After seven years and counting, it still counts as my favourite game of all time and, to me, the greatest.
In Grim Fandango we have two things. First, we have the culmination of every good thing that every was in LucasArts adventure gaming (the best school of adevnture gaming ever) in to one rounded, brilliant product. If there has been any doubt about the ability of LucasArts to produce the wittiest, most intelligent and hilarious games, Grim Fandango simply eliminated all of it. In a few words, Grim Fandango is without any question the best written/scripted game of all time.
Second, Grim Fandango boasts the best artistic direction in any game ever. The art and graphical setting is not only beautiful (even by today's standards), but truly original mixing the seemingly mismatched themes of Mexican folklore and Aztec Mythology with Film Noir type Art Deco setting in what I would not shy away from calling an artistic masterpiece (not only within the gaming world, but beyond). Not only the graphics, but the sound as well carry this artistic quality with theme songs bringing head to head Aztec and Inca pan flute music with 30s Swings Jazz and 40s Bebop in a melting pot that surprsingly fits completely with the story line and the background in one seemingly continous whole. The soundtrack is without a doubt one of the greatest in any game and a true motivation to any listener to listen to more jazz (you might be surprised, but some reviewers actually claimed that Grim Fandango got them into jazz!). To top it all, the voice acting is top class. While top quality soundacting is no stranger to LucasArts, this game in particular allow for far more character as you share with the characters four years of their journey through the land of the dead.
The puzzles, while they are fun in their own right, are really not the reason to play this game. This game is about story, and a lovely one at that. By the end you sieze to see it all as a game and simply as an experience. Although the ending is a most staisfactory one and the game is long, at the end you simply don't want it to end. Now seven years after first playing this game I can honestly say I envy anyone who hasn't played it yet as nothing is quite like playing it first time around. Buy it with confidence.