I've played a respectable amount of games in 2018 thanks to my Switch, and, as the year draws to a close, I've got one more game to talk about. In my last game-related blog entry of 2018, I'll be discussing Grim Fandango Remastered. BACKGROUND:
I did not grow up playing games on PC. I didn't get into shit like Doom, Counter Strike, or the myriad of silly Flash games on the Internet until I was a bit older. In the same vein, I never got to experience the point-and-click adventure games of old until I started learning about them online. It doesn't help that I didn't grow up in the '80s and '90s when the genre was wildly popular. With all that said, when I discovered that a) Grim Fandango Remastered was ported to Switch, and b) it was on a 70% markdown, I had to check it out. The most I've interacted with the defining games of the point-and-click genre is watching Let's Plays of them, so this felt like a perfect opportunity to experience one of its most highly acclaimed titles. PLOT: You play as Manuel "Manny" Calavera, a sales agent in the Land of the Dead in charge of providing travel packages for all the incoming souls of the recently deceased. These souls are on their way to eternal rest, and it's Manny's job to determine in what manner they get there. Souls who've led a good life can make the trip on various modes of transportation to get to the end faster, with the most ideal being the Number Nine, an express train. Less kind souls must make their way through the Land of the Dead on foot, which takes much longer. Some of these souls end up disillusioned, or have debts to pay, and take up jobs instead. As Manny goes about his work, he ends up under the threat of being fired for underperforming. Desperate, he finds a way to get a leg up on the job, but ends up caught in a criminal conspiracy that affects just about every soul in the Land of the Dead. Manny's story is divided into four story arcs, each a year apart. Each year, you'll find Manny in an entirely new place in his life, but still very much focused on undoing his mistakes and rectifying the consequences the conspiracy have caused. It's pretty exciting to see the shifts in setting when you get to the "one year later" screens. The plot has a kind of film noir vibe to it, and coupled with the clear Día de los Muertos inspirations for the setting and character designs, it's a peculiar, but very welcome mix of styles. Some of the voice actors were Latino, whose dialogue complemented the setting. Grim Fandango's characters range from the obvious trope to the more nuanced, but for the most part, you'll get a fun conversation out of majority of the NPCs. I found myself exhausting every dialogue option, both to make sure I get everything I need to solve the puzzles, as well as to see if they have something funny to say. PRESENTATION: Although this game originally came out in 1998, the game's aged pretty well. Most of the original visual elements (the backgrounds, the pre-rendered cutscenes) remain mostly untouched, with the only notable things being truly remastered are the character models. You can toggle between the original, low-poly look and the remastered models if you so desire. The music is fully orchestrated, with most of the tracks taking a jazz route that complements the film noir vibe of the story. There are a few tracks here and there that take inspiration from mariachi music. Overall, they made wonderful background music as I shuffled through my inventory trying to figure out this one fucking puzzle. Unique to the remastered version is the option to turn on developer commentary. If you're interested in hearing about what the devs think about certain sections of the game, this is an option well worth exploring. GAMEPLAY: Like most point-and-click adventure games, you move around your character (Manny, in this case) around the environment, interacting with people and objects, picking up items, and using these items on said people or objects. You pretty much do this for the entirety of the game in order to solve puzzles and progress through the story. Unlike older point-and-click games where you saw the entire area on the screen, Grim Fandango features fixed camera angles that may give some players trouble when moving from place to place. And since this game is in 3D (again, unlike older point-and-clicks, which were often 2D), it's a little tricky to pick up some out-of-the-way items, and activating certain things may prove to be finicky. This may frustrate people early on, but an important thing to note is that if you can interact with something, Manny will often turn his gaze upon it. In contrast, Grim Fandango follows the norm of most point-and-clicks by having a variety of tough puzzles. If you're not familiar with the genre, figuring out some of the puzzles in these older games is almost always a challenge. Some puzzles are (slightly) straightforward, others require a bit of ingenuity, while a few may be considered obtuse. If you find yourself stuck and unable to progress, you'll likely end up backtracking through literally everywhere, trying every goddamn item in your inventory on every other object in the environment. Don't get too mad, though; there's no time limit here, and there's never a situation where you die or end up in a no-win scenario. VERDICT: Twenty years after its release, I now understand why Grim Fandango is revered. Though the whole 3D environment takes some getting used to, the unique setting, visuals that aged well, great music, and some good, ol'-fashioned hard as fuck puzzles make the game quite the adventure. If you're like me and kind of missed the boat on the heyday of point-and-click games, this is a good place to start. Grim Fandango's on a number of platforms. Here are links to a couple of them: The game's official soundtrack is on Spotify as well. Give that a listen if you wish. - end -
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June 2024
Derryck
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