![]() The music of Grim Fandango was always one of its best features. Therefore it was with good reason that Double Fine decided to bring it a little more up to date in several respects.Īnd this was certainly a success in some areas – the most impressive being the newly-recorded musical score. Because of these reasons in particular, the title hadn’t aged well visually, and felt like a bit of a chore to control. There always was an epic and cinematic feel to it all, and Tim Schafer and the Lucasarts designers were on top of their game with Grim Fandango – despite the technical limitations of it being their first graphic adventure that was produced with 3D character models and controls. To reveal too much about how the story develops would do a disservice to such a classic piece of story-telling, but suffice to say it delivers a fantastically gripping tale of star-crossed lovers and stars a great cast of both lovable heroes and vile villains. Pulling ideas from such a disparate range of influences could easily create a real mess, yet Grim fandango ties it all together into one strong vision of life after death, and tasks you with uncovering the corruption therein. ![]() The story spans four years and draws inspiration from Mexican culture and the Day of the Dead festival, mid-twentieth century Film Noir and Casablanca in particular, and Art Deco design. This new version will allow a new generation to play through one of the greatest adventure games ever produced – with some much needed changes made to the control system and interface – but don’t expect to be blown away by the graphical upgrades.įor those who haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing Grim Fandango before, it is a traditional point and click-style adventure with direct controls, that follows the story of Manuel Calavera – a travel agent who helps lost souls on their journey through the Ninth Underworld. Whilst it’s still an epic adventure that is equally adept at making one laugh as it as at jerking on your heartstrings, the high definition makeover feels distinctly lacking. May this classic never die.I certainly experienced mixed feelings when playing through Grim Fandango Remastered. The poor puzzles have eroded the score, but you're getting a PC gaming great for £11 / $15. As it is the puzzles provide a bit of friction to expose you to each location. If it had been technically possible at the time, I can imagine Grim being the Jazzpunk of its day, a series of quips and scenes linked by moments of cute interaction. Grim Fandango's blend of comedy and fatalism is best embodied by Membrillo, the coroner who tends to 'sprouted' victims in Rubacava's morgue-"We may have years, we may have hours, but sooner or later, we push up flowers." They chase fame, money and influence out of sheer force of habit. ![]() Even with a clean state Grim's citizens trap themselves with freshly invented baggage. "ah, Deadbeats!" Manny quips), but it's sad also. It's brilliantly funny (in a grotty hotel bar skeletons in turtlenecks and berets improvise revolutionary poetry. Grim Fandango's dialogue trees are little treasure chests that dispense gags, movie references and sudden poignant moments with outstanding generosity. It's rare that a game compels me to exhaust every last line of enquiry with every character. I'd only wish for a three things: autosaves, a replacement for the laborious inventory system and a hint system. An optional point-and-click interface fixes the original's glaring control issues, and there's an optional director's commentary that lets you trigger anecdotes in most scenes. Characters cast long shadows across the static old backgrounds, which give the streets of Rubacava extra film noir cred. The 3D models have been faithfully retextured, and look much better at modern resolutions thanks to revamped lighting in every scene (you can switch between the original models and the remastered versions in the menus). It's disappointing that the backgrounds haven't had a retouch, but not unexpected, and the rest of the remaster is good. The art mixes film noir and Mexican Day of the Dead iconography with Aztec and Egyptian influences in strange and beautiful ways, and while the remastered version does little to improve on the hazy 3:4 ratio backdrops-the widescreen mode merely stretches the image to fit your screen-the vision alone makes the journey worthwhile.Īn optional point-and-click interface fixes the original's glaring control issues. Its status as a technical achievement has faded since, but the humour still cuts, the performances still shine and Grim Fandango's vision of the afterlife still stirs the imagination. Grim Fandango's setup is as exciting today as it was in 1998 when LucasArts was at its peak.
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