![]() Here, the camera might be set behind a spider web for extra menace or tilted upward so as to distort one’s perception of a giant crane by comparison, the Telltale Games library seems almost workman-like and monotonous. Wide shots-of a zeppelin suspended above a moonlit bridge, or of a far-off greenhouse in the midst of a deadly meadow-provided a cinematic constant to the game, and showed just how small Manny was in the grand scheme of things. The art direction also remains impressive, especially when you consider that Grim Fandango was one of the first 3D adventure games. (It helps, too, that many of the crime tropes Grim Fandango played off of have only become more popular since, even if audiences don’t remember original sources like On the Waterfront and The Big Sleep. The inventive narrative unsurprisingly stands the test of time look no further than fiction to see the lasting power of a good tale told well. As opposed to rebuilding the game for a new audience, like Michael Haneke recreating Funny Games for us Americans, this is the work of a preservationist, who wishes only for a broader swath of modern gamers (i.e., those not fluent in emulation) to experience a work of art.īut nostalgia is a tricky thing, as things are almost always better in our idealized memories. If the original Grim Fandango serves as an epic noir, in which Manny becomes embroiled in a mobster’s plot to cheat dead souls out of their rightful afterlife, then Remastered is a love story, in which character models are gently imbued with new textures and given dynamic lighting (all the better to show off the Mexican-inspired artwork) and the catchy soundtrack is re-recorded by a live orchestra. If you listen, then, to the nearly two hours of developer commentary included with Grim Fandango Remastered, it will be readily apparent why Tim Schafer leapt at the chance to relicense and republish his antic 1998 classic. But the whimsical irreverence, the comic wastefulness, speaks to an age of sillier and more off-the-cuff games. The balloon is useless, as it’s not needed to solve any of this adventure game’s puzzles. Five seconds later, Manny’s walking around with a twisted, helium-filled poet. “Bet you can’t do Robert Frost,” quips Manny. ![]() ![]() “I can do anything,” he insists, bitter that his balloon-animal stall has been overlooked in the greater hubbub of the DOD parade. There’s a moment early on in Grim Fandango in which Manny Calavera, a down-on-his-luck travel salesman for the El Marrow branch of the Department of Death (DOD), finds himself negotiating with a braggart clown. ![]()
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