2 September 2003
I know the thing to the left says I’ve been playing Outcast lately, but yesterday evening I installed Grim Fandango, a LucasArts adventure game that’s now five years old. Monday evening turned into Monday night and then Tuesday morning as I played and played and played, and eventually completed it. So making me very tired this morning.
That’s not normal for me; I don’t even like adventure games! Granted, those from LucasArts (Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Sam and Max Hit the Road, The Dig, and the time-travelling Day of the Tentacle) are usually a cut above the rest in almost every department, but there’s something about them that doesn’t sit right with me.
Thinking about it, the surreal nature of them is what threw me off. I don’t mind being forced to learn a few silly names for things, or be expected to find my way around a giant city, or having to perform a succession of nearly pixel-perfect jumps, but ask me to wander around looking for things to click on so I can use that pair of roller-skates or crazy drinking straw…and, well, I won’t be happy. While I appreciate there is an internal logic even to games like Toonstruck, I just don’t buy it.
Especially in the case of LucasArts games, I should add. Because with the exception of The Dig, they’re all absolutely hilarious. And with the inclusion of The Dig, they’re all well-produced and well-plotted.
This is all well and good, but what about Grim Fandango? Why am I only playing it now?
Thing is, I built my PC eighteen months ago, and it wasn’t bleeding-edge then. So the newer games, they just don’t run as well as they’d like. They also cost more than games from yesteryear, and as I didn’t play all of the great games in the last five years, not by a long shot, I may as well play them now. It’s cheaper in both hardware and software.
So at last we come to the game itself. You play Manuel ‘Manny’ Calavera, a dead man who needs to work off some mysterious debt of the soul before being allowed to pass to the Ninth Underworld. This is achieved by being a travel agent: taking the newly-dead and selling them the best package they can afford. For most people the journey takes four years, be it on a luxury cruise or battling through inhospitable forests and trudging across vast snowscapes, but those who have been especially good get to take the Number Nine train, which takes but four minutes.
Manny used to be a hot salesman, but he’s lost his touch (although not his tailor, apparently: look left for all his outfits). This might be something to do with Domino Hurley, his fellow salesman, being part of some kind of conspiracy and so getting all the good clients. But then again, it might just be that Manny’s not taking responsibility for his failure.
Whatever it is, Manny decides to take matters into his own hands: through sabotage and an illegal driver — Glottis, a demon summoned with the sole purpose of being a propellerhead — he steals a client meant for Domino, Mercedes ‘Meche’ Colomar. This wouldn’t be a problem, but he can’t get her the package she deserves, and that’s not his fault. Before he can sort things out, she’s gone, and he’s going to be out of a job. He’s got to find her.
I mentioned clicking earlier and most adventure games are point-and-click, but not Grim Fandango. It’s keyboard-operated, and instead of waiting for the cursor to change, Manny will turn his head to anything interesting. This can get a little fiddly, but is extremely effective.
Speaking of fiddly, that’s the best way to describe the keyboard controls. Most of the complaints I can remember from release focused on the lifts, which I didn’t have a particular problem with, but general moving about…ugh! Commendably you’re given the choice between camera-oriented ( ‘up’ moves Manny towards the top of the screen) and character-oriented ( ‘up’ moves Manny in whatever direction he’s facing) controls. Neither is perfect, both are awkward, but I went for the former due to the rigid camera and extra speed.
Playing the game, though, is a different matter. The voices are well-acted, the dialogue is funny, and the plot’s compelling. I shouldn’t need to say this because of the above, but this is an excellent game. It’s got so many themes and styles clashing into each other beneath the overriding pair of film noir and Mexican folklore that I’m convinced I didn’t catch every reference, and I was watching for them like a hawk.
It may seems strange to spend so long talking about anything but the gameplay, but that’s because I could only do it a disservice. Buy it now and play it to completion.