Grim Fandango PC Game Review | LucasArts' 1998 Adventure Game | Second Wind PC Game Reviews
87Grim Fandango retrospective PC game review. Released for the PC in 1998, Grim Fandango is the pinnacle of the adventure game genre and is probably the best game to ever come from LucasArts.
Grim Fandango is set in the Land of the Dead. You play as Manny Calavera, the Grim Reaper. Well actually, in this world Death is more of a travel agent. In the original Aztec mythology, the souls of the newly-departed face a perilous four-year journey through limbo, before they reach what’s called the Ninth Underworld. Manny’s job is to upgrade these souls to a better travel package. Grim Fandango PC game creator Tim Shafer is known for having a bizarre imagination and a taste for the oblique, with Grim Fandango showing you can clearly add a dark sense of humour to that list. Scratch below the surface and that’s some pretty dark subject material, and I originally thought Grim Fandango was a PC game with a goofy story about skeleton travel agents. I don’t want to say anything else, because Grim Fandango has honestly one of the most original and charming stories in any retro computer game.
What really sells Grim Fandango's story is the atmosphere. Tim Shafer and the LucasArts team somehow managed to combine Aztec mythology and Film Noir. You’d expect those themes to be like oil and water but they pulled it off. Visually, Grim Fandango is still one of my favourite PC games. In 1998 LucasArts had some fantastic staff members like Leslie Aclaro, Peter Chan and Linda Grisanti, who did sterling jobs making sure all the disparate, exotic locations in the game are all pinned down with a consistency and detail that only LucasArts could muster.
Added into that mix is a brilliant soundtrack of 1930s/40s style music. A wicked blend of swing, big band and mariachi, again somehow all working in unison to give this game identity. Grim Fandango’s music was composed by Peter McConnell and that man’s CV is unreal. Chances are you’ve heard and loved this guy’s music and Grim Fandango is possibly his strongest work.
While we’re on the subject of audio, the voice acting is flawless. Manny Calavera is voiced by Tony Plana; Grim Fandango’s PC game voice cast members include Maria Canals, Pamela Adlon, Barbara Goodson and Jack Angel. Alan Blumenfeld is the standout performance though, as Manny’s sidekick Glottis.
Like most LucasArts PC adventure games, gameplay in Grim Fandango is moved along by solving puzzles. The puzzles in Grim Fandango are all a bit knottier than other LucasArts games. Monkey Island might have a few obtuse puzzles, but there’s a couple in Grim Fandango that really take the mickey! Grim Fandango knows it’s a hard PC game, but when you put two and two together it’s a great feeling.
As much as I love adventure games, by 1998 the scene was dying out. Grim Fandango was Tim Shafer’s attempt at rejuvenating the adventure game genre, but it ended up being something of a swansong. LucasArts invested a massive 3 million dollars into the game’s budget but sales did not do the game justice. Despite absolutely smashing reviews and winning awards across the board, some reports claim as little as 100,000 units were sold. As far as I can tell, Grim Fandango is the only LucasArts PC game that didn't turn a profit.
LucasArts forever moved away from the adventure PC game genre after Grim Fandango, but we’ve seen some great new titles come up recently. Grim Fandango received a Remastered edition courtesy of Tim Shafer’s company Double Fine, after they acquired the rights from Disney after they closed LucasArts in 2012. Grim Fandango remastered has upscaled graphics, new character models and lighting and includes a more traditional point and click mouse interface. It’s every bit as good as the original and in some ways it’s improved. Grim Fandango Remastered can be bought from Steam or GOG, I have included links in the description.
If you’re a fan of PC adventure games and you’re looking for something with a bit of panache, then you’ve found it. I’ve played a lot of PC adventure games, but I’ve never played as good an adventure game as Grim Fandango. The atmosphere, the storytelling, the creativity and the excellent worldbuilding make Grim Fandango a PC game experience that I just cannot get enough of.
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All music taken from Peter McConnell's Grim Fandango soundtrack.
Extracted from my own Grim Fandango CD-ROM files.
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