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Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

Game Review: Grimm Episodes II & III (PC)

Red Riding Hood was already kind of dark, but American McGee has made it truly …

It's one of the oldest stories in the book: girl loves grandma. Grandma gets sick. Girl takes grandma food. Girl meets wolf on the way. Wolf runs ahead and eats grandma. Wolf then eats little girl. Woodcutter comes along and kills wolf. Girl and grandma are saved, but years of psychotherapy are needed for both. Such is the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, which happens to be the first episode of American McGee's Grimm... and it's a triumph that is simultaneously creepy and hysterical.

If there was ever a Grimm Tale appropriate for American McGee's new series, Red Riding Hood is it, and it translates nicely into the franchise. Players are once again returned to the role of Grimm, the cantankerous troll who hates happy fairy tales. As he follows Red on her journey to Grandma's house, he spreads his spiritual nastiness around with a generous hand and eventually turns the story into something dark and awful. As opposed to the first episode, Red Riding Hood doesn't feel like its story is actually being changed all that much; instead, the game feels like it's showing players just how truly twisted the tale itself is once you pull away the cotton-candy gloss that seems to coat modern fairy tales. It works remarkably well, and it's also a little unnerving to realize how little is needed to achieve such an effect.

The gameplay in Red Riding Hood isn't any different from A Boy Learns What Fear Is. Oh, the levels are certainly different, and none of the character models are the same, but the idea is exactly the same as before: become powerful enough to knock out the characters who will clean up after you, then run amok and transform the whole level into a vile mockery of what it was. There's a bit more platforming this time around, especially in the portion which has Grimm running around the insides of the Wolf, but the mechanics haven't been changed.  My earlier complaint of not being able to achieve the highest nastiness rating still stands, but I've come to view this as more of a challenge than a flaw in the game.

Where Grimm continues to succeed by leaps and bounds is in its presentation. The contrast between the playful nature of its initial graphics and Grimm's version of the world is even more startling this time around, and such cartoony visuals are obviously doing their job right when they can make a player squirm in their chair a little. The audio, as before, is pretty funny, but even Roger Jackson's voice work seems to take a back seat to the visuals. 

It's easy to recommend Red Riding Hood to those who enjoyed A Boy Learns What Fear Is, because it delivers more of the same fun play. But, not only that, it feels like a far deeper game than the previous release because of its mature content. Having played through the episode a few times in order to find all the secrets, I couldn't help but wonder (and eagerly anticipate finding out) about what The Fisherman and His Wife will be like.

Now, it might be because I've never been a particularly big fan of this particular fairy tale (maybe because of its heavy-handed moral, but probably due to its downright depressing ending); I still don't find it terribly appealing even though it's a part of the Grimm series. This is mainly due to the fact that it already has an unhappy resolution, thus making Grimm's machinations seem rather pointless.

The story follows the adventures of a fisherman who is offered a favor by a magic fish after he sets it free. The man's wife, being a greedy shrew, keeps on demanding more from the fish until things finally come to a head. As opposed to so many other Grimm Tales, this one doesn't really seem all that well-told. Unfortunately, the flawed source material seems to carry over into the game, where it feels like the lack of narrative is filled in with heaps of platforming.

The levels in the third episode feel oddly disjointed: the sequences involving the fisherman and the magic fish take place in large seaside environments, which take much longer to complete because players will find themselves falling into the water a fair amount (this is particularly true in the final level, which involves a maelstrom for a starting point). Meanwhile, the portions of the game that don't take place at the beach feel exceedingly short and quick to work through.

Now, even though there are some pacing/narrative issues, The Fisherman and His Wife does nail something better than the previous episodes: the way Grimm's darkness affects the fairy tale. During the waterlogged levels, Grimm's corruption manifests as increasingly stormy seas, with ghost ships and rotting buoys peppering the scenery.

Even though The Fisherman and His Wife doesn't quite succeed as much as the previous Grimm episodes do, it's still an enjoyable romp with some stellar moments. As opposed to Red Riding Hood, however, it might not entice you to come back for a second helping.

Verdict: Buy? Subscribe? Whatever, just play them.
Developer and Publisher: GameTap
Platform: PC
Price: Free with subscription
Rating: NA 
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