User Reviews (11 - 21 of 193)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

A Wildly Imaginative and Fun Adventure Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 18
Date: November 22, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I prefer character driven, inventory-based adventure games over "kill everything in sight" shoot-em-ups. I like to use my brain, and I like to get immersed in a story. Unfortunately, there aren't many titles available that fit this bill, and there are a lot of turkeys out there. Not so, with GRIM FANDANGO. This wonderful game combines the surreal imagery of Mayan and Aztec art with the look and feel of a 1940's crime thriller. It has a genuinely funny script, challenging, but not impossible puzzles, and a terrific jazz soundtrack. Mixed into the story line are homages to Casablanca, The Petrified Forest, The Big Sleep, and dozens of other film noir classics. If you haven't tried this game, do yourself a favor and pick it up. You're in for a treat!

Grim Fandango: a terrific game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: November 23, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I just finished this game, and I really enjoyed it. If you like adventure games, you'll love this. The graphics are spectacular, and there are many new areas for you to explore as you journey though the game. There are many more areas in this game than you typically find in any type of computer game. Plus, the characters are great, and it actually has a storyline that would stand up quite well all by itself. My only complaint would be that some of the puzzles didn't make sense to me. At one point, you take a piece of tape off the wall, and all of a sudden a character will talk to you who never wanted to talk to you before. That's just one example. Many of the puzzles do make sense, though. I still think this is a game that any adventure gamer would enjoy.

Simply Excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: November 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Words really can describe how wonderful this game is. The first thing you will notice is the incredible graphics (note: a 3D card is not required!.) Everything is drawn in great detail right down to character traits and facial expressions (who would have thought a fleshless person would be so good with expressions.) The story is also very entertaining and added with the graphics, it makes this a very absorbing adventure. This is one of the few games that I can't say anything negative about. This is a must have!

You'll be hooked!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: December 16, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Once I started playing 'Grim Fandango', I could not stop! This is the most creative adventure game I have seen in a long time. Not only is the storyline captivating, the attention to detail in this game is very impressive. As a fan of both art deco and film noir, I found 'Grim' to be a total delight! Some of the clips which move the storyline along are so well done, I could have sworn I was watching a movie. I have even played 'Grim' multiple times after completing it just to watch those clips again!

My only (minor) complaint about this game would be that there were one or two puzzles which were just about impossible; I have not come across anyone who was able to pass these difficult challenges without consulting a walk-through. However, if you're looking for an engrossing, dazzling game, this is the one!

Incredible value! Tons of fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: January 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the funnest computer games of any kind I have ever played. I am about halfway through it, and the story is intriguing and imaginatively done. Even if you get stuck on some of the puzzles, you can still wander around and have fun while you are mulling it over. The characters are a lot of fun, and I love the graphics in this. So far, it seems like you can't die (your progress is just slower if you make the wrong decisions), so you also don't have to worry about saving your place before you try something "risky." (My husband calls that "invoking the spell of many saves.")

The puzzles have a nice variety in difficulty, and this game is unique in seeming old-fashioned while at the same time being like nothing else you've ever played. In short, this is a fantastic game at a great price. Just buy it!!

A MUST Have for the adventure game lover!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 23
Date: October 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Alright, where do I begin?! I love this game on so many levels it's hard to decide. I must admit it's probably not a kids game since the puzzles are some where between medium to hard and theres smoking (I hate smoking). Anyway, I play adventure games and flight simulators and I'm very critical in my reviews. This game is great because the main characters pesonality is very realistic and down to earth. He actually seems like a normal guy you might actually meet on the streets... except hes dead... and a skeleton. Anyway, I enjoy writing on the side and I an tell that alot of work was put into the story line. It keeps you guessing while always foreshadowing of whats going to happen next. I found myself enjoying solving the puzzles and playing the game the same way I enjoy a good mystery or adventure book. The music was VERY cool. I actually ended up buying the soundtrack from lucas arts. Shut up! I'm normal! sorta. The puzzles are very well thought out as well but sometimes get a little challenging unless you have the ability to think "out of the box" so-to-speak. The game takes HOURS or more realistically DAYS to finish and that gives you a chance to play it again! Even when your english paper is due the next day and you're out of red bull, but thats okay because you can just skip class and say you're sick unless stupid professor Swells is your neighbor... oh, sorry. Anyway, this game rocks the casba and you should buy it!

I've played a lot of adventure games; this is the best.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: December 16, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I've played every adventure game from Zork to Riven, and I must say that Grim Fandango emerges as the leader of the pack. Most games aren't fun after you've beaten them, but I find myself returning to GF again and again. The graphics are stunning; the puzzles are challenging without being too frustrating or distracting you from the story, which is as interesting as a good detective movie. The voice acting- as always in LucasArts games- is superb. The music is so good I'd buy a CD of the soundtrack. The gameplay is immersive and fairly easy to master, except for the frustration involved in using just about any of the elevators in the game. After a session of GF, I find myself speaking with a Latin accent and wanting to call people "Manny" and "Meche." The entertainment value of GF is worth much more than $.

