Full of in-jokes, this was one about an upcoming point & click adventure game featuring a cast of skeletons and demons. Not very scary ones though. Also the gameplay
involved you using the arrow keys to move Manuel 'Manny' Calavera instead of clicking
the mouse about the screen.
After
playing the Monkey Island series, buying this game was a no brainer (bit of
Kevin Bacon for you there) and I quickly snatched it up when it was released on
PC in 1998.
Led by Tim Schafer the game takes place in the Land of the Dead where Manny works as a travel agent of sorts. Attempting to get lost souls the best travel package to the ninth underworld, the afterlife so to speak. There are numerous travel options however some can take up to 4 years except the Number Nine train that only takes 4 minutes! Which would you prefer? However, Manny soon discovers a conspiracy and goes to work for a secret underground agency to try and thwart the evil plans of the nefarious Hector LeMans. Hmmm, LeMans...LeChuck? Interesting...
Having a cast of skeletons quite excited me, it was a fresh idea, to myself at least. Just like Monkey Island there were puzzles aplenty albeit difficult ones and I'd be stuck for days at a time but I think this was just all part of the experience. Thank God for walkthroughs though!
To me, some of the objects that Manny could interact with weren't always the clearest however whenever you neared a point of interest his head would turn and look in that direction. This was cool at the time! So missing these items wasn't a problem.
The one problem...was the movement. Controlling Manny was like controlling a tank. I often had him running in the opposite direction I wanted to go and this could be quite frustrating. However you do get used to it. In fact Tim insisted that you play the remastered version of the game this way to earn a gold trophy. I did. Grim Fandango Remastered is also my first PS4 platinum so I'm happy with that. For those wanting a simpler control scheme there is that option.
It was also great to play the remastered version and hear the voices clearly. My sound card wasn't up to scratch when I first played this game you see and the voices came out really deep and slow. I still managed to enjoy it though.
You want to know something funny? Even though the characters are dead they can still die. Yep, shoot one and it's body becomes 'sprouted' in tons of flowers. Strange no?
I wouldn't say this is the easiest adventure game in the world but it is fun and unlike any other. New players might not understand it though. There's also some glitches like when interacting with the wheelbarrow in the forest. At times you appear on the other side of the screen when moving it.
As for the humour, well, I'm always one for the odd random song and if you show Glottis (an orange demon created for driving and fixing vehicles) a picture of a rusty anchor at a certain point during the game he will perform a song for you:
That is a clip I uploaded recently. I really love the fact that you can save and edit video footage from PS4 games straight to YouTube. Fun! Also saves me filming straight off my phone or Ipad.
There's a vast array of unique characters to discover and enjoy in Grim Fandango but it still doesn't beat the Monkey Island series. The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge were classics and I enjoyed the special editions with the remastered graphics.
You can change between the old and new versions of Grim as you could with Monkey but the difference isn't as obvious.
In closing Grim Fandango is a gem of a game and one I was happy to discover. So that ends my Grim Fandango experience. Now...
...just give me The Curse Of Monkey Island remastered ;)
Having a cast of skeletons quite excited me, it was a fresh idea, to myself at least. Just like Monkey Island there were puzzles aplenty albeit difficult ones and I'd be stuck for days at a time but I think this was just all part of the experience. Thank God for walkthroughs though!
To me, some of the objects that Manny could interact with weren't always the clearest however whenever you neared a point of interest his head would turn and look in that direction. This was cool at the time! So missing these items wasn't a problem.
The one problem...was the movement. Controlling Manny was like controlling a tank. I often had him running in the opposite direction I wanted to go and this could be quite frustrating. However you do get used to it. In fact Tim insisted that you play the remastered version of the game this way to earn a gold trophy. I did. Grim Fandango Remastered is also my first PS4 platinum so I'm happy with that. For those wanting a simpler control scheme there is that option.
It was also great to play the remastered version and hear the voices clearly. My sound card wasn't up to scratch when I first played this game you see and the voices came out really deep and slow. I still managed to enjoy it though.
You want to know something funny? Even though the characters are dead they can still die. Yep, shoot one and it's body becomes 'sprouted' in tons of flowers. Strange no?
I wouldn't say this is the easiest adventure game in the world but it is fun and unlike any other. New players might not understand it though. There's also some glitches like when interacting with the wheelbarrow in the forest. At times you appear on the other side of the screen when moving it.
As for the humour, well, I'm always one for the odd random song and if you show Glottis (an orange demon created for driving and fixing vehicles) a picture of a rusty anchor at a certain point during the game he will perform a song for you:
That is a clip I uploaded recently. I really love the fact that you can save and edit video footage from PS4 games straight to YouTube. Fun! Also saves me filming straight off my phone or Ipad.
There's a vast array of unique characters to discover and enjoy in Grim Fandango but it still doesn't beat the Monkey Island series. The Secret of Monkey Island and LeChuck's Revenge were classics and I enjoyed the special editions with the remastered graphics.
You can change between the old and new versions of Grim as you could with Monkey but the difference isn't as obvious.
In closing Grim Fandango is a gem of a game and one I was happy to discover. So that ends my Grim Fandango experience. Now...
...just give me The Curse Of Monkey Island remastered ;)
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