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Grim Fandango

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Grim Fandango
Grim Fandango LucasArts Classics cover
Developer(s)LucasArts
Publisher(s)LucasArts
Designer(s)Tim Schafer
EngineGrimE
Platform(s)Windows 95 / 98 / ME / 2000 / XP
ReleaseSeptember 30, 1998
Genre(s)Adventure game
Mode(s)Single-player

Grim Fandango is a graphic adventure computer game released by LucasArts in Template:Vgy and primarily written by Tim Schafer. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use three-dimensional graphics overlayed on pre-rendered 2D computer backgrounds. As with other LucasArts adventure games, the player must converse with other characters and examine, collect, and use objects correctly to solve the various puzzles with the game in order to progress.

Grim Fandango's world combines elements of Aztec beliefs of afterlife with style aspects of film noir, including The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, to create the Land of the Dead, which recently-departed souls, represented in the game as calaca-like figures, must travel through before their reach their final destination, the Ninth Underworld. The story follows travel agent Manny Calavera as he learns of a scandal that has corrupted this system and attempts to save Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, a newly arrived but virtuous soul, from the long, torturous journey.

Grim Fandango was lauded by critics and is generally considered one of the best games in the adventure genre. Grim Fandango suffered from poor sales due to the decline in the adventure game market in favor of action games at the time of its release, and eventually led to LucasArts leaving the adventure game business within a few years.

Gameplay

The player controls Manny as he seeks the fate of Meche in the Underworld. The game uses the GrimE engine, rendering backgrounds in 2D, while the main objects and characters are represented in 3D. The player controls Manny's movements and actions with a keyboard, a joystick or a gamepad. Manny must collect objects and talk to the various inhabitants of the Underworld to solve puzzles in order to progress in the game. Like most other LucasArts adventure games, the player cannot ever get in a "dead-end" situation that would prevent progress forward due to "death" (as it applies in the Underworld) or some other unfortunate incident.

Plot

Setting

The cast of Grim Fandango. In front center are Domino, Meche, Manny, and Sal. Glottis is in the upper left and Hector is on the far right.

Grim Fandango takes place in the Land of the Dead, where recently departed souls make their way to the Ninth Underworld. For sinners, this is a four-year journey made on foot, and many do not complete it, ending up taking jobs at way-points along the route. However, virtuous souls receive passage on the "Number Nine" train ("Double N") that cuts the journey down to four minutes. The job of determining which mode of transport each soul takes is left to a travel agent of the Department of Death, who also acts as the Grim Reaper to escort the souls from the mortal world to Land of the Dead. Each year, on November 2, there is a large festival celebration of the Day of the Dead.

The souls in the Land of the Dead appear as skeletal calaca figures. Alongside them are demons that have been summoned to help with the more mundane tasks of day-to-day life, such as auto maintenance. The souls themselves can suffer death-within-death by being "sprouted", the result of being shot with "sproutella"-filled darts, that cause flowers to grow out through the bones. Many of the characters are Mexican and occasional Spanish words are interspersed into the English dialog, also known as Spanglish. Many of the characters smoke, which follows a film noir tradition. The user manual observes that everyone who smokes in the game is dead: "Think about it."

Story

The game is divided into four acts, each taking place on November 2 of four consecutive years.

Manual "Manny" Calavera (voiced by Tony Plana) is a travel agent at the Department of Death in El Marrow, forced into his job to work off a debt "to the powers that be". Frustrated with being assigned clients that must take the four-year journey, and thus earning a smaller commission, Manny steals a client from his co-worker Domino Hurley (Patrick Dollaghan). However, even though the client, the pure-of-heart Mercedes "Meche" Colomar (Maria Canals) should have a guaranteed spot on the "Number Nine", the Department computers assign her to the four-year journey. After setting Meche on her way, Manny investigates further and finds that Domino and their boss Don Copal (Michael Sorich) have been rigging the system to deny many clients Double N tickets, hoarding them for the boss of the criminal underworld, Hector LeMans (Jim Ward), who sells them at an exorbitant price to those that can afford it. Realizing that he cannot stop Hector, Manny and his driver, the speed demon Glottis (Alan Blumenfeld), take his vehicle, the "Bone Wagon," and try to find Meche through her journey in the nearby Petrified Forest. During the trip, Manny encounters Salvador "Sal" Limones (Sal Lopez), the leader of the small Lost Souls Alliance (LSA), who knows of Hector's plans and is attempting to stop it. Manny offers to help Sal but continues on his quest to find Meche. Arriving at the small port city of Rubacava, he finds that he has beaten her there, and thus waits for her to show up.

