the boss in the process. Also, certain bosses (such as the hatter, centipede, and tweedles) send minions to attack you. When you kill them, they will also drop some meta-essence. However, this meta-essence will eventually disappear, so grab it fast! Don't count on your stopwatch or demon dice against bosses, because they don't work: Both the stopwatch and demon dice are useless against all bosses, so don't try it. Trust me on this one folks, the bosses are immune to their charms. Be aggressive: You will never kill anything if you don't attack it. Be aggressive against the bosses. The worst thing that can happen is you'll die and have to reload! Go out on a limb and give up some of your life for a good attack. Who knows, maybe that last effort offensive move is all that it takes to finish the boss off. Suicidal attacks (attacks where you don't worry about your own life) does more damage than you can imagine. Of course, don't get into a habit of being overly aggressive, either. Use your surroundings: Against some bosses, you can use your surroundings to your advantage. Hide behind a pillar while you wait for another meta-essence to appear. Use objects on the ground to block attacks. Run around tables in circles so that the boss can't get to you. These are all examples of using your surroundings to make the fight just a little bit easier. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- III. The Bosses ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Got Alice?: The Duchess Difficulty: Medium, in an easy sort of way Word of Advice: If you don't panic and keep moving, you'll be fine. This is it, the first boss of the game. Scared? You should be, she wants to eat you!!!! If you don't want to become a snack for this freaky looking ogre/woman/thing, my advice is to try out your newest toy; the jackbomb. The easiest way to kill this bitch is to run circles around the outer walls of the room, throwing alternate fire jackbombs right in front of you. Yes, in front of you. If you do this correctly, they will just miss you and instead will light up that freaky looking woman chasing after you. Don't look back, or else she'll catch up to you and munch on your head. Yummmm! When you run out of Will or are low on life, grab some meta-essence on the walls. The most important thing is to keep moving. Her missile attacks don't do that much damage, but if she catches you, you're in trouble. Be careful, because she's fast! The other way to do it is to run around and throw knives when you are far enough away from her. This works well, but it will take longer and is more dangerous. The advantage is that knives use no Will. My advice is to use the jackbomb, and then resort to the knife when you are out of Will and are having trouble getting to the meta-essence. CHEAP WAY TO KILL THE DUTCHESS: If you are having trouble killing her, there is another very, very cheap way to kill her. All you have to do is jump up onto the fireplace and toss knives onto her from above. She won't be able to touch you. (special thanks to JCastroo for this strat.) 2. General's Revenge: The Centipede Difficulty: Medium Word of Advice: Take your time when you are aiming! I tried lots of different ways against this guy, and it seems that the easiest is to just stick with the knife. Despite how much fun all your new toys are, the good old blade seems to work best. Keep a good distance from him, but not TOO far. If you are too close, his melee attacks will rip you apart, but if you are too far, he won't rear up and expose his weak spot. Be patient, and don't attack until he rears up. When he does rear up, you should see a red scar on his belly. That is his weak point. Throw your knife at his scar and then start running again. He'll cry out in pain and start chasing after you again. If you need more life (and you probably will), either get it from the sides of the arena or from his little minions. These minions are a pest. They grab onto your back and bite your neck. Luckily, they don't do that much damage. The best way to kill them is either the ice wand or primary fire of the knife. After hitting his scar quite a few times, the centipede will finally die. 3. Checkmate!: The Red King Difficulty: Easy Word of Advice: Keep an eye on your life and this one's simple. This guy is the easiest boss in the game, so enjoy the break. Just go right up to him with your ice wand and hold it down on him. When you run out of Will or get to about half life, go and get the meta-essence. Since the arena is so small, you can stock up on meta-essence really fast. That is the key to victory against the King. Once you have full life and Will again, ice him down. After awhile, he'll begin to blast you with a laser like the one the bishops use, but don't worry about it. It does quite a bit of damage, but don't bother trying to avoid it since you will always have that handy meta-essence nearby. Keep spraying him with your ice wand and he'll be dead before