American McGee's Grimm Now on GameTap

[bapenguin]

The folks from GameTap (http://www.gametap.com) have sent along word that American McGee's: Grimm is now available for download via their service. The game is episodic, and features 24 episodes, each one based around a popular fairy tale. Each episode will cost $3.99, though the first episode which launches today is free.

Here is the schedule for the first 8 episodes.

July 31 A Boy Learns What Fear Is
August 7 Little Red Riding Hood
August 14 The Fisherman and His Wife
August 21 Puss In Boots
August 28 The Girl Without Hands
September 4 Godfather Death
September 11 The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs
September 18 Beauty and the Beast

More info can be found here (http://www.gametap.com/grimm).

Hmm, this looks pretty cool. American McGee has a dubious track record, but this certainly has potential. I wonder how long each episode lasts?

[Evil Avatar]

$91.77 total. Ouch.

[NoName]

$91.77 total. Ouch.

At first I had just read 3.99 for each episode (without seeing the number of episodes) and thought it wasn't that bad.

Then I read your post and became confused and less happy. Hopefully each episode is a decent length...

[Emabulator]

$91.77 total. Ouch.Agreed! If they add it to their "Gold" plan like Sam & Max I'll try it. For $92 I could buy several used games for the 360, or off of Steam, that I know are good.

[ElfShotTheFood]

I thought each episode was free for the first 24 hours of release?

[Hexxagonal]

I heard this first episode is free forever but the others are free for the first 24. Who knows... I'm going to play it tonight just in case.

[J Arcane]

Agreed! If they add it to their "Gold" plan like Sam & Max I'll try it. For $92 I could buy several used games for the 360, or off of Steam, that I know are good.
They are going up on Gold, according to the Angled Whiteboards blog. The retail price is a seperate deal through another section, and also an altered version of the game missing the leaderboard system the Gametap version uses.

[bapenguin]

$91.77 total. Ouch.

It depends. If each episode is 6 hours long, that's a pretty good deal.

[Emabulator]

They are going up on Gold, according to the Angled Whiteboards blog. The retail price is a seperate deal through another section, and also an altered version of the game missing the leaderboard system the Gametap version uses.I just went there and saw I could download the "standalone" version of the first episode. Was not sure about the rest until now, thanks. The leaderboard system is not a selling feature for me. ;)

[mkelehan]

It depends. If each episode is 6 hours long, that's a pretty good deal.

The leaderboard makes it look like it's about 20 minutes long, with the fastest time being 13 minutes. Of course, that's a speed run, but I'd be surprised if we get an hour.

[mkelehan]

...and according to the Wikipedia, each episode is "approximately half an hour in length."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_McGee%27s_Grimm

$4 for a half hour. Doubt it.

[XxSATANxX]

I'd love to check out a demo. Gametap DRM thingie looks scary to me.

[Sl1pstream]

Heh. Gametap is usually offlimits to the rest of the world. This still gave me the installer. Tomb Raider ahoy!

[Redline]

Just played it all the way through. Yep, 30 minutes seems about right. Can't say it wasn't enjoyable. Indeed, it was quite addictive, but that comes down solely to the primary game play mechanic. It seemed to have me entranced on the same level the original Populous did, in that I seemed to get some sort of therapeutic benefit from transforming the landscape.

Graphical style of fresh and interesting for a game.

Apart from that the "story" was a bit jumbled and confusing to me. I mean, it's pretty basic and I get it, but it just didn't flow. It was a series of scenes stuck awkwardly together. Then again "awkward" might describe this game perfectly.

However, overall emotional response? Enjoyable. Will I pay for it? No way. Can't see myself being entertained by this for that many episodes.

[bapenguin]

...and according to the Wikipedia, each episode is "approximately half an hour in length."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_McGee%27s_Grimm

$4 for a half hour. Doubt it.

Ok...nevermind then. Kinda a ripoff.

[LongStepMantis]

So wait, even if you already pay for a Gametap subscription...you still have to pay to play it?!

