Grim Fandango - Review
                     P2-300 & Voodoo II

                 Reviewed by Alex van Kaam

System Requirements:
Computer: 100% Windows 95/98 DirectX compatible computer
          required.
CPU:  Pentium 133 or faster required.
CD-ROM:  Quad speed IDE or SCSI CD-ROM drive required.
Graphics Card:  2 MB PCI Graphics card required.
Memory:  32MB or higher RAM required.
3D Acceleration: Optional 3D graphics support requires a 4MB PCI
          or AGP 3D accelerator.
Sound Card: 100% Windows 95/98 DirectX compatible 16-bit sound
          card required.
Input Device:  100% Windows 95/98 compatible keyboard required.
          Optional support for joysticks and gamepads.
DirectX:  Microsoft DirectX 6.0 is included on this CD and must be
          installed to play Grim Fandango.  Please refer to
          "Installation" and "DirectX Setup" in the
          Troubleshooting Guide for more information about
          DirectX.

Note:  Your system may require the "latest" Windows 95/98 drivers
for your particular hardware.

Installation:  Installation requires 30 MB free hard drive space.
You should also allow for at least 100 MB of free hard drive space
for the Windows swap file and saved games.

Well if there is one game that got a lot, and I mean a lot of
attention then it must be this one, Lucas Art's latest
masterpiece: "Grim Fandango".

Installation as normal is a breeze, and after clicking the Lucas
Arts Interface Panel (cool name I just thought up) you are greeted
with the introduction movie where you see Manny Calavera trying to
sell a trip to a just arrived dead man ... but let me start with
the background:

You are Manny Calavera, a regular guy who is serving his time in
the Land of the Dead, trying to pay off his debt by working for the
Department of Death (DOD) so that in the end he can go onto his
trip to the ninth underworld.  Depending on how his clients lived
in the world of the living they earn a way of transport to this
ninth underworld.  The good people can go by the number nine train
while the evil ones just have to walk.  Of course there are levels
between that.

Unfortunately Manny's clients seems to be all losers, which means
he gets no commission for them and thus he can't pay off his debt
and leave for the ninth underworld. And it all seemed to have
started when Domino Hurley started working at the DOD.  What you
do not know at the time is that your predecessor Salvador Limones
has started an underground movement call "The Lost Soul's
Alliance".

As the story slowly unfolds it comes clear that Domino gets all
the good clients, all the number nine ticket clients, even later
you unfold an even more sinister plot, it has nothing to do with
your initial idea that Domino just wants all the good commissions,
he is after something much bigger!!!!

Back to the game though ... once the introduction movie is over
you find yourself in your office, in your normal suit (you hung
your Grim Reaper cape in the closet and you removed your extra
long legs <g>).

Movement in the game is done with the cursor keys or the numeric
keypad, you have your normal inventory (I) which you can go though
using the + and - keys. Enter is your most important key though as
it makes you use or examine or open things.  There are of course
specific keys for using stuff or examining it but you hardly ever
need them.

Graphically the game is gorgeous, as you might have seen in the
system requirements a 3D card is supported, I tried both, my Viper
and my Voodoo II and although both worked the Viper looked not as
good.  If you don't have a 3D card you can play the game in its
software mode, it looks fine then but is a bit slower and doesn't
look as good as with your 3D card.  The graphics depend on what
town you are, your starting town is very Mexican while your 2nd
town (Rubacava) is more a harbour town. But all of the graphics
show a bit of Art Deco.  For this of you who know the Badman
cartoon (the dark one I mean) you will see many similarities.

Sound and music again are on a very high standard, all the
characters you meet, and there seems to be around 55, talk with
their own American/Mexican accent, all very clear and very
atmospheric.  For the non-English talking people you can of course
select to have the spoken dialog on screen at the same time.
Background music fits with the scene you're in and brings just
that little extra to it.

The atmosphere of the game is great, it has a lot of humour, but
there are no real jokes in the game just a lot of sarcasm and dark
humour.  Manny comes out with the right line at just the right
moment. Trying to explain it will probably not work, so you have
to take my word on that.

Now what is most important in adventures is of course the puzzles,
and they are good, not easy and not totally impossible, but nicely
in-between.  You're not walking around with zillions of objects in
your inventory that have no use.  Instead you have about 6 or 7
objects at a time and with those, a bit of common sense and a good
look at the scenery it is possible to find a solution for every
problem you encounter.

So all in all I can easily say that this is a must buy game, it's
been a long time I played a good adventure but this definitely is
one.







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