Grim Fandango

LucasArts are back (again) with an amazing adventure out of the blue. A lot of people say that adventure games are dying, the adventure genre is burning out, and then comes a game like this. I guess LucasArts must be holding their ears or something, but one things for sure; if my favorite game-style is dying, it sure as hell is going out in flames.

Story

The ancient Aztecs believed that there was a place where the souls of the dead journeyed for four years until they reached their final home -- the ninth underworld. They called this place the Land of the Dead. In order to help the souls on their long journey, they buried the dead with money and food.

Our hero--Manny Calavera is an agent of the D.O.D. (Department of Death). This is sort of like a travel agency for the dead. They know what kind of life the deceased lead and decide how the soul can make his or her journey. If he was a good person then maybe he can get a car or a ticket for a ship, or if he was a regular saint then he's entitled to a ticket on the Number 9. This is a train which can take the souls to the ninth underworld in four minutes instead of four years. Manny's job is to collect the souls from the Land of the Living and then try to sell them the best travel package possible (that they qualify for).

Manny was once the best agent at the D.O.D., but lately everything seems to be going wrong for him. Nowadays he only gets the worst clients and he's happy if he can sell them a walking-cane. Ever since Domino Hurley started working for the agency, things have been getting worse and worse. Manny smells something fishy, so he steals one of Domino's clients. A woman, who obviously should be getting a ticket for the Number 9, but Manny's computer says that she doesn't even qualify for the cane. While Manny tries to straighten things out, she disappears and of course Manny takes the blame. He escapes from his cell, and travels all around the Land of the Dead trying to find her. During his journey he finds out about a mafia connection to the D.O.D. and Domino and some other strange things. So I guess the saying's right: "Something's rotten in the Land of the Dead..."

Opinion

I'm getting a little tired of writing the exact same sentence after every single Lucas game, but what can I do? This IS unbelievable. This is where I usually try to list the good and bad points of the game, but except for a few very small bugs I couldn't find anything bad to list about this one. The graphics are incredible (just take a look at Pic #5). The music is great, I especially loved the song you hear when you get to the gate of the Underworld. There's no point in talking about the controls, they're very simple and for the first time in years you don't have to (actually you can't) use the mouse. I could go on for hours writing about why I loved the game, all the great characters and all the little details that made it so much fun, but I won't. You're just gonna have to buy it.

Ladies and Gentlemen: THE ADVENTURE GAME.