Fantastic value for your money!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: January 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This game blew me away, not only with its innovative graphics but its intricate and challenging puzzles. The story made me cry and laugh and drool (over the incredible cutscenes... but some nudity is exposed--they're skeletons!). I love the adventure games genre and have most probably tried most of them. Originally more of a Sierra fan but now a Lucasarts convert, this game made me see just how GREAT an adventure game can be. You'd definitely be spoiled by the gorgeous scenes, the immersive cutscenes and perfectly suited voice acting. Grim Fandango actually made skeletons seem sexy or threatening (no small feat for faces with polygons for eyes and eyebrows). The interface took a while to get used to but it simplified the often cluttered inventories of typical adventure games by using a head-turning-when-there's-something-important concept. There actually ISN'T an extra inventory window. Instead you get to see a close-up view of Manny's chest...ooh. Everything that I've been so USED to in other adventure games got completely revamped for this game. I loved the simpler interface and how it made the plot flow smoother as you never have to worry about the interface getting in the way. And for ..., this is a bargain. So try it out and I'm sure you'll be blown away!

Genius

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: January 04, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I purchased Grim Fandango towards the end of November 2005. The game wouldn't play on my Pentium 4, 3.2 Ghz processor laden with XP and the dreaded Sp2.

I was able to limp along with the compatibility mode...which is terrible. If active gameplay was possible then the subsequent cutscenes played with an echo and out of focus and out of perspective, and when active gameplay was achieved ... it wasn't the greatest.

I was able to solve the beginning of the game all by myself...not knowing there was a spoiler walkthrough on the PDF manual from installation.

The game started to give me a headache. Between the lousy controls, the annoying echoing cutscenes, and the increasingly difficult gameplay, I was hoping the Grim Reaper would come and rescue me.

With all of those problems, I couldn't put it down. I suffered through with the lame comaptibilty mode. I eventually had to resort to walkthroughs, and found it tough with the walkthroughs!

I finally completed the game, uninstalled it and to my surprise, re-installed it, and played it again. This was really a surprise because I received Myst, Indigo Prophecy, The Longest Journey, and Runaway for Christmas 2005, and all were XP compatible. The game on my hard drive ...this very moment(January 2006)... is Grim Fandango.

I found that the cutscenes played beautifully without the compatibility mode on, and since I had completed the game, I had access to play them all without enagaing any game play (that wouldn't happen anyway with the mode turned off), one scene after the other, all from the game's general menu...

I played the cutscenes for my cousin, he was amazed and totally enthralled. This is a game made eight years ago, made to run on computers made eight years ago, that is in fact better than any game developed today.

Tim Schafer's follow-up, Psychonauts, is almost as good, but its really not a PC game and plays much better on XBOX or PS2.

The quirky, unusual little Grim Fandango, is more addicting, and much harder to shake then any of its contemporary competitors.

I finally came out of the closet with my Grim Fandango addiction and found several wonderful fan sites with a solution to the cumbersome compatibility mode play. Two of those sites are grimfandango.net and Tim Fandango's ninthworld.com both are Lucas webring sites and are brilliant in helping the player with a multitude of challenges the game presents within and out of gameplay. Both of the aforementioned sites along with Lucas Arts also contain a very necessary patch for the game, that should be installed before the game is installed.

As far as the gameplay itself goes...very difficult. It is not trial and error. There is a thread of logic connecting the solution to the challenges presented.

While many times far fetched, Grim Fandangos puzzle solutions all have a purpose, and are often hinted at through dialogue and gestures the animated characters make leading up to the challenge.

I don't know what happened between Lucas and Tim Schafer. But for Lucas to sit on this game and not produce an updated XP version, and basically not produce any versions at all is one of the biggest trajedies in computing history, much less gaming history.

The wonderful Mexican graphics as well as the unsinkable, never say "die" spirit of Manny Calavera are delightful and encouraging. The humor is smart and sophisticated. The music, I can't get out of my head...superb soundtrack and still regarded as one of the best, if not the best. Our culture should not be denied this game. Believe me, we need this game.

mjh

Extremely well written

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: November 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

It's a rare thing to see a computer game that's actually better written than most movies and books, which is why Grim Fandango comes as a suprise to most people. The plot is wildely original: you're a sales person in the Land of the Dead where you sell luxury packages to souls on their four-year journey to eternal rest. Of course, something rotten is up and it's up to you to solve the puzzles.

Being an adventure game, there are tons of puzzle to solve and exotic locations to visit which makes this game dangerously addictive ("just one more puzzle before I turn the computer off"). The dialogue is witty and extremely well written, which paired with the great graphics and amazing sound really makes the game come to life. (no pun intended)

I can find no faults with this game, it really is quite excellent. It's rare that you'll find a game that's this well written, so do yourself a favor and get this game. You'll never go back to mindless games like Quake again.

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next 

Actions