Grim Fandango Remastered Review
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Grim Fandango Remastered Review

Our Review by Rob Rich on May 6th, 2015
Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar :: TOTALLY WORTH IT
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The remastered adventure classic makes an unexpected appearance on iOS, and of course it’s great.

Developer: Double Fine Productions
Price: $9.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0
App Reviewed on: iPad Air 2

Graphics / Sound Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar
User Interface Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
Gameplay Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar

When people speak of classic adventure games, common examples include the likes of Monkey Island, Sam & Max, and Grim Fandango. Once upon a time it was a rather popular genre on PC, and nobody did it better (arguably, but not really) than LucasArts. It’s been great to see so many classics getting somewhat modern sequels or the occasional remaster, and Grim Fandango is certainly no exception.

The thing is, Grim Fandango Remastered isn’t technically new. It’s been available on PC and various Sony consoles for a little while now. But now it’s on iOS so pretty much all of your bases are covered.

Grim Fandango follows the exploits of one Manny Calavera - a grim reaper, but really he’s more of a glorified travel agent. What starts out as a normal day at his ‘more dead than you could possibly believe’ dead-end job soon turns into an adventure that will take him all across the Land of the Dead.

This remastered release is the same game you know and probably love (at least you should), but now with higher resolution textures and an orchestral soundtrack. Some developer commentary has been thrown in for good measure (you can turn it on in the options) as well, but the core game has been left alone. So no new characters or areas to explore, but in all honesty it doesn’t need any of those things.

Playing Grim Fandango on a touch screen works reasonably well for the most part. Tapping on interactive elements brings up a small wheel of commands like “pick up” or “look at,” and a contextual button will appear when Manny is holding an item that will let him use it on himself if need be. It’s all classic point-and-click style adventure stuff, and that’s great.

The only problem I’ve been having is with movement. It works, and it’s never a huge problem since there aren’t many puzzles that require super-accurate timing, but it can be irritating to try and figure out exactly which area of the screen will have Manny walk to the next area - as opposed to run straight into a wall or wander back in the wrong direction.

Regardless of the platform, Grim Fandango Remastered is an adventure game that genre fans and nostalgia lovers absolutely should not miss. It isn’t necessary to play it on everything of course, but if you haven’t taken the plunge yet it feels right at home on iOS.

iPhone Screenshots

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iPad Screenshots

(click to enlarge)

Grim Fandango Remastered screenshot 6 Grim Fandango Remastered screenshot 7 Grim Fandango Remastered screenshot 8 Grim Fandango Remastered screenshot 9 Grim Fandango Remastered screenshot 10
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