you can say "When does this S.O.B. get hard?" 4. Double Vision: Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee Difficulty: Medium Word of Advice: Again, never stop moving. Try your best to stay out of the Tweedle's way and you should do just fine. These boys are your toughest foe yet, and if you have a slower computer, be prepared for some slowdowns. Just run around in circles, going up the ramp and collecting the meta-essence at the top. Never stop running, except to shoot your jacks. The jacks are definitely the weapon of choice against the Tweedles. Also, focus on the big ones, not the little ones that come out of their bellies. If you kill the little ones, Dum and Dee will just spawn new ones to replace them. However, the little fellows die very easily and leave some meta-essence in their place, so don't avoid killing them; just try and focus on the two big boys. Fling the jacks at them and then keep moving while the jacks do their work. Once the jacks stop, shoot 'em out again right away. If you keep moving and focus on the big Tweedles, they'll be down in no time. Also, if you find yourself overwhelm with dozens of Tweedles bouncing around, you may want to use a jackbomb. Use the alternative fire of the jackbomb and set it in the middle of the crowd. The Tweedles will fall like flies, leaving valuable meta-essence in their places. This trick may come in handy when dealing with these pests, but if you have a slower computer, it will only increase the already outrageous lag that all of the bouncing Tweedles are causing. CHEAP WAY TO KILL THE TWEEDLES: Another way to kill the Tweedles is to go and hide in the small crevice on the wall just to the left of the door. You can fit in there, but the fat old Tweedles cannot! Just stand in this crevice and throw the jacks at them, going out and grabbing meta-essence when needed. It isn't fool proof, but it's a helluva lot easier than running around like a madman, especially if you lag. (Special thanks to Jashan A'al for this strat.) 5. Tea Time!: The Mad Hatter Difficulty: Easy Word of Advice: Don't let his size intimidate you; he's not as tough as he looks. The Hatter's attacks do quite a bit of damage, so try to avoid them if possible. The best way to avoid his attacks while still being able to attack yourself is to strafe around him using the sidestep right and sidestep left buttons. By doing this, you should easily avoid his relatively slow missile attacks. Throw your jacks at him and then go grab the meta-essence while the jacks do their thang. If you keep throwing the jacks at him, pretty soon he'll summon some of his machines to fight you and he'll disappear. Watch out for their rockets and kill them with jacks. Now take their meta-essence and start going at the Hatter again. After a few more flings of the jacks, the Hatter's head will go boom and he'll fall down. Hope your sick of these easy bosses, because your not gonna see any more of their kind.... 6. Flyin' Fiend: The Jabberwock Difficulty: Hard Word of Advice: Save more than ever in this battle, because you will die a lot, trust me... This guy is pretty damn tough. Stay as far away from him as possible, because his fire attacks do mucho damage. Strafe from right to left, throwing jacks at him whenever possible. After you throw the jacks, run over and grab the meta-essence, being careful not to fall off the cliff. Be wary of the Jabberwock's little minions, they like to push you around. A spray of the ice wand will show them who's boss though! The battle is really tough, but thankfully its also very short. After just a few throws of the jacks, Griffin will come save your skin. Be patient and save often! As the Jabberwock flies away, his little old eyeball will fall down to the ground, giving you the last piece to the godly jabberwocky eye staff which will be essential to the rest of the bosses. 7. Flyin' Fiend on Steroids: The Jabberwock Part 2 Difficulty: Very Hard Word of Advice: Don't break your computer in frustration; this guy may be tough, but he is not impossible. He's baaaaaaack! Without a doubt, this punk is the hardest boss in the entire friggin' game. Luckily, I've beaten him about 3 dozen times and have prepared the ultimate strategy to make him a lot easier on you. Your welcome :) The best way to take him down while he is in the sky is to just take a stand. Start spraying the jabberwocky eye staff at him while he flies around. If he starts to come in for an attack, get the hell outta his way. If he gets a direct hit, his attacks will take down more than 3/4 of your life. Run around, grabbing the meta-essence as they appear and spraying him with the jabberwocky staff as you go. Whenever you get a successful hit, save the game. Eventually, he'll stop flying and attack you from the ground. It only gets tougher here. Run around Griffin in circles, and when the Jabberwock tries to do his deadly fire attack on you, he will hit Griffin instead of you (don't worry