Grim Fandango

"Is the future Grim for this one?"

The adventure genre is dying, only Lucas Arts have been able to consistently make good point and click titles. Grim Fandango was one of there last…
Grim Fandango was revolutionary for the adventure game genre, it was the first to be in full 3D and was the first to lose the use of a cursor.

The control system used for Grim Fandango is revolutionary as it uses the keyboard to control your character. He is moved with the use of the arrows, with Manny (the main character) moving in the direction pressed. You can also make him run, which has speeded up the time it takes to get from point a to point b. Then you use the keyboard to tell Manny to do something, like look at an object or pick it up. Now this could have caused tremendous problems but Lucas Arts have achieved it very well. Each time Manny goes near an object that he can use he tilts his head slightly. I was surprised at how effective this was, as you don’t seem to miss any of the crucial items. However I did find that this new system took a little time to get used to, but I still felt it was excellent.

The graphics in Grim Fandango are excellent. For the first time an adventure game has been fully 3D. All of the backgrounds are amazingly detailed and the color ranges are excellent. The lighting effects are also done extremely well as they look like they are real lights. I have found that on occasion Grim Fandango is very dark and it can be hard to see where you are in the room, which causes problems. The animation is also very good and fluid, the characters all walk realistically and facial expressions are also very good. The cut scenes that show some of the important events that occur are very good. They are amazingly detailed and very effective when trying to carry the story on. They also fit in seamlessly to the game, this helps to keep the player hooked in the game.
The sound effects in Grim Fandango are also excellent, as are the characters voices. The sound effects within the game are all very realistic and add to the experience. The character voices all fit there characters perfectly. Manny’s voice is excellent and doesn’t become annoying. The music with in the game is also very entertaining and nice to listen too. There is no need to have an extra CD in the background, as all the music is good. It also captures the mood of the scene you are in perfectly, whether it is in a casino or on a boat.

The story in Grim Fandango is also very good. Manny is a travel agent who sells luxury packages to souls on their way to the eternal rest. But Manny gets caught up in a conspiracy and has to stop it to be able to carry on with his life. There is nothing new in that concept, but still the story has such diversifying results that it becomes brilliant. It spans over four in-game years and takes Manny to many different locations. The story is very novel in that you control a skeleton trying to save souls, and this novelty appears throughout the game and makes it very enjoyable.

The characters are what make Grim Fandango such a memorable experience. You will become very attached to Manny as his quest develops, the voice acting helps this a lot. But there is also variety within the characters, you have your normal skeletons but there are also lots of other types of creatures. One of the most memorable is Glottis, he is a mechanic who is the second main character in the game. You get more attached to Glottis than you do to Manny. Glottis’ voice acting is also superb and never becomes annoying. There are lots of different characters within the game all of which you can interact with and all have lots of different things to say.

Like any point and click game replay value could have been a problem. I found though that Lucas Arts has made a game that you keep coming back to though, maybe not straight after you first complete it but give it time and you will be back playing it again.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/01, Updated 08/12/01