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Steven's Man-Cave: Labour of love ages gracefully

» ‘Grim Fandango Remastered’ PS4 game review

§ Steven Cayer
F Senior Columnist

OOOO

eventeen years ago, an epic

moment occurred and I
didn’t even know it: Grim
Fandango came out on the
PC. Back then creator Tim
Schafer was with LucasArts,

 

: but he later made his own

: company called Double

: Fine Productions, which is

: responsible for the awesome
: Brutal Legend and most

: recently Grim Fandango

: Remastered. Having missed out :
: last time, I knew I had to check :
: it out this time, and it feels so
: good.

You play as Manny

Calavera, a travel agent in
: the Department of Death,
: tasked with giving the recently

: deceased a travel package

: based on their pureness of

: heart. Forced into a four-year
: contract himself, Manny is

: tired of getting intolerable

: clients, so he steals one from

his rival, Domino Hurley. In
doing so, he uncovers a juicy

> conspiracy involving incorrect

sentencing to good souls. With

the help of his driver Glottis
and the Lost Souls Alliance, he
; tries to make things right.

Not only is the story well-

: written and well-voiced, but

: the graphics actually hold up,
: especially for a game that’s

: almost as old as me. The

: remastered version has more

: realistic lighting and textures.
: You can tell because you can

: switch back and forth at the

: push of a button. What’s also:
: new is the myriad commentary :
: throughout the game, also with :
: a button press.

What I found very

: interesting is that games back

: then didn’t hold your hand at

: all. This one in particular feels
: like it just pushes you out of

: an airplane with a parachute

: and says, “Good luck.” It has

: no tutorial and the puzzles are
: gruelling, which makes the

: payoff that much better.

I’ve read that this game
is on most peoples’ top 10
adventure games of all time,

: and it’s on mine now too. For
: a $15-download, you'd be crazy
> not to get this.

 

Animesque:

» ‘Princess Mononoke’

Adam Tatelman
Senior Columnist

OOOOS

[° Princess Mononoke, an
outcast prince afflicted with
a deadly demonic disease falls
in love with a forest-dwelling
woman who was raised by
wolves, after watching her suck
the poison out of her adoptive
mother’s gunshot wound. I'll

to a very peculiar type of
woman, but if that doesn’t spell
romance, what does?

It is the Muromachi period.
One-time prince Ashitaka

demon that was once a boar

in the process. Knowing he
will die soon, he embarks
ona quest to find the source
of the incurable corruption.
He discovers Irontown, a

yet compassionate Lady Eboshi,
whose colonization of sacred
forest territory threatens to
escalate into all-out war with
the gods of nature. Leading the

Nature versus nurture

ponders the circle of life

: charge against the humans is
: the wolf-girl, San. Falling for

: her, Ashitaka undertakes to
: reconcile human civilization
: with bestial nature.

This is a Hayao Miyazaki

: film, so yes, it contains an

: environmentally conscious

: message. Thanks to the utterly
: tactless way countless films

: have handled the subject

: (Chuck Norris’ Forest Warrior, :
: anyone?), that might turn some : §
grant young Ashitaka’s attracted : 2Way at the door. Fortunately,
: Miyazaki presents a more

: nuanced depiction of the

: eternal conflict of man versus
: nature.

Eboshi’s aggressive

defends his village from a raging : “XP@NS10n seeks only to

: maintain Irontown’'s economy
deity, contracting said infection : and keep rival Daimyos at bay.
: Her town’s social structure

: is forward-thinking, trusting :
: women as workers and warriors. !
: The gods are self-serving by

: comparison, even barbaric, but
settlement run by the pragmatic : only fight when threatened.

: Their leader, the Forest God,

: symbolizes equilibrium—as

: all death feeds life anew, he

: is neither good nor evil. No

: faction has ambitions beyond

: survival. Miyazaki hopes for an

: outcome where one’s continued
: existence doesn’t preclude the
: others.

Studio Ghibli’s reputation

: as animators was made by this
: movie. The action scenes are as
: fast and fluid asa cruise missile, :
: creature design is memorably
: majestic, and there are more

: epic landscape shots than a

: Peter Jackson fantasy film. If

: there’s a deal-breaker, it has to
: be the dub. I know Ashitaka’s

: resigned to his fate, but that’s

: no excuse for Billy Crudup to

: phone it in this badly. The only
: thing his performance evoked

: was a bored actor counting

: the seconds until his cheque

cleared. Claire Danes as San

: isn’t a whole lot better, but
: at least I buy her righteous
: indignation. And why does
: Eboshi speak with a British
: accent? These problems might
: be ameliorated by a less stilted

   

Image of ‘Princess Mononoke’

. translation, but the secondary

: characters still outshine the

: leads. Thank the Forest God for
: Keith David.

So if youre in the mood for

: some Valentine’s Day anime,

: you should probably watch 5

: Centimetres Per Second. But if

: you want an epic romance in

: the original sense of the word,

: Princess Mononoke has enough

style, charm, brains, and heart

: to substitute for a good date.