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Grim Fandango by LucasArts Review by Vajra Chandrasekera January 06th, 1999 Introduction |
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Film noir meets la Dia de Los Muertos to create
a weird and wonderful realm that is at once dark
and funny: Grim Fandango plunges us into legend,
weaving thick black humor into one of the oldest
and most fundamental mythical images of all human
culture -the quest of the lone innocent through a land of darkness and
death. Individual cultures dictate what the prize may be- salvation, redemption,
or power -but the central image is the same,
because it is not the prize that really matters, but the
quest itself.
This particular quest begins in the 8th Underworld
of the Land of the Dead, where you must play the
part of a skeletal salesman by the name of Manuel
Calavera. What you sell are travel packages to the 9th Underworld, which
is the final resting place of the dead. You have to sell these travel packages
to other souls, with only the most virtuous qualifying
for the most expensive packages. (Get virtuous, people! You wouldn't want
to get there and have to WALK when your time comes, would you?)
Manny Calavera has enough motivation to sell
as many of the most expensive packages as he can, because he wants to pay
for his own voyage to the 9th Underworld. Alas, nobody will be intoning
requiescat in pace over this dead salesman anytime soon- he's losing all
his customers, and his
chances of eternal rest in the foreseeable future
are becoming slim. As the plot thickens, conspiracies unfold and a new,
darker picture appears...will Manny end up any deader than he already is?
The story and the game are fantastic: coupled
with some fabulous graphics, and a soundtrack to (literally) die for, LucasArts'
Grim Fandango is not merely a game, but a work of art.
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