American McGee’s Grimm storylines discussed

With Grimm, McGee is creating a 24-episode series focused on the world’s 30 best-known fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Pied Piper, Godfather Death, and Pinocchio to name a few.

Each episode is 30 minutes, is downloadable, and usually focuses on one fairy tale (though some episodes will comprise two or three shorter stories). Each also opens with the contemporary (Disney) perspective of the fairy tale, displayed in a puppet show of minimally adorned characters, narrated by “Grimm,” a rough and wonderfully despicable character. It closes with a version that’s closer to the original version of said tale, but with McGee’s touch.

In the words of American McGee himself. “I want to be the next Walt Disney, only a little more wicked,” states McGee on his blog, with his new game, an episodic collection of dark, revisionist interpretations of mostly Grimm fairy tales, clearly making the point.

“I want people to know the original fairy tales, which have been distilled,” McGee explained when GameTap caught up with him at this year’s Game Developers Conference. “Look at Pinocchio, for instance. In the original story he kills Jiminy Cricket, his conscience. Pinocchio was a real jerk in the original story. But nobody knows that because they’ve only seen the Disney version.”

They continue to say the gameplay is strikingly simple, to the point where you only need a mouse to play. Each 30-minute episode stars Grimm, who wanders through the weekly fairy tale transforming the bright, primary colored landscapes of each fairy tale into dark foreboding places. The transformation is almost instant: An invisible circle around Grimm’s feet does the work, and you can see dirt getting darker, trees turning gnarly and craggy, neat house architecture giving way to crooked angles, black smoke-billowing chimneys, and darkened rooftops. Each episode comprises several sections, requiring Grimm to transform the majority of the landscape before moving on. As each one progresses, the basic task of transforming includes more challenging platform action, powerups, secret areas to explore, hidden items, and various types of AI.

Why would anyone want to play a 30-minute game that’s so easy? Where is the challenge, you might ask? McGee feels that the short length, easy-to-pick-up-and-play quality, and humorous narration will satisfy an American public with many demands on its time. You can play one in one sitting and then play the next one the following week. The “puppet shows” aren’t just simple intros either. They’re wicked little miniplays that are often absurd and always macabre, thanks in part to snide, biting comments from Grimm, voiced over by Roger Jackson (his other work includes the voice of Abe Lincoln from Sam & Max, and the Cheshire Cat, Jabberwocky, and the Mad Hatter in American McGee’s Alice). The general quality of the voiceovers is also compelling.

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