Wtf is that horseshit? I really hope I'm just not understanding this clearly. Because I already pay for Gametap, I'm not paying them shit to play the games on it...that's why I pay to use the service in the first fucking place.

[LongStepMantis]

Ok, according to their site the first episode is free indefinitely if you are a gold member.
So it only shits on people with free accounts...still not something I'd pay for, but I was under the impression that they were charging gold members as well.

[Devilturnip]

Just to clarify the OP, the first episode is free today only. I think (if I read it right) that every episode will be free on the day it releases.

[Demo_Boy]

I guess it is a worthwhile experiment.
Sell 1 level a week for 4 bucks.
The proposition is that interest in subsequent episodes will not suffer the same falloff curve as expansion packs for games. Don't know that I agree...

Don't really get the free on release day marketing call though? Whose gonna buy the game if you give it away for free?

[TrackZero]

Hmm, this looks pretty cool. American McGee has a dubious track record, but this certainly has potential. I wonder how long each episode lasts?

Per Jeff Green, about 30 minutes (for the first one at least).

[Sl1pstream]

I played 3 levels and it already got old.

Basically, all you do is run around until everything and everyone dies. Then you press spacebar twice to open a door to the next area. After that, it just repeats itself, just like Grimm (I guess) repeats the same two lines over and over again.

It's boring. Really, really boring.

[Varsity]

When was the last time McGee did anything good, anyway?

[TrackZero]

When was the last time McGee did anything good, anyway?

Q1DM6

Yeah, that's right. If you don't get the reference, well, you suck. ;)

[danhoo]

Q1DM6

Yeah, that's right. If you don't get the reference, well, you suck. ;)

Alice wasn't too bad, but Track's right. The last time American really personally produced anything awesome was while he was at id.

[92miata]

i would actually like to purchase all of them. i will give him 1 dollar, but there is a catch. i want to get a glass with a lid so i can seal it, then pee in the glass, submerge the 1 dollar in the glass, autograph the glass, and overnight it to american mgee.

and honest everyone, i liked bad day L.A.

:)

[biosc1]

and honest everyone, i liked bad day L.A.

:)

Heck, American McGee didn't even like Bad Day L.A.

He did give a great interview with 1up back in February.

[Sl1pstream]

Heck, American McGee didn't even like Bad Day L.A.

He did give a great interview with 1up back in February.

He decided that his games would be better by outsourcing them to China, it's his own damn fault for trying to spend as little money as possible during development. I have zero respect for this man. He's on the same level as Marc Ecko, as far as I'm concerned.

[lost]

Super super super super super...

Shit.

[92miata]

ah, friends.....

I'M NOT KIDDING.....

i enjoyed bad day L.A. from beginning to finish.

:)

[Sl1pstream]

Can we ban him for shilling?

[alienchild]

let me try this shit on Steam ffs!

[Sl1pstream]

let me try this shit on Steam ffs!

Steam really doesn't need this crap.

[sprankton]

wont work on 64 Vista :(

[Sammael]

It ran like shit on my pc... I was a little disappointed. I can run FEAR, but not Grimm? It didn't look all that amazing. Just not put together too well... It was unplayable in 640X480... WTF.

[Hexxagonal]

It took me 25 minutes to beat it and that was just because I was only using a keyboard. Platforming is hard w/o a mouse. I was bored by about 15-20 minutes in. Hopefully the next one will be a little deeper as even Katamari was deeper than this game after 5 minutes.

[Sl1pstream]

It took me 25 minutes to beat it and that was just because I was only using a keyboard. Platforming is hard w/o a mouse. I was bored by about 15-20 minutes in. Hopefully the next one will be a little deeper as even Katamari was deeper than this game after 5 minutes.

You should have just walked through your neighbor's backyard with a can of paint while farting. It would've been the same gameplay experience.

[addik]

I love alternative fairy tales. I would prefer to watch the retold stories without having to play the game though.