It is not massive in the open-world, “you can walk to those mountains” sense, but it manages to feel both full and intimate, like a warm dinner in small, friend-filled kitchen. Ancillary characters will reappear over the lengthy journey and it feels like seeing an old friend. It’s gags, pertinent information, or, more likely, a mix of both. Grim Fandango is stuffed with sharp dialogue and you’re encouraged to go through all the options, a bit of quick unlearning needed if you’ve been on a “he will remember that” diet of choice-heavy adventure games. Of course, it’s an easier stay for the enterprising Calavera than the poor souls trekking for years on a walking stick. This is a world of travel-agent skeletons, giant cat races, and biting birds that comes off so comfortable you almost wonder why anyone is making miles towards the afterlife. Grim Fandango is so playful, though, it gets me into a good mood. I love bread–okay, I knead to stop with the bread. I made my bread and I’m going to rye in it. Surely all these breads aren’t going to show up as individual inventory items I’ll have to scroll through–oh, they do. Why is it letting me pick up infinite bread. I’ve never felt more emotionally connected to a videogame character than when Manny picks up a ceremonial Day of the Dead baguette and sticks the whole thing in his inner jacket pocket. Manny isn’t one of them, which is why he’s working off his sins as a reaper, but a string of bum, low-commission clients has him treading water in this literal limbo. Most prized is the Number Nine, an express train reserved for those who’ve led sterling lives. Manny Calavera is a grim reaper, which in this art deco Land of the Dead means he’s a travel agent, sending dead souls to their final resting place through a variety of fine travel options. No bones about it, though, Grim Fandango holds up on its original merits as a stylish, humerus adventure. The non-tank controls are welcomed (as is the cheeky trophy for playing with tank controls). The latter has some nice dynamic lighting and new character models, but I stuck mostly with the former for its more vibrant colors. You can switch between the original and remastered look at the touch of a button. We’ve had an entire digital catalog–GOG.com–devoted to getting good, old games up for sale on a digital storefront, but no Grim Fandango? Many, myself included, have found it difficult to track down a copy to play. Grim Fandango didn’t need a remaster as much as it needed a re-release. Overall, I found them really killing the atmosphere for me.Spooky scary skeletons send shivers down my spine Also, the backgrounds really clashed with the nicely redone character models and I hated the dithering in them. I wished for a fast-travel option more than once. Also, many of the locations felt really sparse with little to do now that you didn’t have to walk all over them anymore or really boring now that you didn’t have to manoeuvre the character around obstacles anymore. The latter was exacerbated by the background really showing their age, I often couldn’t tell what I was looking at or which object a hotspot was for. The point and click interface, while probably the most demanded change, felt really tacked on, with little effort given to make in integrate in the game properly, especially for puzzles requiring walking around, or to highlight hotspots. And don’t think it’s just from lack of exposure to 90s puzzle design as I found The Dig, which I played in between for the Classic Game Club to hold up much better. ![]() ![]() I’ve played it before and remembered it as being one of the Top 3 LucasArts adventures of all time, but while I still found the story, characters, voice acting and music to be top-notch, some of the puzzles felt downright bizarre to me this time 'round. OK, so I just finished this after getting it from the Orbyt Play Humble Bundle and man, has this not aged well and man, does the Remastered Edition do little to address it.
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