How I tried to love Grim Fandango, the gorgeous but oh-so-tricky point and click adventure released – gulp – ten years ago. The art design was fantastic and I always loved the genre. But for me Grim Fandango never matched the heights of Monkey Island or Beneath a Steel Sky - although it obviously looked 5000 times better – mainly because the puzzles were so obtuse.
The controls were iffy at times too but it was mainly the often obscure puzzles that caused the real mouse-throwing frustration. And guess what? It could have been worse. Designer Tim Shafer has released the 1996 puzzle document for the game and finally admits the game was just a teensy bit tough:
People said the puzzles in Grim were super hard, and I've always maintained that this was due to a deep character flaw or mental illness on the part of the player. But now, reading this again, I've realized that holy smokes--Some of them puzzles were nuts. Obscure. Mean, even.
The doc is well worth checking out. Grim Fandango then, anyone here finish it?