about Griffin, he's as good as dead already). If one of the fire attacks does hit you.... it will hurt, bad. One direct hit can kill you. So keep running around Griffin, spraying the Jabberwock with the staff when you have a clear shot. The best time to attack him is right after he does his fire attack. Remember, save often! If you do this right, his attacks will never touch you. If you want, you can use your knife instead of the staff so that you don't have to risk running over to the meta-essence containers to refill your Will. However, this takes quite awhile to do and is generally much more difficult. Either way, the Jabberwock will eventually die, and the worst will be behind you. 8. Big Bad Momma: The Queen of Hearts Difficulty: Medium Word of Advice: For once, you don't have to run around a lot! Take your time against the queen and you'll be fine. This is it, the Queen herself! This battle is surprisingly easy, thanks to the two pillars in the back of the room (where the meta-essence appears). All you gotta do is stand behind them, running from side to side in between the two pillars. While running across, stop and blast her with your jabberwocky staff. If you have the blunderbuss, you can use it instead of the staff. Both work well. Just run from side to side, shooting her when you are in the middle, and saving after every successful attack. The only other advice I have for her is when you see some bluish/purplish spots around you and hear some strange music in the background, move quickly. That happens right before she uses her telekinesis, where she'll either throw you into the wall or suck you towards her and give you a big bear hug. If you move right when the purple cloud is on you, she'll miss. If she does manage to catch you don't worry; she doesn't do that much damage. If you want, you can stab her with the knife while she is sucking you in. For the most part, the Queen is a surprisingly easy opponent in this first battle. Her attacks are easy to dodge and do little to moderate damage, and there is plenty of cover as well. 9. Bigger Badder Momma: The Queen of Hearts Part 2 Difficulty: Hard Word of Advice: Jump, shoot, jump, shoot, jump.... Okay folks, here it is, the final battle! The Queen is now a huge, butt-ugly..... thing. She's pretty damn big, but don't let her size intimidate you; she falls quite quickly. The hardest part of this fight is the platforms. Her attacks do mucho damage, but she doesn't attack that often. The best way to take care of her is to jump from platform to platform, taking your time and making sure you don't fall. Once you reach the heart of meta-essence, turn and unleash the jabberwocky staff's primary fire on her. Be mindful of her attacks; while they won't kill you in one hit, they could knock you off the platform. Again, save all the time here. You may see a weapon on a platform below you; that is the blunderbuss, but I wouldn't advise getting it. If you already have it, you can use it if you want to, but I found that just using the staff works better due to the fact that the Blunderbuss uses all of your Will. Jump from platform to platform, ignoring the Queen for the most part and focusing on the jumps. Right when you collect another meta-essence, unleash the pain. After a surprisingly short fight, the overgrown bitch will blow up into a billion pieces! Boom!! Congratulations, you've now returned Alice to her sanity and Wonderland to its good ol' happy self! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- IV. Frequently Asked Questions ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some questions about the game. Some of these have been from e- mails I've received, others I've just made up. The FAQ is not just limited to boss questions, either. There are many general game questions that I have gone ahead and answered. However, I will not answer any specific puzzle questions on this FAQ. Sorry. 1. Q: Why are there those tentacle thingies all over the place? A: That's a very good question, and one that I'm afraid I don't have an answer to. It could be there for decorative purposes, or possibly it is supposed to represent how Wonderland is alive or something... maybe it's part of the Queen? I dunno. 2. Q: I don't remember the Jabberwock from the Alice books, is that a character that McGee and his crew made up? A: No. The Jabberwock is actually from a poem in Through the Looking Glass called "The Jabberwocky". In this poem, the vorpal blade is also introduced, which is the name of the knife you begin the game with. (Special thanks to SgtScruffy and Valiento for their contributions to this answer.) 3. Q: Did you know that your FAQ really sucks? A: Did you know that you really suck? 4. Q: Why don't the white chess pieces attack me? Is that a bug? A: No, the white chess pieces are on your side. Consider yourself a white chess piece if you will. In many cases, the white chess pieces will help you out in killing the red chess pieces, and a little later in the game, you're going to do the White King a favor.... 