File:Manuel Calavera in "Grim Fandango" (1998).jpg
Manny waits for Meche outside his Rubacava nightclub, in one of Grim Fandango's noir scenes

A year passes, and the city of Rubacava has grown, Manny now running his own nightclub near the edge of the Forest. Manny learns from Olivia Ofrenda (Paula Killen) that Don has been "sprouted" for letting the scandal be known, and that Meche was recently seen with Hector leaving the port. With Glottis' help, Manny is able to secure passage on a boat to follow them. Another year passes before Manny and Glottis end up at the Edge of the World, where they find that Domino, following orders from Hector, has been holding Meche there as a trap to lure Manny, so that he may dispose of both of them himself and keep the scandal quiet. However, Manny is able to get the upper hand and defeat Domino.

Manny, Meche, and Glottis escape from the Edge of the World, traveling for another year until they reach the terminus for the Number Nine train before the Ninth Underworld. However, Glottis has fallen deathly ill, as he has not been involved in the tasks that he was summoned for, fast driving and auto repair. Manny learns from demons stationed at the terminus that the only way to revive Glottis is to travel at high speeds, and devises a makeshift fuel source to power a train cart at high speeds, taking them back to Rubacava while saving Glottis' life at the same time. After collecting the Bone Wagon from storage, they return to El Marrow, now found to be fully in Hector's control and renamed as Nuevo Marrow. However, Sal has been active with the LSA and it has expanded as well with the help of Olivia, and is able to give Manny information about Hector's current activities. Further investigation reveals that Hector not only has been hording the Number Nine tickets, but has created counterfeit versions that he has sold to others, which when used get the souls to the entrance to the Ninth Underworld but diverts them to a more gruesome fate at the last moment. Manny tries to confront Hector but is lured into another trap, learning that Olivia is a mole for Hector in the LSA. At Hector's greenhouse where Manny is taken to be killed, Olivia has decapitated Sal, but Sal is able to get his revenge on her by sprouting them both, giving Manny the chance to shoot sproutella into the greenhouse's water supply and sprouting Hector. Manny and Meche are able to find the real Double N tickets, both the one that Meche should have received as well as one that was originally destined for Manny. The two make sure the rest of the tickets are given to their rightful owners, and together board the Number Nine for their happy journey to the Ninth Underworld.

Development

Grim Fandango was released on CD-ROM only and featured full voice acting for all of the game's dialog and cutscenes. It was designed by Tim Schafer, co-designer of Day of the Tentacle and creator of Full Throttle and, more recently, Psychonauts. The game was an attempt by LucasArts to rejuvenate the graphic adventure genre, which in decline by 1998.[1] It was the first LucasArts adventure since Labyrinth not to use the SCUMM engine, instead using the Sith engine, pioneered by Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, as the basis of the new GrimE engine.[2] Unlike Jedi Knight, though, Grim Fandango mixed static pre-rendered background images with 3D characters and objects.

The game combines several Aztec beliefs of the afterlife and underworld with 1930s Art Deco design motifs and a dark plot reminiscent of the film noir genre.[3] The design and early plot are reminiscent of films such as Chinatown and Glengarry Glen Ross.[4] Several scenes in Grim Fandango are directly inspired by such film noir as The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, Key Largo, and most notably Casablanca: in the game's second act, two characters are directly modeled after the roles played by Peter Lorre and Claude Rains in the film.[5][3] Despite this, Tim Schafer stated that the true inspiration was drawn from films like Double Indemnity, in which a weak and undistinguished insurance salesman finds himself entangled in a murder plot.[3]

Visually the game drew inspiration from various sources: the skeletal character designs were based largely on the calaca figures used in the Mexican Day of the Dead festivities, while the architecture ranged from Art Deco skyscrapers to a Mayan temple. Staying true to its film noir style storyline, many of the game's locales visually evoke a feeling of a stylized post-war America, with its roadside diners, shady bars, hot rods and neon signs. Grim Fandango successfully mixed all these elements, with GameSpot noting the "beautiful art direction" and calling the visual design "consistently great".[6]

Featuring a mix of an orchestral score, South American folk music, jazz, swing, and big band sounds, the game's music was composed at LucasArts by Peter McConnell and inspired by the likes of Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman as well as film composers Max Steiner and Adolph Deutsch. The period music further helped to support the noir setting of the game and earned Grim Fandango recognition by GameSpot as having one of the ten best game soundtracks ever.[7] The score featured live musicians, including a mariachi band from San Francisco's Mission District, and enjoyed a limited release as a stand-alone soundtrack album.[8]

Since the release of Grim Fandango, Tim Schafer has left LucasArts and created his own company, Double Fine Productions, in Template:Vgy along with many of those involved in the development of Grim Fandango, and has found similar critical success with the company's first title, Psychonauts. When asked about creating a sequel for Grim Fandango, Schafer has stated that while there is strong interest from fans and that he "would love to go back and spend time with the characters from any game [he's] worked on", a sequel is unlikely as "I also want to make something new."[9]

Reception

Grim Fandango received almost uniformly positive reviews. GameSpot praised the game, saying "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."[6] PC Zone emphasized the production as a whole, "with its expert direction, costumes, characters, music and atmosphere [Grim Fandango] would actually make a superb film."[13] The review at Game Revolution had Manny himself explaining that "as far as an artistic accomplishment goes, my adventure gets all 5 leg bones",[11] while IGN summed its review up by saying: "the bottom line is that Grim Fandango is hands down the best adventure game we've ever seen."[12] Despite the praise the game's storyline received, however, both GameSpot and IGN noted that there were some difficulties experienced with the interface. IGN also stated that it was one of the reasons they did not give the game a perfect 'ten' score.

Grim Fandango has been the centerpiece for a large fan community for the game that has continued to be active nearly ten years after the game's release.[16]. Such fan communities include the Grim Fandango Network[17] and the Department of Death[18], both of which include fan art and fiction in addition to other original content.

Awards

Grim Fandango won several awards after its release in Template:Vgy. The game won IGN's Best Adventure Game of the Year in Template:Vgy.[19] GameSpot awarded Grim Fandango their Template:Vgy Best of E3,[20] PC Adventure Game of the Year,[21] PC Game of the Year[22] Best PC Graphics for Artistic Design,[23] and Best PC Music.[24] In the following year, GameSpot included the game in their Ten Best PC Game Soundtracks,[7] and was selected as the 10th Best PC Ending by their readership.[25] Grim Fandango was nominated for the Template:Vgy Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Art/Graphics, Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development, and Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music, and won the Computer Adventure Game of the Year.[26]

The game has since gone on to be considered one of the best video games of all time. GameSpot inducted the game into their "Greatest Games of All Time" in Template:Vgy,[27] and GameSpy added the game to their Hall of Fame in Template:Vgy,[28] also considering it as the 7th Most Underrated Game of All Time as of Template:Vgy.[29] AdventureGamers listed Grim Fandango as the 7th top Adventure Game of All Time in Template:Vgy.[30] In Template:Vgy, IGN included the game in the Top 25 PC Games (as 15th)[31] and Top 100 Games (at 36th)[32] of All Time.

