Review: American McGee’s “Grimm” Episode 1 (PC)

By George Walker | July 31, 2008

“Make it… STINKY!”

That is the mantra of “A Boy Who Learns What Fear Is,” the first episode of American McGee’s episodic adventure/platformer. Not necessarily in a bad way… American McGee’s breakout title Alice received great reviews in its time, due mostly to some fantastic graphics. Grimm has taken a very different tack, in more ways than one.

Gameplay primarily consists of maneuvering the narrator, “Grimm,” through shiny happy scenery filled with sunshine and kitty cats that crap rainbows. As you move through the levels an aura of decay and putrescence leaves a defiled trail behind you. Flower beds turn into gravestones, quaint cottages become houses of horror, and the goal is to darken as much of the level as you can.

As you proceed, some citizens are “cleaners” and will be able to undo some of the plague and awfulness that you are trying to spread. However, as you infect more and more objects, you’ll be able to infect larger creatures and items than you were able to previously. This lends itself to a kind of “Katamari” style gameplay, where, instead of collecting random junk, you are spreading filth and corruption.

From a technical standpoint, Grimm is not going to melt your video card with its magnificent graphical prowess. The graphics of Grimm could best be described as… simple. Nothing in the way of snazzy shaders or dynamic range lighting here. It looks and feels more like a pop-up book than a modern video game.

But then… that’s kind of the point. This is Fractured Fairy Tales on acid. At first I was thinking, “oh, maybe this will make a great kids’ game.” Then, the flowers started spurting blood, people were being hanged and burned at the stake. This was when I started getting the hint. “Not a kids’ game!”

As I mentioned previously, this is more or less a “Katamari” game with a few platforming elements thrown in for good measure. This brings with it some advantages and disadvantages.

First of all, Katamari games are fun. Trying to gobble up as much junk as possible as quickly as possible, for some reason, it just plain fun. The same kinds of things that make Katamari enjoyable also apply here… I just wish there were more of them. The episode is divided into 6 scenes, and each one, while well designed and fun to move around in, also felt cramped. I wanted to really break out and spend some time with this gameplay, but before I knew it, I was running out of level.

And this gets right to one of the major issues with Grimm. It’s trying to do too much, with perhaps too little time. Granted, the 23 episodes of Grimm will be released on a weekly basis, but it might almost make more sense to have each episode divided into fewer scenes, with more terrain and gameplay in each scene.

Another issue I have with Grimm is the writing. I feel like a game using Grimm’s fairy tales as a backdrop should really have some stellar storytelling. Unfortunately, I felt like the cutscenes got in the way of gameplay. They were sometimes jarring and disjointed. There was the semblance of a narrative, but it didn’t seem to have any flow. That being said, the opening and ending cinematics were done in the style of a puppet show, and were actually kind of fun to watch. They presented a before and after version of the tale. First, the drippy, saccharin of the “light theater” contrasted against the gothic, gritty “dark theater.”

Right now, the first episode of Grimm is free. So, I encourage anyone that is interested in seeing what I mean to go get it and test it for yourself.

I’m not sure that Grimm is enough for someone to subscribe to Gametap merely on the strength of this property, alone. However, you don’t subscribe to cable for any single television series. Like all of the modern Star Trek series (except for Enterprise… it doesn’t count), I have a feeling that this is a game that could get better as more episodes are produced. It certainly has a lot of potential, even if much of it is unfulfilled from a writing standpoint.

I give Grimm Episode 1 a respectable score of 3 out of 5 Aeropausonauts. And as always, I like to point out that this should not be equated as a “60%”. It means that it’s at least worth checking out if you like platformers or Katamari-like games. Or heck, even if you just like Grimm’s Fairy Tales. But, unfortunately, it does have some drawbacks that keep it from being a true work of gaming art.