Grim Fandango

The Good
Tim Schafer. Day of the Tentacle was great, and Grim Fandango is his best work thus far. Fandango's humor is unmatched. I played through it twice to make sure I heard all of the possible dialogue choices.

Fandango's real strength comes from being able to be consistently funny, while still maintaining a sense of gravity, allowing serious situations to seem truly serious, and evil characters are as nasty as they need be. The dark, gritty presentation of the game is superb. Manny Calavera, the Grim Reaper for the Dept. of Death Is a smooth Bogart-esque character who gets the job done, and in one part of the game you own a nightclub, very similar to a certain gin-joint owned by certain Mr. Rick, complete with gambling tables, a French military man, and a wheezy little Peter Lorre. Watch Casablanca, then play Year 2 of this game and it will seem even funnier.

The Bad
There isn't a sequel...not that there really could be one...I guess my real gripe is that Schafer hasn't done anything since Grim Fandango.

The Bottom Line
A mysterious adventure set in the Land of the Dead that's as good as any Bogart movie, and even better than a few of them.