Retro Review - Grim Fandango

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Will it be possible to mix the genre "Noir" with Mexican culture? Well, the answer in: yes, but not precisely in a movie, but in the classic game Grim Fandango, a graphic adventure created by Lucas Arts, considered one of the best of its kind.

So, without further delay we start with the Retro Review.

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Have you ever wondered what there is after death?, some say that after death we expect more than nothing, emptiness and darkness, while others assert that there is a paradise waiting for us or in a given case a hell, depending on our actions in life.

Whatever the case, this game raises this situation in a more comical way, if you could say so, since in this adventure we take the paper of Manny Calavera, a talking skeleton that works like agent of trips (as well as the travel agents of the airlines), but with the difference of these trips are for those who have died, but with the difference of these trips are so that those who have died can reach the ninth underworld, but let the name not scare them, the Ninth Hell in the place where souls obtain eternal rest.

Manny Calavera will take care of guiding these souls to find the best way for them to reach their resting place, but not everything is easy, since according to the actions that have committed the people in life will obtain a different method of travel, those who have done good deeds will be rewarded with the fastest and most direct method of travel, where it will only count for hours to reach their long-awaited rest, while those who have committed bad acts, may also choose to reach the ninth hell, but be "punished" in such a way that in order to reach The Ninth Hell, must go on foot, something that could last for years or include never achieve it.

But not everything is going well with respect to our protagonist, since lately he has not made good sales trips that go straight to The Ninth Hell, and so that even the Manny Calavera can get his well-deserved rest once and for all, he must sell a great deal of travel to that place.

Therefore our task is to help our skeleton friend, in an adventure full of humor, corruption and where the meaning of life after death is subtly touched.

By the current standards graphically you will be able to see a little old fashioned, but for the time that went out to the market, Grim Fandango astonished many and not only for having next generation graphics, because they were able to use visual aesthetics and add a personalized touch, also bearing in mind that to be the first graphic adventure developed by Lucas Art in 3D, did a good job.

The atmosphere of this game is the best, mixing the Film Noir with Mexican art, undoubtedly this gave a level of originality huge to this game, because they knew how to merge these two types of genres so different in such a way that revolutionized in the field of graphic adventures. As well as its preloaded backgrounds, they are full of details and also with a quality drawing that could touch perfection.

As for the characters, despite having polygonal designs these fit perfectly with the shape of the characters themselves, that being all mostly skeletons, to have this type of design, gives him an own style little seen in games of this sort, no doubt in the graphic aspect, after his argument, is where he stands out more in this game, although musically it is not far behind.

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Few games have a soundtrack as varied as Grim Fandango, where we can find from Jazz music, blues, swing and obviously Mexican music, represented by the classic mariachis, an entire work of sound art, that honestly I still do not decide what aspect of this game is the one I like the most.

Video Author Stan's Previously Owned Soundtracks

Unlike other graphic adventures, which are mostly click and point in this the mobility of our character goes with the arrow keys, so that gives us more freedom of movement when we move on the stage, although in some cases the movement have to be a bit uncomfortable because our skeletal friend does not move as we want, and likewise the camera angle behaves strangely (although if I'm not mistaken, I think this is something that fixed in the remastered version that came out years later, I still have not played that version). As a very personal opinion I would have liked that this game had maintained the click and point mode that both characterized the graphic adventures of Lucas Arts.

But with respect to everything else, it maintains the classic mechanics and some new additions of this type of games, where we should talk to people to get information, interact with objects from the scenarios and solve puzzles. Despite this small drawback in the playable aspect, Grim Fandango is highly recommended, perhaps not for those people who are not accustomed to such games, but to those who already have experience in having previously played some graphic adventure.

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Grim Fandango today is considered as a classic game of graphic adventures, where it stands out for its excellent and beautiful soundtrack, original scenarios and with an atmosphere where they knew how to merge perfectly two types of genres very different, in addition to having an innovative story that is remembered by many.

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