Grim Fandango Remastered
From: Double Fine
For: PS4, PSVita, PC
Three and a half stars (out of five)
As with all Double Fine games, those who played them absolutely loved them.
The problem for Double Fine was that not many people played them.
Games like Psychonauts and a personal favourite of mine, Brutal Legend, reviewed strongly, were well received by fans, but sank like the Titanic at stores.
You are Manny Calavera, travel agent to the recently deceased, selling packages through the Nine Circles of Hell to those unfortunates, based upon their wealth.
Wealthy clients get a luxury trip, and those souls with a low bank balance take a long and painful journey through said circles.
Unfortunately for Manny, he discovers that, mysteriously, none of his clientele fit the bill for the high-end packages, and he goes about discovering why that is.
Tim Schafer games at Double Fine are renowned for their humour and witty dialogue, and this is Tim in his prime.
The dialogue and scripting is hands down the best part of the game. It's deliberately meant to be noire, and it nails it.
The camera positions, the settings, it just clicks.
At its heart, it's a point-and-click adventure game, a type that is rarely (let's be honest, never) seen these days.
Those who were brought up playing them will revel in playing it again.
Those who haven't will be completely baffled by the gameplay, which requires thorough searching of environments, a lot of walking back and forth and puzzles that will test both your mind and patience.
Grim Fandango will never hold your hand in any way. Don't expect any clues. The game doesn't even tell you the controls. You can also opt to use the original ''tank'' control scheme, which I attempted to do but quickly changed from upon remembering just how horrible controls were in the 1990s.
Ultimately, your enjoyment of this game will depend on when you picked up gaming, or whether you're a fan of retro style gaming. If you pick this up expecting it to be like other remasters, it will more than likely rub you up the wrong way.
However, if you've come from a time where games were hard, controls were terrible but the stories were great, Grim Fandango Remastered is absolutely for you.
- Simon Bishop