5. Q. How do I get past ____________ ? (insert any puzzle here). A: Notice that this is a boss FAQ, and while I'll be happy to answer any of your questions regarding the game, I won't do it here. Sorry. 6. Q: How can I get in contact with you? I wanna tell you something! A: You can E-mail me at Brian755@home.com. I reply to all e-mails I receive unless they are completely idiotic or spam. 7. Q: Did you know that "Rapskallion" is supposed to be spelled "Rapscallion"? A: Yes, I did know that. Next question? 8. Q: The Jabberwock keeps killing me! Are you sure that he can be beat? A: Yes, the Jabberwock is very beatable. Just keep trying and remember to never stop moving when fighting him! 9. Q: What is the Blunderbuss? A: The Blunderbuss is a secret weapon that can be found in two places. It can be found in the Caterpillar's Plot Part 2 right next to Humpty-Dumpty. There is a brick junting out of the wall. Push it to find a secret room with the Blunderbuss in it. Also, it can be found on the second fight against the Queen on a lower platform. The Blunderbuss does mega damage to a really wide area, but it takes all of your Will to use. It takes down almost anything in one hit (besides bosses, of course). 10. Q: What does the alternate fire of the Blunderbuss do that is different from the primary fire? A: Nothing. The Blunderbuss only has one mode of fire, so the alternate fire button does the same thing as the primary fire mode. This also applies to the Demon Dice, which also have one mode of fire. 11. Q: I'm really having trouble with this jumping puzzle. Please help me? A: Look, I just told you, this isn't the place for those kind of answers! This FAQ is for boss questions and certain general game questions only! No specific puzzles! 12. Q: I've been stuck at Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee for hours! I kill them and they just come back! Help! A: I'm sorry, please put your request in question form. 13. Q: Okay... How do I kill Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee? A: That's better. Now, you are probably just killing the minions that pop out of the big brother's bellies. Look for the one's who open up their bellies and let out the little ones... those are the guys you have to target with your jacks. After a few hits, they will die. You must kill them both before the fight is over. After that, the minions will all disappear. 14. Q: In a screen shot I saw, it showed the cat fighting at your side. I've beaten the game, but the cat hasn't fought by my side! Did I miss something? A: Sadly, no. While there were some early screenshots showing the Cheshire Cat fighting by your side, it never happens in the final version of the game. It seems that McGee and his staff took that out. Such a shame... that would have been really cool. 15. Q: Is there going to be an Alice movie? A: It appears so. McGee himself has confirmed rumors that he and his crew have agreed to create a film based on Alice. In numerous interviews, McGee has said that Wes Craven (director of the Nightmare series) will direct the film and McGee himself will assist in its production. No word on whom will play Alice yet. The film is being created by Dimension Films, who, ironically enough, are owned by Disney. 16. Q: There is this jumping puzzle that is really really hard! I need your help! It's the part where... A: NO!!!!!!! I told you, no specific puzzle questions on this FAQ! If you have any questions you would like added to this FAQ, e-mail them to me. I'll happily reply to you and, if your question is good enough, I'll post it as well. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VI. Credits ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd like to thank American McGee and his talented crew for all of their hard work in creating this awesome game. This game really kicked ass, and I can't wait to see what you guys do next! I'd also like to thank GameFAQ's for giving me an opportunity to waste so much of my time writing FAQ's, reviews, and talking on the message board. Also, special thanks to all whom contributed to this FAQ. All of you who helped me along the way have been credited somewhere up above, but I thought I'd thank you again. One more time. If you want to contact me for any reason, e-mail me at Brian755@home.com. I'd love to know if you have some ideas for improving this FAQ. Thanks to you all for reading this, and enjoy your trip through the twisted world of Wonderland.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VII. Legal Stuff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This document is protected by federal law. That means that you have to ask my permission before copying it onto any other website, message board, etc. Feel free to print it out for your own personal use, provided that you do not claim credit for it. E-mail me if you have any questions. Rapskallion (Yes, with a K!!!!!)