Sales

Despite its high quality, good reviews and numerous awards, Grim Fandango was viewed by many as the final nail in the coffin of adventure games. The game sold about 95,000 copies up through Template:Vgy in North America, excluding online sales, based on data provided by PC Data (now owned by NPD Group).[33] It has been often stated as a fact that the game failed commercially,[34][35] even though, according to LucasArts, "Grim Fandango met domestic expectations and exceeded them worldwide".[36] However, Grim Fandango failed to be a blockbuster hit, unlike many previous LucasArts adventure games; while LucasArts went on to produce Escape from Monkey Island in Template:Vgy, they canceled development of sequels to Full Throttle and Sam and Max Hit the Road, and let go of many of the people involved with their adventure games. LucasArts has stated they do not plan on returning to adventure games until the "next decade".[37] This, along with other changes in the video game market towards action-based games, led to the decline of the adventure game genre.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Cook, Daniel (2007-05-07). "The Circle of Life: An Analysis of the Game Product Lifecycle". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Mogilefsky, Bret. "Lua in Grim Fandango". Grim Fandango Network. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  3. ^ a b c Pearce, Celia (2003-03-07). "Game Noir - A Conversation with Tim Schafer". Game Studies. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ Schafer, Tim (1997). "Grim Fandango Design Diaries". GameSpot. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  5. ^ "LucasArts' Grim Fandango Presents a Surreal Tale of Crime, Corruption and Greed in the Land of the Dead; Dramatic New Graphic Adventure from the Creator of Award-Winning Full Throttle Expected to Release in First Half 1998". Business Wire. 1997-09-08. Retrieved 2007-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b c Dulin, Ron (1998). "Grim Fandango for PC Review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b "The Ten Best Game Soundtracks". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  8. ^ "Grim Fandango Files". LucasArts. Archived from the original on 2007-02-14. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  9. ^ "Geniuses at Play". Playboy. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  10. ^ Fournier, Heidi (2002-05-20). "Grim Fandango Review". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2008-03-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b Manny (1998). "Dang! I Left My Heart In The Land Of The Living!". Game Revolution. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  12. ^ a b Ward, Trent C. (1998-11-03). "LucasArts flexes their storytelling muscle in this near-perfect adventure game". IGN. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  13. ^ a b Hill, Steve (2001-08-31). "GRIM FANDANGO". PC Zone. Retrieved 2006-01-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Grim Fandango (pc: 1998)". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
  15. ^ "Grim Fandango reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
  16. ^ Barlow, Nova (2008-03-04). "Walk, Don't Run". The Escapist. Retrieved 2008-03-05. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "Grim Fandango Network". Grim Fandango Network. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  18. ^ "The Department of Death". Department of Death.
  19. ^ IGN Staff (1999-01-31). "IGNPC's Best of 1998 Awards". IGN. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ^ "GameSpot's Best of E3: Grim Fandango". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  21. ^ "Best and Worst of 1998: Genre Awards". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  22. ^ "Best and Worst of 1998: Game of the Year". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  23. ^ "Best and Worst of 1998: Special Achievement Awards". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  24. ^ "Best and Worst of 1998: Special Achievement Awards". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  25. ^ "The Ten Best Readers Endings". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  26. ^ "2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
  27. ^ "The Greatest Games of All Time - Grim Fandango". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  28. ^ Leeper, Justin (2004-04-10). "Hall of Fame: Grim Fandango". Gamespy. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  29. ^ "25 Most Underrated Games of All Time - Grim Fandango". Gamespy. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  30. ^ Dickens, Evan (2004-04-02). "Top 20 Adventure Games of All-Time". Adventure Gamers. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  31. ^ Dan Adams, Steve Butts, Charles Onyett (2007-03-16). "Top 25 PC Games of All Time". Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ "Top 100 Games of All Time". IGN. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  33. ^ Sluganski, Randy. "(Not) Playing the Game, Part 4". Just Adventure. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  34. ^ Barton, Matt (2005-11-05). "Review: LucasArts' Grim Fandango (1998)". Gameology. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  35. ^ Fahs, Travis (2008-03-03). "The Lives and Deaths of the Interactive Movie". IGN. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  36. ^ Christof, Bob (2000-06-26). "" Lucasarts ziet het licht"" (in English/German). Gamer.nl. Retrieved 2007-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  37. ^ "LucasArts at E3". G4TV. 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
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