If you sampled or purchased last week's debut episode, A Boy Learns What Fear Is, you should already be familiar with Grimm's basic gameplay mechanics. As Grimm runs, strafes and hops, the land around him becomes dank and corroded, squelched by Grimm's repulsive personality. And that's just fine with Grimm.

If this is your first foray into Grimm's brand of darkness, fear not: Grimm's control scheme is perhaps one of the simplest ever conceived in all of video game-dom. Movement can be handled via the W, A, S and D keys, and pressing the spacebar causes Grimm to jump. Not sure where you're going to land? Remain still and Grimm will helpfully spray a line of urine, with the end of the splattering trail marking where you'll end up after the jump.

Those looking to kick back, relax, and play with one hand cradling their reclined head and another solely on the mouse can do so. Click and hold the left button to move forward, press the right button to jump in place, or press both to hop forward. The two available control schemes couldn't be simpler, and it's honestly quite a relief to play a game that doesn't require a minimum of 20 buttons for the simplest of maneuvers.

Spread across six scenes, this episode of Grimm charges players with corrupting the woods into which Little Red Riding Hood will venture, giving the simpering fluffy wolf his big bad makeover, and even traipsing through the wolf's stomach. Think the Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly dungeon from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but with Grimm's personal putrid touch.

Players are shown certain objects, such as a wooden gate, which they must turn a certain level of nasty in order to proceed. The meter at the top of the screen has markings such as stinky, smelly, gross and putrid, with each higher level allowing Grimm to pollute terrain and NPCs that were immune to him at lower levels. Once the required level has been reached, players can proceed to the item in question, butt-stomp it by double-tapping space bar or the right mouse button, and proceed.

Players can move quickly from objective to objective and finish each episode of Grimm in less than an hour, which is certainly a selling point to gamers with hectic jobs, families, and other responsibilities. Still, what fun is that? Much like catching as much as possible against Katamari's giant sticky ball, the appeal of Grimm is in watching the bright and chipper fairytale land become gross and gothic. Because each item has a particular way of becoming "dark" (birds in cages are sliced into pieces due to Grimm causing the cage to rust and shrink; frolicking deer are sliced in two, their lower halves kicking helplessly on the ground), players will want to see the fate of each particular item and NPC.

Completist gamers who strive to attain every achievement and access every secret also have much to gain from exploration in Grimm. Secret coins are strewn throughout each level, with later stages rewarding only those who search as thoroughly as possible due to the coins being stashed away in the most esoteric of locations.

Before beginning the adventure, players can view a light version of the fairy tale to get a glimpse of each area they'll be visiting, as well as to hear amusing narration from Grimm pertaining to the cast of characters' collective stupidity. After completing the game, a dark theater becomes available, allowing players to sit back and watch the Grimm-approved version of the tale.

The glee of rampaging with Grimm, watching once happy environments rot away into nastiness, is also Grimm's one flaw: it can grow dull after awhile. Although each level has its own unique look, you're still performing the same actions over and over for six stages. The replay value for the game is almost nonexistent: Once you're done, that's that; you've opened the dark theater, and it's funny, so please to be moving along, there's nothing more to see here.

The dark theater itself is equally linear, showing only one static nature of the fairytale for every player who has finished the game. It's still amusing to watch and worth attaining, but after a couple of viewings, you'll likely never watch it again.

Counter-balancing the linear nature of Grimm is the fact that each episode is free for 24 hours after its debut. It's hard to argue against free, so there's really no good reason not to try each episode upon its release. If you like what you see, buy it, or perhaps next week's episode. Just be advised that despite different scenery and characters, each episode of Grimm is roughly the same.

The bottom line is this: Grimm is fun. But you do have to ask yourself: how much do you really want to pay to watch the dark version of each fairy tale? If the answer is free, you're in luck -- just make sure to play immediately upon a new installment's release.

Download American McGee's Grimm: A Boy Learns What Fear Is