Information AboutGrim Fandango |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT GRIM FANDANGO | |
| 1998 video games | |
| adventure games | |
| interactive achievement award winners | |
| lucasarts games | |
| point-and-click adventure games | |
| windows games | |
''Grim Fandango'' is a graphical Adventure Computer Game released by LucasArts in 1998 , the title derived from a line of a mournful poem read by one of the characters in the game. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use Three-dimensional Graphics , as it runs in the GrimE Engine . ''Grim Fandango'' was lauded by critics and adventure game fans as one of the best games in the genre and beyond (see Reactions section), but was not a commercial success. SETTING The game is set in the Aztec Afterlife and charts the four years of travel through the land of the dead towards the final destination of Mictlan , the Aztec Underworld , for the Protagonist , the skeletal Manny Calavera . Manny, whose job combines Grim Reaper with travel agent, turns detective when he discovers the righteous deceased are being denied their deserved post-mortem rewards of direct travel to Mictlan. His investigations take him through a tangled web of corruption, deceit, and murder. The story unfolds in four episodes, each set a year apart on the Day Of The Dead , and it is from this festival that much of the game's imagery is drawn - most of the game's characters are skeletal '' Calaca s'' figures (based on the work from Mexican printmaker Jos̩ Guadalupe Posada ), and flowers are used (to beautiful but horrific effect) as tools of murder, which the characters call " Sprout ing". There is also unique fauna, like bone-eating fire beavers and gigantic cats used for racing. Unusually, the game combines this mythical underworld with 1930 s Art Deco design motifs and a dark plot reminiscent of the Film Noir genre. The second part of the game, when Calavera is running a nightclub, is inspired by Humphrey Bogart films '' The Maltese Falcon '', '' Key Largo '' and not least '' Casablanca '', where gambler Chowchilla Charlie is extremely reminiscent of Peter Lorre , and the town's corrupt police chief is based on Claude Rains 's Captain Renault. Despite this, Tim Schafer stated that the true inspiration was drawn from films like '' Double Indemnity '', in which a weak and undistinguished man (a insurance salesman, not a detective) is involved on a murder intrigue. CHARACTERS Most of the characters are Hispanic and the occasional Spanish word is interspersed into the English dialog. Most of the characters smoke (largely for cinematic effect). Manuel "''Manny''" Calavera, voiced by Tony Plana See Also: Manny Calavera In Atonement for his sins in life, Manny works as a travel agent at the Department of Death in the city of El Marrow, earning his own passage to the underworld by selling travel packages, ranging from a four-minute trainride on the luxurious No.9 train to a crafty walking stick and a four year walk. Manny competes for good clients, whose spotless lives merit a quick passage to the underworld, in turn earning Manny commissions in form of a quicker passage for himself, as well as prestige at the office. Unfortunately for Manny, all the good clients are snapped up by his office rival Domino, and Manny uses all his dry Wit to figure out why. Mercedes "''Meche''" Colomar, voiced by Maria Canals ''Meche'' is the Damsel In Distress who Manny immediately falls in love with. Even though she has lead a virtuous life, the Department of Death mysteriously does not grant her a ticket for the No.9 train, and Manny has to let her travel alone on foot to the underworld. After getting fired from the Department of Death, Manny tries everything to track her down. Glottis, voiced by Alan Blumenfeld Serving as a Comic Relief and Sidekick , Glottis is an enormous orange demon, who serves as Manny's driver and mechanic at the Department of Death. When Glottis gets fired from the Department of Death, he shows himself a lovable character who becomes Manny's friend and companion in the search for Meche, throughout the game. Hector LeMans, voiced by Jim Ward The Antagonist , Hector LeMans is the boss of the criminal underworld of El Marrow, specialized in ticket profiteering. With the help of his henchmen, he steals tickets for train No.9 from the deserving dead and sells them to rich people, and throughout the game his brutality shows he is not to be trifled with. He is known to having sprouted dozens and dozens of people, as he owns a greenhouse surrounded by a field, where he stores his enemies' sprouted remains. Salvador "''Sal''" Limones, voiced by Sal Lopez Salvador Limones is the head of the underground organization LSA (Lost Souls' Alliance) that fights against Hector LeMans with all means. Limones recruits Manny, in order to have an inside agent at the Department of Death, and Limones helps Manny escape from El Marrow in order to look for Meche. PRODUCTION ''Grim Fandango'' was released on , as the basis of the new GrimE engine. The 3D characters and control system that the GrimE engine used gave the game a completely different feel and appearance to the SCUMM games, even though it preserved many LucasArts conventions in terms of puzzle and dialogue style (and the trademark inability to be killed or become entirely stuck). REACTIONS ''Grim Fandango'' received nearly uniform positive reviews. GameSpot praised the writing, as "Grim Fandango thankfully avoids the obvious" and "derives its humor from its situations and characters without making fun of itself, helping to create a believable world", PCZone emphasized the production as a whole, "with its expert direction, costumes, characters, music and atmosphere [Grim Fandango would actually make a superb film", the review at Game-Revolution had Manny himself explaining that "as far as an artistic accomplishment goes, my adventure gets all 5 leg bones", while IGN summed its review up, saying: "the bottom line is that Grim Fandango is hands down the best adventure game we've ever seen". On the other hand, the WomenGamers review, though enjoying the "creativity of the storyline, the characters, [and] the Mexican feel of the environment", found the interface clumsy which made it feel "like I had much less control playing the game due to these restrictions", a criticism also voiced, to a lesser degree, by GameSpot and IGN. Despite the good reviews, ''Grim Fandango'' did not sell as well as many earlier adventures, and the game was viewed by many as the final nail in the coffin of adventure games. The pessimism was attributed to the fact that, despite its high quality and prizes won Рincluding Gamespot 1998 Game of the Year, beating classic games such as real-time strategy game '' StarCraft '' and the first-person shooter '' Half-Life '' Рit failed to sell well, thus tarnishing the image of the demand for adventure games for years to come. Awards GameSpot
IGN GameSpy
AdventureGamers
TRIVIA
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