Preview

Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Vanillaware
Publisher: NIS America, Inc.
Previewed by Justin Fassino on 2007-03-30

What do you get when you take a real-time strategy game, a beautiful 2D art direction, and a sidescroller? The newest effort from Vanillaware and Nippon Ichi Software. Titled GrimGrimoire, the game will have you ogling some of the best sprites you've ever seen while simultaneously guiding fairies, elves, and other mythical beasts against demon hordes.

We recently got a chance to play through the first few levels of the most recent build of the American version, and it is looking very nice. The game starts you off with a couple tutorial levels to get the hang of just what Vanillaware wants to do.

Taking place on a 2D plane, we first were guided to order our army of cute little elves to start mining blue crystals from a nearby mine, or what's called a talisman. The elves would each carry a crystal back to their home base and add to the stockpile; once enough were collected, more elves could be spawned to speed up the process. Sounds like your typical RTS, right?

Well, the second stage introduces combat, which is a bit more complicated. As the elves cheerfully mined their crystals, we soon accumulated enough to start spawning fairies. But these fairies had a mean streak in them, and we found we could then order our small force of bow-wielding women to start scanning the large map. Unlike most modern-day RTS titles, GrimGrimoire sports a full-on side view of the stage, with the backgrounds being tall and wide and cloaked in a fog of war. We were tasked with taking our fairies and hunting down the demons residing somewhere on the map. Just like any good RTS, you can order all units of the same type to perform a single action, or you can micromanage for more precise control. Additionally, we were able to order our fairy squadron to attack specific targets, or defend a given area. As the demons made their way up and down the elegantly carved staircases and under the gothic archways, our champion ladies pursued and fired until their mission was complete.

The third stage introduced the beginnings of a structure and unit tree. The elves could start constructing new talismans that opened up further options for army-building, including crystal towers that acted as defensive installations and fired on incoming attackers. Further adding to the level of strategy is the ability to level up talismans themselves to unlock new units or give stat bonuses to already-summoned character types.

Even if GrimGrimoire tanks badly, it's still undeniably one of the prettiest games on the PS2, 2D or otherwise. Every animation is silky smooth and the backgrounds are visual feasts. In between stages, 2D cutscenes like those found in the Atelier Iris series serve to move the plot along, and the voice acting is actually pretty good. Interesting-looking characters (more sexy witches, please!) also help the visual appeal.

The gameplay system, while somewhat simple by RTS terms, is easy to utilize, but allows the player to craft his or her own strategy through the construction chains and combat tactics. NIS America says that the game will de-emphasize traditional leveling in preference of player skill to determine victory or defeat. You can check out GrimGrimoire this June for the Playstation 2.

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