Game Review 1: Grim Fandango (1998)

I remembered playing this game ages ago and it is always comes to mind when i think of PC games that i particularly enjoyed… kind of addictive at that point of time and here are a few reasons why. Firstly, the 3D graphics are captivating (at that point of time although it appears blocky now when compared to the 3D capabilities these days of course, though still interesting) and the setting is reminiscent of the jazz era e.g. the main character a skeleton in a zoot suit with mexican accent or rather ‘Spanglish’ which is a mix of Spanish and English. I like the location design visually as well as the different background music that changes in different scenes for example the blues cafe, at shipyards, tattoo parlors, etc. Sometimes, new scenes will open up new abilities such as driving a car. The game plot is good as well with an interesting story line as it occurs in the land of the dead yet things are just as lively or even livelier than the real world with many colorful dead characters.

Grim Fandango is produced by LucasArts. What makes it so engaging is the drive to solve mysteries, putting pieces together in order to progress in the game which will lead to new destinations and meeting new interesting characters. It is controlled by keyboard and mouse or joystick. He is able to collect items or inventories which can be used with other objects in the game to solve puzzles.

The drawback is the long waiting time for the game to load or in the transition of scenes which can be frustrating. Other than that its one of the best classic games I’ve played.

-Sarah ZA-