Grim Fandango Review
Played on Xbox One (base)
Developed by LucasArts
Released 30th October 1998 (27th January 2015 - Remastered release)
Before Tim Schafer's first project, he proposed two concepts that could be developed into a full video game. The concept that came victorious out of the two was Full Throttle in 1995, however, due to its wild success, it didn't take much to convince the LucasArts higher-ups to commit a budget to the second, more unusual concept - A Day of the Dead inspired puzzle adventure. With its critical success, the adventure revitalisation of Telltale's The Walking Dead and LucasArts shifting focus from developer and publisher to licensor and publisher, the Fandango IP was quickly bought by Schafer's Double Fine Productions for a remastering so that modern audiences could enjoy the greatly fascinating tale from 1998.
Story
The story of this comical Day of the Dead-inspired adventure is pretty damn good. The game surprised me with the level of quality it had stored within it. The story focuses on Manny Calavera, the travel agent of the land of the dead. His less-than-fortunate life stumbles him upon a conspiracy that wraps itself around the whole system of the deceased. This crime-filled, epic tale is presented incredibly well and had me engaged throughout. The game doesn't suffer from any pacing issues as it happens over 4 years, with a "One Year Later" time jump occurring at the end of each of the chapters. While it was fantastic, some plot points like the Revolution and the Eternal Rest weren't as developed as I would've wished and felt like they were thrown in at some points for convenience-sake.
Gameplay
The gameplay is a simple point'n'click with a messy logic system behind each puzzle. The gameplay consists of you, the player, going around each year's designated area collecting bizarre items, interacting with unique NPCs and exploring the world, all to conclude brain-teasing challenges. Overall, the gameplay is brilliant and there's no point in me talking about the positives, like its creativity and engagement it offers, for the length of one chunky paragraph, when I can speak of its flaws and sum it all up. This game's problem consists of how random and absurd the puzzles within this game are, causing the player, and especially me, to spend half my playtime looking at a walkthrough. For example, no rational person would think of getting a communist bee locked up just so you could blackmail a lawyer, which will then lead to you being able to use a rigged casino table. While I will once again praise its originality, I am baffled how the developers thought this would make any sense without being stuck to a walkthrough guide, especially in the 90s. This overall, has a damaging effect on the immersion this game could've potentially delivered. However, consider that as a minor flaw within the labyrinth of goodies, you'll find on this ~8-hour journey.
Characters
The characters in this game are done in an incredible style. Each character concentrates a heavy dose of uniqueness and personality to the player and I often found myself going through most of the dialogue options just to hear them speak their minds out. While the more evil characters in the game like Domino Hurley or Hector LeMans are great in their own rights, they sometimes struck a near-identical sense, deteriorating their individuality. However, in return, I got to embrace the more creatively made characters, some of which were very minor characters like hyperactive Lupe or slick Nick Virago but most being significant gold mines like your ride-or-die companion Glottis.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere of Grim Fandango is supreme. The Aztec-inspired art style, blended with the smoothly made backgrounds, still strikes impressive imagery despite being 23 years old. While the remastered version allows some polished lighting on the character models, everything else remains the same as it was back in '98 - an amazing achievement to have a game this old still look this good. The soundtrack consists of great tunes, especially the funky jazz, present in the year 2 chapter. The game overall suffered no technical complications as it boasted its fantastic visual and audio pleasantry.
Story- 8/10
Gameplay- 8/10
Characters- 8/10
Atmosphere- 9/10
Great
Grim Fandango is a stellar adventure game which justifiably set a precedent for all future adventure titles.
