"Keep Your Scythe Next to Your Heart."
by Lisa Foiles

If you are one of the few remaining hardcore Monkey Island fans, you often try to convert the unbelieving heathens that surround you into fans as well, attempting to enlighten them about the series’ all-around kick-assery. Similar, but in even fewer numbers, are the Grim Fandango fans. Only those who have traveled through the Land of the Dead know if its secrets, mysteries, and above all, hilarity.

In Grim Fandango, you play as Manny Calavera, a Grim Reaper/travel agent. You see, those who die in the Land of the Living get brought to the Land of the Dead by a Grim Reaper. There it is determined by this Reaper, who is also a travel agent, how those people will journey to their eternal destination (assumed Heaven or Hell). Those who were extremely nice and philanthropic during their days alive get awarded a First Class Ticket on the Number 9, a train that comfortably takes them straight to their eternal reward with no hassle. If they were a piece of work on Earth, they get something more along the lines of a walking stick and are forced to travel by foot for years through the treacherous Land of the Dead.

However, those who committed particularly heinous crimes while living are then doomed to remain in the Land of the Dead until they work off their debt. That’s where Manny comes in. He has been required to work as a Grim Reaper/travel agent because of something he did during his lifetime, even though Manny, unlike everyone else with this fate, has no idea what crime he committed.

The story begins when a friendly business competition between Manny and a fellow travel agent is soon discovered to go a lot deeper than just a simple rivalry. His competitor turns out to be involved in some kind of conspiracy! (Oh noes!) Someone is jacking all of the Number 9 tickets from deserving customers and Manny, along with a secret agency, makes it his business to find out who would do such a thing.

The game has an overall Spanish-theme, which is completely unexpected yet adds an incredible uniqueness to it. The soundtrack is a collection of original swanky jazz songs mixed in with some south-of-the-border-inspired blues. It’s so fantastic that I plan on someday having an upper-class cocktail party with all of my friends just so I can play the soundtrack in the background. Now, if only I had some friends… The replay value of this game is unexpectedly high. I’ve already played through this very long game twice, and it only got better the second time – I still struggled with the puzzles and the story’s twists still surprised me in an “Oh yeah! I forgot about that!” kind of way.

Smooth-talking, suave, and occasionally awkward Manny with his Mexican accent is pretty dang likeable for, you know, being a Grim Reaper and all. All the characters are. And talk about locations! The game spans over four years, and in year two, you find yourself in Rubacava, the coolest, hippest town on the water you’ve ever seen, full of ritzy nightclubs, gambling rooms, and a racetrack. In fact, both times I played this game, I was legitimately sad when Manny and I had to leave Rubacava.

The gameplay is what you’d expect from a LucasArts point-and-click adventure. It’s not terrible, but it’s still quite frustrating at times. Glitches are abundant and the cutscenes are choppy and grainy. The puzzles are, for the most part, perfectly logical once you just take some time to think about them without running straight to the walkthrough, while others are a little more “WTF?” But unlike so many other games, these issues are so easily overlooked because of the incredible storyline, unique characters, and, of course, the awesome dialogue.

Just like the Monkey Island and the Sam & Max series, Grim Fandango is just plain likeable. It’s one of those games that, glitches and all, makes its way into your heart and creates for itself a soft spot. Despite the frustrations you may have whilst trying to solve seemingly impossible puzzles, you will look back on this game with nothing but fondness. Unfortunately, the game’s ending does not allow for a sequel, so I seriously doubt we’ll be seeing anymore of Manny Calavera in the future. Which is fine with me, since they’d probably just screw it up anyway and piss me off. *COUGH* PERFECT DARK ZERO *COUGH*

Ahem. Go find Grim Fandango and a computer on which to play it. That is all.

Overall Rating: 10 out of 10