Grim Fandango (Jewel Case)
by LucasArts Entertainment
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Our Price: $23.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Video Games See more product details |
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Video Game Reviews of Grim Fandango (Jewel Case)
Customer Review: Tim Schafer delivers a delightfully macabre tale of the beyond.
Summary: 4 Stars
One of the last great examples of the dwindling graphic adventure genre of video games, Grim Fandango combines a compelling plot, lovable characters, razor-wit dialogue, and head-scratching puzzles to create an enjoyable adventure for anyone who can poke a bit of fun at death.
The player steps into the shoes of Manny Calavera, a travel agent for the Land of the Dead. Manny's job is to find recently dead clients and send them on the way to their eternal rest. Bemoaning of poor clients that prevent him from gaining enough good karma to find his own rest, Manny sets out to improve his lot, which runs him across Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, a veritable saint who for some reason doesn't earn her deserved passage on the vaunted "Number Nine", an express train that shortens the normally four year journey to four minutes. What follows is a trip across the Land of the Dead, finding lots of interesting characters to interact with as Manny unravels the conspiracy surrounding his woes.
Created by noted game designer Tim Schafer (Full Throttle, Psychonauts), this game is presented as a graphic adventure of the classic variety, where Manny wanders around areas, finds items to use elsewhere, and converses with characters to forward the plot. Action is secondary to the relaxed feel of being able to take your time, explore, and think on how to solve all the myriad puzzles you encounter. The graphics and sound are a little dated, the game having been released in 1998, but still retain a stylistic charm, from the vivid and varied environments, to the deceased characters themselves, who take on the form of Mexican "calaca" figures. Only two complaints come to mind. The first is common with most graphic adventures: that there will be times when the puzzles just seem to wacky or esoteric, and you find yourself more trying to follow the designer's train of thought than logical conclusions. The second is that the control scheme is based around the keyboard (or joysticks/gamepads), so the usual mouse control is sacrificed.
Despite these minor failings, I'd recommend this to anyone who loves witty dialogue and solving puzzles.
Customer Review: Amazing narrative, characters, settings, and dialogues...and it's smart!
Summary: 5 Stars
An exemplary adventure game, this story of Manny Calavera and his quest through a Mexican limbo (in the afterlife sense) for a beautiful woman cheated from the afterlife she deserves takes us through a vivid world of politics, corruption, and heroism. This is no shallow game, but that doesn't mean it doesn't offer the thrills and fun of one. The script, music, and performances are of the highest quality, and the effect is both fun and moving. Play this!!Customer Review: A different kind of game
Summary: 4 Stars
I like these kinds of games. Unfortunately I got stuck and got fed up and bored. Maybe if I had tried harder, I would have had more fun with it. But I really liked the look, animation and feel of it. Customer Review: Great little game, good mystery
Summary: 5 Stars
great game for a 1 time play. the story line is wonderful, along with the voices and humor. Wonderful for a 1 time play. Not replayable in my opinion, but worth the buy, old game, so don't expect current graphics etc.Customer Review: Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased Grim Fandango towards the end of November 2005. The game wouldn't play on my Pentium 4, 3.2 Ghz processor laden with XP and the dreaded Sp2.
I was able to limp along with the compatibility mode...which is terrible. If active gameplay was possible then the subsequent cutscenes played with an echo and out of focus and out of perspective, and when active gameplay was achieved ... it wasn't the greatest.
I was able to solve the beginning of the game all by myself...not knowing there was a spoiler walkthrough on the PDF manual from installation.
The game started to give me a headache. Between the lousy controls, the annoying echoing cutscenes, and the increasingly difficult gameplay, I was hoping the Grim Reaper would come and rescue me.
With all of those problems, I couldn't put it down. I suffered through with the lame comaptibilty mode. I eventually had to resort to walkthroughs, and found it tough with the walkthroughs!
I finally completed the game, uninstalled it and to my surprise, re-installed it, and played it again. This was really a surprise because I received Myst, Indigo Prophecy, The Longest Journey, and Runaway for Christmas 2005, and all were XP compatible. The game on my hard drive ...this very moment(January 2006)... is Grim Fandango.
I found that the cutscenes played beautifully without the compatibility mode on, and since I had completed the game, I had access to play them all without enagaing any game play (that wouldn't happen anyway with the mode turned off), one scene after the other, all from the game's general menu...
I played the cutscenes for my cousin, he was amazed and totally enthralled. This is a game made eight years ago, made to run on computers made eight years ago, that is in fact better than any game developed today.
Tim Schafer's follow-up, Psychonauts, is almost as good, but its really not a PC game and plays much better on XBOX or PS2.
The quirky, unusual little Grim Fandango, is more addicting, and much harder to shake then any of its contemporary competitors.
I finally came out of the closet with my Grim Fandango addiction and found several wonderful fan sites with a solution to the cumbersome compatibility mode play. Two of those sites are grimfandango.net and Tim Fandango's ninthworld.com both are Lucas webring sites and are brilliant in helping the player with a multitude of challenges the game presents within and out of gameplay. Both of the aforementioned sites along with Lucas Arts also contain a very necessary patch for the game, that should be installed before the game is installed.
As far as the gameplay itself goes...very difficult. It is not trial and error. There is a thread of logic connecting the solution to the challenges presented.
While many times far fetched, Grim Fandangos puzzle solutions all have a purpose, and are often hinted at through dialogue and gestures the animated characters make leading up to the challenge.
I don't know what happened between Lucas and Tim Schafer. But for Lucas to sit on this game and not produce an updated XP version, and basically not produce any versions at all is one of the biggest trajedies in computing history, much less gaming history.
The wonderful Mexican graphics as well as the unsinkable, never say "die" spirit of Manny Calavera are delightful and encouraging. The humor is smart and sophisticated. The music, I can't get out of my head...superb soundtrack and still regarded as one of the best, if not the best. Our culture should not be denied this game. Believe me, we need this game.
mjh