I originally was going to purchase this game when it went on sale one day due to the huge advertisement and fan base this game already had, but thankfully I didn't since it went as a PS plus free game. I would like to make it clear that I had not saw, played, or even heard about Grim Fandango before it was remastered. I feel that due to it being a game that many people have played when they were young or at least back in their old console days is having a major weight on the reviews I have seen so far. Thus, I wanted to give a review for those who have not played the other version. My experience playing this game was not great, so I don't recommend this game for everyone. That being said, I would recommend this game to some people. Now to figure out if you are one of those people, you basically have to know which of these next items means the most to you or if anything at all. The items I have found to help you decide are the controls and game play, the graphics, the puzzles, the story, how "remastered" it feels and replay value.
The story is what really held together this game for me. It kept me on the edge of my seat at points, made me feel for the characters, and had very well put together cut scenes. Through this game at one point I said, 'I really just want to be done with this game' to one of my friends when he asked me about it. When he asked why, I had two answers: the first being that I was just fed up with some other aspects of the game, but the second is that I couldn't wait to see how the story ended. Now, the story does have some parts that don't make very much sense. (Spoiler Start)- There is a scene where a women dies and the main character becomes very upset. Later, when he needs the murderer, he punches the murderer and then just lets it go. (Spoiler End). This seems very off and I feel this could have been handled in a better way. There are also some Mexican culture references that I do not understand or was not aware of previous to this game that probably would help understand this game better. If you know of those references, the experience of this game may be much better. The ending of this game (Spoiler Start) is the absolute worst thing that happens to the story, literally everything is left up in the air. I am unsure if they left it open-ended so they could make a sequel or they just hurried to finish, but by far it is one of the worst endings to a video game I have ever played. (Spoiler End) The characters that you meet throughout the story are amazing. They really make this adventure worth completing, so if it seems slow it is worth pushing through. The dialogue, for the most part, is good and fits in well with the story. It is worthwhile to pay attention to, but sometimes it is going to just be nonsense about nothing that you have to push through. The places you visit during the game are well thought out and the time that you spend in them, I feel, is what helps push this story towards great success as well. Overall, the games story might have some holes in it and can be confusing at times, but is well worth seeing the entire thing through, so if you enjoy story games like myself then this game might be worth it for you.
The puzzles of this game are really hit and miss with my experience. At some points I had to refer to a walk through to even get some of the puzzles done and at other times they were obvious or just made sense to the game. I'm not saying I am the smartest person in the world and I will admit to using walk through's when it should have been simple for me to figure out certain puzzles. Some of the puzzles involve getting items from some people and if you don't finish all the dialogue sometimes you can't use that item. Now I'm not referring to dialogue that relates to the puzzle, sometimes it is random banter. So if you do choose to play this game I can't stress enough to talk everything out that you can with every person you meet. There are some puzzles that I feel were placed in the game for something else that would have made sense but got cut out or were placed there just to have more puzzles. The puzzles that do take place to help the story proceed in a way that made some sense I normally did not need a guide for and were fun. Overall I would have to say the puzzles are 50/50 if you enjoy puzzle games then this game will be sure to tickle that bone but also leave you scratching your head.
The graphics of this game were all over the place. Taking into account that this game was pulled from an older console, I wasn't expecting to see the best quality ever but in some parts of the game they were just piss poor. There are some far away views that are spectacular and through most of the game they do hold up. Cut scenes had many very terrible graphics to a point of things popping out of walls like I'm playing on the N64 again. Overall I would say the graphics were good for an older gene game but if you are out there for the best looking thing that ever hit games or even someone who wants the graphics to hold up when it counts, avoid this game.
Controls and game play were slap me silly horrible. This part of the game made it so frustrating to the point that I would need to take breaks from the game so I could finish it. I really do not have a positive point in this item. The angle that you view from constantly changes which makes the directional control change every time you enter a new screen, so if you haven't guessed already, if you don't wait when going to the next screen you're going right back to the last screen. With the run function on I must have gone back into the previous screen over 1000 times trying to quickly get somewhere. Using an item on a person or talking to them sometimes take 5 or 6 tries. If you're too close or too far away nothing happens. Or, you get to hear dialogue about why he won't use that item over and over. Some parts of the game need a guide to finish it and do not make sense. The thing that made it the worse were glitches. Sometimes, I would have to shut the whole game off just to get past certain parts because of glitches. Overall if controls and game play make or break a game for you, consider the game not only broken but shattered into a million pieces.
Remastered? If this game is to be considered remastered then I don't want to play the original version. A lot of the things I feel took this game down a negative path should have been fixed with a remastered version. This is why it is the worst of the items I am going to present to you. The whole controls and game play sections could have been fixed by someone remastering this game- plain and simple. I am unsure if the graphics had an update in some of the parts but the cut scenes should have been a high priority and not left the way they were. The extra bits of unnecessary dialogue could have had the option to skip or added something more meaningful when it came to the puzzles. As well, there could have been dialogue added to some of the puzzles for them to make more sense so that a guide was not needed to complete them. I am sure some people may say this would ruin the nostalgia of the game, but at what point are you re-releasing or remastering? I feel this game was a rush remaster and more for the money grab of nostalgia then it was to actually bring a game and make it fit into 2015. It should have just been a re-release of the game for PS4 and not be considered remastered. If you were looking for an upgraded version, think again- it's pretty much the same game from what I understand.
Finally, the last item I would like to bring up is replay value. Trophies are a good reason to play through again. Most people will not get all of them on the first round if you just casually play through the first time. Dialogue is something you may miss out on, and some of it is fantastic. I know I have ranted about how some of it is annoying and useless. But, there are many parts of the game that are fantastic whether it be funny, sad, moving or even just stupid It is well worth playing through again to gain it all and for that matter, re-doing the whole story is worth it. With all those good points come the bad. You have to suffer to see the good, and I mean that literally. The game mechanics, play, graphics, and confusion may just about drive you crazy.
I gave the game a score of 3/10. If I would have paid money for this game I would have absolutely regretted it if I paid more than 5 dollars. Currently, it costs $14.99 CAN on PSN. I would never pay that much for it now that I have played it. It is, however, free for PS Plus members for the rest of January. It is worth a download and play through when it is free. I'm not saying you will love it, but if you have a chance to play a free game I wouldn't pass it up. When January is over, I would wait for a really good sale to purchase it.