MaximumPC 2008 10

R

emember those happy-ending fairy tales
your mother used to tell you? Well, your
mama was feeding you sugar-coated
rehashes of the original morbid tales. Grimm, the
mischievous protagonist of this episodic plat-
form game, wants to set the record straight—and
he’s using his soot-spreading powers to do it.
To begin each episode, Grimm narrates a
puppet show version of a fairy tale as it has
traditionally been told. The snarky commen-
tary grants these sequences undeniable charm,

which is further enhanced by

the simple character models

and animation. The pastel

colors and blocky fi gures make

the game look like a storybook

illustration come to life.

Next, we set foot in the

game world to wander as

Grimm and spread darkness

through the lands. Running

around the level automatically

changes the surrounding en-

vironment from light to dark.

We turned playgrounds into

graveyards and bright forests into nightmarish

death traps, progressing Grimm’s Dark-o-Meter

until we reached a certain goal. The more dark-

ness we spread, the more infl uence our avatar

had over the environment.

The gameplay does get repetitive, howev-

er—we did nothing more complicated than a

combo of timed platform jumps. By the end of

each episode, we were tired of running around

without facing any real challenge, although the

varied locales (such as the wolf’s stomach from

“Little Red Riding Hood”) kept the game interest-

ing. The minimal gameplay demands are better

suited for younger players, but the game is rated

M, and the dead children and liberal use of blood

are clearly inappropriate for youngsters.

Episodes of Grimm are free on the day they

are released on GameTap. If you have half an

hour to spare, the puppet-show segments alone

are worth the download. –N O R M A N C H A N

American McGee’s Grimm

Paint the fairy tale world black with grime

VERDICT

Free on release day (pricing TBA),

http://www.gametap.com ESRB: M

7

Humorous voice-acting;

creative art style; just

the right length.

Simple, repetitive

action; gameplay

unchallenging.

ENCHANTED

AMERICAN MCGEE’S GRIMM

EVER AFTER

As Grimm, you’ll plunge a bright, carefree world into darkness.