Teen
ESRB Rating
Genre
Perspective
Non-Sport
92
MobyRank
100 point score based on reviews from various critics.
4.1
MobyScore
5 point score based on user ratings.

Description

Not much is known about the life of Manuel "Manny" Calavera. It is, however, known what happened to him after he died. The Land of the Dead is where all people are reincarnated after death, turning into skeletal figures. The Land of the Dead is also very similar to the world of the living: people work, have careers, fall in love, and can even die again, turning into flowers. And they all await their final destiny - a trip to the underworld. Depending on their deeds in life, they might get a good journey or be destined to walk there without any means.

Manny works in a travel agency that takes care of such trips. But recently, something has been going wrong. Manny is unable to get good clients, and he suspects that there is a scheme to falsify the dossiers of dead people, offering the best trips to scoundrels for bribes. Manny's grand adventure begins as he steps into the world of corruption and intrigues.

Grim Fandango is a puzzle-solving adventure game that describes several years of Manny Calavera's afterlife. Influenced by Mexican mythology, film noir and Art Deco, the game combines 3D characters with pre-rendered backgrounds. The traditional mouse interaction was abandoned in favor of keyboard control for movements and actions. Manny is navigated with arrow keys, and tilts his head whenever something attracts his interest; a list of interaction choices pops up, from which the player is able to choose the desired commands.

As usually in LucasArts' adventure games, conversations offer plenty of different responses that can be chosen by the player. Despite the lack of the option to combine items with each other within the inventory, the game still contains many challenging puzzles that require manipulating inventory items and the environment.

Alternate Titles

  • "神通鬼大" -- Chinese spelling (traditional)
  • "Deeds of the Dead" -- Working title

Part of the Following Groups


Merchant Title Platform Price  
Amazon
Grim Fandango Windows $29.95  
ebay.com
Grim Fandango    
Not an American user?

User Reviews

Where there is creativity, there will always be great games Unicorn Lynx Bronze Star Contributing Member (132767) 4.8 Stars4.8 Stars4.8 Stars4.8 Stars4.8 Stars
If video games really are art, this is the greatest game ever made. kyuzo (18) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars
A great game with some minor flaws Marty Bonus Bronze Star Contributing Member (41) unrated
A gem so flawless, you need an electron microscope to see its flaws. Zack Green (1017) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars
Extraordinary game! Fakey McFake (4) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars
Ultra stylish epic, and the beauty is more than skin-deep. Shazbut (155) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars
Excellent modern adventure Ashley Pomeroy (230) 4.75 Stars4.75 Stars4.75 Stars4.75 Stars4.75 Stars
"I Am More Than Dead" MasterMegid (899) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars
Wow, I didn't think that the dead could talk B14ck W01f (37398) unrated
The greatest game ever James Isaac (272) 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars

The Press Says

Tap-Repeatedly/Four Fat Chicks 1998 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars 100
GameBoomers 2004 A+ 100
Adventure Classic Gaming Sep 01, 2008 5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars5 Stars 100
Game Over Online Nov 07, 1998 94 out of 100 94
Gamezilla Nov 30, 1998 93 out of 100 93
Adventure Gamers May 20, 2002 4.5 Stars4.5 Stars4.5 Stars4.5 Stars4.5 Stars 90
Gamesmania 1998 90 out of 100 90
PC Player (Germany) Dec, 1998 89 out of 100 89
WomenGamers.com Jul 30, 1999 8.5 out of 10 85
Vgames Jul 22, 1999 81 out of 100 81

Forums

There are currently no topics for this game.


Trivia

The game was originally going to be named Deeds of the Dead but the management at LucasArts didn't want a reference to death in the title.


This entry to the MobyGames database was contributed by Ryan Lucas (12) on Aug 10, 1999.
 

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