Grim Fandango Review

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Grim Fandango

Review by Jen

Read no further! Play this game instead! I hereby nominate this for Adventure Game of the Millennium! Five stars! It’s got it all! It’s epic! If you must know more, here are some details.

The story is loosely based around the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday and is reminiscent of the film noir of the 1940s and the Cuban casino scene of that time. The plot spans four years, each segment occurring on the Day of the Dead. You are Manuel Calavera, Grim Reaper and travel agent to the dead. You are a superior salesman, but for some reason, you cannot get any good clients, while your coworker, Domino, sells tickets every day to the Number 9 train, which goes straight to the ninth underworld. You’re lucky if you can give away a walking stick for the otherwise four-year trip.  Finally, you manage to steal one of Domino’s clients, Meche, who is an absolute saint with nary a blot on her record. For some reason, however, your computer will not let you give her anything at all, let alone the Number 9 ticket that rightfully should be hers. She sets off on her long, dangerous walk, fraught with peril.  You discover signs of corruption and suspect that you are being cut out of the loop. You start to investigate and manage to step on some mob toes, meet some revolutionaries and a huge cast of other characters, and set off to find Meche to apologize for your mistake and because you’re maybe (just a little bit) (if you weren’t dead) in love with her. That’s just the beginning—the remainder of the story deals with “crime and corruption in the land of the dead.” The plot in this game is extremely rich, and there are some pretty hilarious parts. In addition to the main story, there are tons of little subplots.

The graphics are pure eye candy! The backgrounds are very Art Nouveau, in keeping with the forties style of the game. There is a lot of background movement in the scenery, including some very convincing water lapping at the dock in Rubacava’s harbor.  The already-dead skeletons can get even more dead (dead for real, I guess) by being “planted” (usually with a gun), which means they decay into a little flower garden. This was always entertaining to watch—lovely yet somehow macabre. The cutscenes were magnificent, too. The characters are all made up of 3D polygons.  It was a little off-putting at first, but they were so well-done that I learned to love them.

One of the best things about the art was the hot rods. Tim Shaffer must have been one of those kids in junior high school (we all knew one) who drew cars on his Pee Chee folders and book covers with zillions of tailpipes and flames and big tires. Year 1 has a hot rod car, years 2 and 3 have hot rod boats, and my favorite—year 4 has a hot rod gondola.

The music, sounds, and voice acting are all first-rate! The music is a kind of blend between big-band swing, salsa, and Star Wars movie. It really makes for a pleasing mix. What’s more, there were numerous instances where I sat totally stymied, hearing the same music over and over again, and I never got sick of it.

The sound effects were magnificent. The bottles of liquid actually sounded like they were sloshing, water lapped at the docks, Manny’s scythe unfolding sounded like a knife being sharpened … need I continue? All of the sound effects were very good and exactly appropriate for what they were meant to be.

The voice acting is very good; I loved the Spanish accents. I recently got one of those Cambridge Sound Works speaker systems with a big subwoofer, and the bass tones of some of the voices just made me melt, they were so fine. There is one major character in the game, a demon named Glottis, who got on my nerves quite a bit, though. If he wasn’t driving, he would sit in the car and make putt-putt noises with his mouth. While it totally suited his character, I found it really irritating. Glottis is a big dufus kind of guy who is awfully similar to an annoying uncle that I have, so maybe that’s why I found him so unattractive.

Many have complained of the interface because it is so unfamiliar.  There is no mouse support; you either use the keyboard or a joystick or game pad. (I used a game pad.) To interact with something, you must position Manny to where he will look at it. When he turns his head toward something, you can either pick it up, talk about it, talk to it if it’s a fellow “person,” use an inventory item with it, etc. I for one found it took a lot of getting used to, but then I liked it a lot. There is no pixel hunting, and the absence of a cursor on the screen makes it really immersive.  Even with the game pad, I found it hard sometimes to control Manny (I swear the bag o’bones had a mind of his own!). It also has long pauses in between scenes while the next scene’s files decompress and load up. I have heard that you can get around this by copying the CDs to your hard drive, which I did not do. I found the delays only a minor drawback, though, unless I was going back and forth between two places a lot or went back to another place by accident; then it became tiresome. (The interface and slow loading characteristics made me think this game was designed with the ultimate goal of porting it over to PlayStation.)

The puzzles ranged from easy to very difficult, but all but one made sense to me. I did have to get hints on a couple of the more difficult puzzles. The puzzles mainly consist of picking up items in one place and using them in another place to get different items (typical LucasArts). All together, I estimate that I spent about 30 hours on this game, compared to the advertised 40 to 60 hours, but I am an experienced adventure gamer. Even so, probably about ten of those hours were spent with me totally stymied about one thing or another. I didn’t mind, though, because it postponed the end of the game that much more.

This is far and away the most stylish and entertaining game I’ve ever played. You’ve got to play it! No self-respecting adventure gamer should be without it. This is what other adventure games only aspire to be. It is extremely well-written, well-executed, and above all, fun to play. Are you on your way to the store yet?  You’d better get a move on! A better game I’ve yet to play …  I’ve got to update my favorites list and put Grim Fandango in the number one spot. Two thumbs up (and they’re both mine!).  The main drawback of this game is the ending—I wish there wasn’t one. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: LucasArts Publisher: LucasArts Release Date: October 1998

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Windows 95/98 Pentium 133 32 MB RAM 4X CD Rom 2 MB Video RAM Optional: 3D Card

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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