![]() This narrative needs an important correction: when compared to the average LucasArts title, Grim Fandango actually performed okay, even turning in a small profit in a couple of years - and, of course, LucasArts games in general sold quite modestly, even when compared to their chief rivals at Sierra On-Line, let alone various action-based titles across various gaming platforms, so it’s not as if Grim Fandango could be seen as a particularly nasty offender. Allegedly, despite mostly glowing critical reviews and multiple awards, studio executives were so disappointed with the game’s sales figures that the lack of commercial success became the final straw that broke the camel’s back, with the management pulling the plug on production of further adventure titles and firing most of the creative talent working on them. The narrative around Grim Fandango is usually constructed with a tragic flair, since it ended up becoming the penultimate LucasArts adventure game, followed only by Escape From Monkey Island in 2000. It might not end up being a favorite of yours, for one reason or another, but there has never been anything quite like it in the past, and there might very well not be anything in the future - at least, not in the future of the videogaming medium as it exists today. None of them, however, beat the multi-layered, uniquely constructed power of Grim Fandango, Schafer’s and LucasArts’ crown masterpiece and one of the most unforgettable adventure games of all time - with heavy emphasis on unforgettable. All of these games were exceptional in their own way. From The Secret Of Monkey Island and its sequel, LeChuck’s Revenge, on which he and Dave Grossman still worked as Gilbert’s apprentices to Day Of The Tentacle, where Tim and Dave functioned as equal partners and onward to Full Throttle, Tim’s first solo stab at creating an original universe with a peculiarly warped biker theme. Ron Gilbert may have been the single most important figure in the forming and initial shaping of the LucasArts legend, but when it comes to the sheer number of achievements, nobody can beat Timothy John Schafer - together, they are like the David and Solomon, or the Julius and Augustus Caesars of one of the most famous empires in gaming history.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |