Triple Creature Feature 9: Luigi's Mansion, F.E.A.R., Grim Fandango

Luigi's Mansion


Luigi's Mansion is a great adventure game starring the previously-overlooked Mario brother!

F.E.A.R.


You aren't a soldier. You are a weapon. A paramilitary force infiltrates a multi billion dollar aerospace compound taking hostages but issuing no demands. The government responds by sending in its best special operations teams only to have them obliterated. Live footage of the massacre is cut short by an unexpected wave of destruction that leaves military leaders stunned and in disbelief.
How long is F.E.A.R.?
When focusing on the main objectives, F.E.A.R. is about 8 Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 12 Hours to obtain 100% completion.

Grim Fandango


A four-year journey through over 100 exotic locales. An extraordinary experience within 3D Art Deco and Aztec-inspired environments. A web of intrigue 50 characters deep. A shocking portrait drawn wit 7,000 lines of revealing dialogue. hundreds of challenging puzzles for all adventures. a smooth, seamless interface puts you smack in Manny's world. A lush orginial score featuring Swing-era bebop and jazz.

Grim Fandango Remastered
Completion February 21, 2015
Main+Extras 9h 8m 37s
Review
A fantastic point and click with a imaginative world and story which makes me want more from this world. Sprouting is a great concept well used within the game.

My biggest gripes with the game is the same trappings of any point and click game in that you have to work out the logic of which the designer has thought up for the games puzzles. In all honesty I feel these gripes could be managed if a hint system was introduced so i don't feel the need to look it up online.
8/10

I'm very happy that F.E.A.R. won. That game rules.
I just replayed it earlier this year, so I'm not gonna play it again right now. But I have gotten my hands on the expansions which I might play some of.

And even more importantly:
For some reason there was an (apparently official) novelization of the game here in Germany, published in 2012. 7 whole years after the game came out.
It's extra funny because the franchise has always been heavily censored in Germany. But here we are with the exclusive opportunity to read all the exciting action on page through this weird book. That sure makes up for it.
I was trying to get my hands on this book passively for like a year now but it was kinda hard to find. Though it looks like it was recently re-published via Amazon and I already got myself a copy.
Look at this amazing cover art. They really didn't give a shit.


But from all I can find about it, this was at some point official. It's weird.
Anyway, I'm excited to see how the hell this game holds up in words. lol

- Matt

I have already beaten Luigi's Mansion last night at about 1 am. I have all the boos, ghosts, and I have a B-rank mansion and about 68 million in money in-game.

It's quick but it's fun and I'm likely incredibly biased as it's one of my first gaming memories as a kid, but the game is a 10/10 for me.

As for the other games: I don't have Grim Fandango or Fear, but I might buy a Switch physical of Grim. It's only $35 US after all.

F.E.A.R.
So had my first play session:

Reached I believe 3-4 Exeunt Omnes. Seems like the clones are pulling out and being moved elsewhere

So I can't say I'm overall impressed with this game. I also had the issue No One had where there framerate would drop into unplayable territory. I was able to find a fix (https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/789-directinput-fps-fix/) but now i'm getting constant tearing when I play the game.

Gameplay feels like it's between the boomer and cover shooters and doesn't do a great job of standing out. Yes the slowdown is great and fun to use but apart from that there is not much interest going in the game. All enemies are the same while it's cute they decided to get away with it by saying there all clones it doesn't redeem them for the amount repetitiveness the enemies are (I have basically seen two varieties of enemies so far).

Story is a bit vague and it uses the lack of friendly AI as excuse to throw you into the level by yourself. I'm waiting for more details really to make a thought on it but we'll see. The atmosphere is there for the horror elements especially the music but your too powerful to really make it effective.

I'll see how I feel about the game later but yeah not all that impressed so far

Played the first hour or so of F.E.A.R. this afternoon and surprised myself with how much I enjoyed it. I typically don't do horror, so it's nice to get out of the comfort zone and try out this one that's always seemed interesting.

The game is definitely dated, but I'm enjoying it so far and having a nice little trip down memory lane - plus I remember when this game came out and one of the things it was praised for was the enemy movement, as they did more than just run at you mindlessly. It's fun to see them hide behind cover and attempt to flank you as you go through each area... easy to see why that kind of stuff has been developed a lot since then.

I'm a little disappointed in the overall gunplay - the weapons all feel a bit bland at the moment - but I'm not sure if I'm just mis-remembering how FPS weapons felt at the time, so it could just be an age thing. It's also amusing to play a game again where you're in "generic facility", which seems to be the setting for everything around that time

The other parts that are hooking me are the horror elements - and I'm a big scaredy cat who frightens easily, but I'm hanging in there - I love the trope of having a corridor completely change and freak you out for a second - and the constant visions and clever audio design are going a long way to keeping it creepy all the time... even though if it were to get much more intense, I think I might end up putting it down. Simply because I don't find being scared to be an enjoyable experience lol.

So far I like it though... it's fun to play an old shooter again, especially such a classic.

I started up FEAR today and roughly made it to around when I found Bishop in the game. I enjoy it so far, and do look forward to playing more of it. I do hope the area's become more interesting as it goes on as I kind of find most of the levels boring, but the overall gameplay is pretty awesome. I also wish it was a bit scarier, but that is just a personal gripe.

Played an hour of Grim Fandango. I’ve run into the expected “Now what?” that comes with point clicks, but the world is interesting. I’m also finding that it’s a good idea to exhaust the dialogue options. Something I’m not used to doing, but it seems that sometimes what’s needed is buried in there. It’s a nice touch that while no one is outright explaining everything to you, the remarks you sometimes get in conversations clue you in that something’s going on beneath the surface.

I did run into some bugs. There was a server issue as I’m playing on PS5, which gave me some save trouble. I’m thinking it’s a platform thing. I’m using 3 save slots so hopefully I’ll be good with that. There was also a weird instance where the playing card I needed in the beginning seemed to vanish from my inventory when I went back upstairs. Going back downstairs brought it back, but I had some trouble using it for a minute.

I little more than 1h30 into Grim Fandango. I just stole a customer from Dom and now have Mercedes sitting in my office. There seem to be something odd with her file... I didn't get stuck so far and eventually found a solution to everything. There are some fine details to look for.It's important to pay attention to some cutscenes, there are some quick clues in there. To be continued ! 😉

I was kindly gifted a copy of Grim Fandango by Kirbman on Discord so I will be participating this month. However, I might start the game a little bit later in the month to allow me some time to finish the September pick.

I'm too daunted to install F.E.A.R on my PC. I've never worked with patches and things like that. I'm more of an install, sit back and play the game kind of girl so I will probably be skipping that one and I don't own Luigi's Mansion so I won't play that one either.

I personally didn't have any issues just booting F.E.A.R. on my pc. I haven't used any patches and the game has run perfectly well for me. The only issue I had was with the menu flickering when first getting into the game, but besides that, it's been perfect for me.

A little over 3 hours played in Grim Fandango. I'm currently at Year 2 and I'm stuck. Didn't have much time to try stuff since I had to pick up my son at school. I'm sure I'll figure it out during my next session.

I was kindly gifted a copy of Grim Fandango by Kirbman on Discord so I will be participating this month. However, I might start the game a little bit later in the month to allow me some time to finish the September pick.

I'm too daunted to install F.E.A.R on my PC. I've never worked with patches and things like that. I'm more of an install, sit back and play the game kind of girl so I will probably be skipping that one and I don't own Luigi's Mansion so I won't play that one either.

FWIW I'm playing FEAR and haven't installed anything extra - so you might not have to do anything other than install it anyway =)

Gonna be going for a Luigi's Mansion replay this month, then if I have time Kirb also gifted me Grim Fandango and I'll give it a whirl.

F.E.A.R
— 10/02/2023 10:09 PM
got to 4-2 watchers. Liked this level for it's dark atmosphere and dealing with invisible enemies. Just switched the server on and now looking to link up to the network
— 10/03/2023 10:04 PM
Reached 6-1: sayonara sucker. Getting more into the gameplay esp with the shotgun. Prefer the more closed off sections then the open ones
— 10/04/2023 10:07 PM
Reached 7-1 Alice wade not much to add just those rocket mechs are annoying
— 10/05/2023 10:01 PM
7-2 flight. Laser drones have now appeared but down in the parking garage atm

— 10/06/2023 10:35 PM
And thats me done with the game. So it grew on me a bit especially when the more unique weapons and when i started utilizing the slow down more often but still I felt the game at most was average. It did it's job as a well as it did but I can't get over the fact it felt like a weaker version of half life to me. It didn't help with the issues with performance on my machine either with the low fps or tearing in the game. I think i'll skip the expansion as they are kinda considered non cannon and aren't attached to the game launcher (you have to dig for them in the folder if using the F.E.A.R. Platinum game). As always I'll write a full review in the coming days

played a couple of hours of F.E.A.R. now up to "Unauthorized Personnel" just after you get the rocket/grenade launcher - or at least, just after I got it - I haven't been exploring much and I find myself playing it in the same way I play Quake, which is to say that I tend to play FPS games by running about with offensive moves and rarely get defensive - I tend to find I do better when I play like it's Quake, but if I were any good at any FPS, Quake would be the one... it's the only FPS I've been able to complete on the hardest difficulty

I mention it because it then changes the horror elements when you're ripping through each stage as fast as possible - a lot of the scripted "scary" moments kind of expect you to stop and look at what's happening but there have been many occasions where I've just run right into a "happening" and seen the other (often janky) side of it...

just recently there was a moment where you climb up a ladder and there's a corpse peeking at you from around the corner ahead, which is pretty creepy in itself and a nice little scare, but by the time I noticed, I had already rounded the corner and seen the corpse's model kind of floating in the air so that it could be angled in such a way to make it peek around the corner - thankfully I ended up laughing instead of getting creeped out... and I'm in favour of that

so I think I'll continue to blast my way through as fast as possible, because I'm really enjoying it - plus, even though I'm sure I'm missing some answering machine messages and that kind of thing, I don't think there's a lot to find off the main path anyway

F.E.A.R.
Completion October 06, 2023
Main+Extras 8h 27m
Notes Moderate difficulty
Review
+Great slow down feature in the game
+Good range of unique weapons available
+Music sets the atmosphere really well
-Dull and uninspiring levels
-Performance issues either with low fps or tearing throughout the game
-Game doesn’t fully utilize the premise it set itself
Overview:
F.E.A.R. is an a half life inspired game which does not fully utilize or use the setting it has given itself and failed for the most part in is horror aspects. While the game does a good job with adding a feature not used fully before (the slow down mechanic) and gives a great range of unique weapons it can’t fully get away from it’s more dull and uninspiring levels and performance issues such as slow down in fps or tearing in the levels.
5/10

I was kindly gifted a copy of Grim Fandango by Kirbman on Discord so I will be participating this month. However, I might start the game a little bit later in the month to allow me some time to finish the September pick.

I'm too daunted to install F.E.A.R on my PC. I've never worked with patches and things like that. I'm more of an install, sit back and play the game kind of girl so I will probably be skipping that one and I don't own Luigi's Mansion so I won't play that one either.

I installed 2 patches, one for fps issues with logitech devices and the other for small text on 1080p. It's just a few files to drag and drop into the install folder.

But i totally understand not being comfortable with it, I wasn't for the longest time.

Beat F.E.A.R.

Time: 8h 1m
Difficulty: Hard

6.5/10
Slo-mo was fun after i found the shotgun, i basically used no weapon except for the shotgun, rocket launcher, and g2a2 ar
I feel like the story was all over the place, but the game nails its atmosphere after the 3rd interval. It was never scary, but the office levels felt tense from a combat standpoint. The combat shines in tight spaces, especially the offices, imo. It isn't that fun when in large open spaces. Mainly because it's a lot more fun to use the shotgun, and the shotgun is most effective in such areas.

I just beat Grim Fandango, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. I played this when it came out, but I had no memories of most of the game, so I'm not sure if I beat it back then or not anymore.

The game is devided into four years, or four chapters, each with its own setting and areas to explore. This game is from the golden era of LucasArt puzzle adventure games and I was expecting really hard puzzles, but to my surprise, it wasn't too bad. I did use a guide in a few areas but I'd estimate that I solved 80-85% of the puzzles on my own.

The game has a nicely written story, with fnu dialogues and interesting characters. The soundtrack is also very good. The game has a nice visual look that borrows from film noir. I was also happy to see that the Remastered versionon PC now has point-and-click controls, since back in the day, this game only had tank controls.

I give it a 8/10 score. It is definitely a game of its time and while not perfect, still is a lot of fun.

I beat F.E.A.R. a few days ago and liked it for the most part. Although a bit dated, the combat was really fun, especially with the slow-mo gimmick. I especially liked experimenting with what wacky stuff I could do with the Slow-mo, such as blowing up grenades mid-air with a well placed shot, and taking out an entire area of enemies in a few seconds.The level design itself was pretty good from a gameplay standpoint, but it visually lacked for the most part and became pretty boring by the time I reached the end of each section in each specific location. My favorite portions of the game were near the end with the urban areas and lab. I do wish there was a bit more enemy variety overall as facing mostly the same cloned soldiers does get a bit old. Visually, Fear holds up pretty well for a 2005 game. Some of the different particle effects and moments of destruction in the environments actually quite surprise me nowadays considering this game is approaching 20 years old. I can't say I particularly liked or even understood what was going on with the story, even after listening to most voice messages, but I do like where the game ended and the potential for sequels it brings up. I also do wish the game was a bit scarier overall, though I think the game's age also plays a part in why I don't find this game particularly scary. If these scares were done in a more modern game, I probably would have been a bit more spooked, but as of right now, I cant say I was all that scared. I'm definitely interested in where this series goes with future installments and with the non-canon games, and I may check out the Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate expansions either later this month or early next month.

Started both Luigi's Mansion and Grim Fandango. F.E.A.R. doesn't seem like my kind of game.

Using Dolphin to play the GameCube version of Luigi's Mansion and I got Grim Fandango Remastered via a Humble Bundle for PS4 awhile back.

Had no idea what to expect going into Luigi's Mansion. 4 hours in now. Trying to figure out each enemies requirements is both fun and a bit infuriating.

I am playing Grim Fandango Remastered on PS4 and wish I had the point 'n click controls that tiamat mentioned were in the PC remaster. I kept passing a certain room without realizing if I walked a certain way I could enter it. Also being able to see what was interact-able would be nice too. Already had to use a guide, even though I got half of the puzzle for jamming the mail room "server" right on my own. Feel like much more guide usage is on my way.

So, my progress with the novelization of F.E.A.R. I mentioned here hasn't been very swift. It's not a long book, but the first third or so has been quite a slog. The prose is pretty flat and dry, and the exposition takes too much time with really mundane things that I didn't really expect let alone look for in a F.E.A.R. novelization. lol
The main character is an ex-cop with a troubled past who gets a new job as a security guard at Armachan. Quite a bit of time is spent with him (re-)building a friendly relationship with an ex-girlfriend and it just felt like dry literary fiction for a good while.
The slow-motion ability was sprinkled in in very mundane ways at times with the character occasionally experiencing his surroundings moving slower than him, but it's really not done in any interesting way.
I finally got to some proper spooks and Alma also made an actual appearance. Funnily enough, one chapter literally re-tells the situation from one of those live-action bonus videos that come with the Platinum Collection of the game where Alma is interviewed by some scientist lady. The book just had to open up the scene and I immediately recognized it as that video that I found so scary as a kid. lol
I'm beginning to think more and more that this wasn't proper official merchandise though. At least it's not done very well and even contains a bunch of typos. I wish I could find out more about this. Someone mentions this book on the German Wikipedia page of the franchise for some reason, which is the only reason I even learned about it. And it is blatantly mentioning all the recognizable names from the game. I don't think it really feels like someone just writing unlicensed fanfiction and selling it with every disregard of copyright issues. But at this point, I don't really have any strong leads to believe otherwise.

Anyway, in terms of actual gaming, I just started the Extraction Point expansion and put a first hour into it. It definitely had a very strong first impression with some cool early set pieces and nice music. I actually can't tell if those bits of soundtrack were already in the original game as well but they're just nice for the atmosphere.

- Matt

Not much time today but I got a little bit done. Had a true Halloween spook when my first save file didn’t want to load. The other two worked just fine so it was ok. Most of the session was spent moving around a wheelbarrow.

If you know, you know.

Just completed F.E.A.R. and I definitely had a good time overall. Although, I did play very fast and loose and ended up completing the campaign within 4.5 hours - almost half the average - so I think I really did just zoom through. However, this is also the kind of game that is in my wheel house and this era of FPS are very familiar to me.

I can see why it would have rubbed others the wrong way here and there, but I really didn't mind the enemy variety, or the constant corridors. I guess I was always impressed by the enemy tactics and behaviour, which was cool to encounter first-hand, as I heard so much about it when this game was released. It also allowed for a few amusing moments where I'd be following an enemy who was trying to flank me, so we'd chase each other in circles for a few laps before I put him out of his misery.

The story itself was a bit thin on the ground, and I have to say that I was expecting more. In the end I'm still not 100% sure what the deal was, but I suspect that might be because I didn't bother picking up any lore along the way. Something tells me this game is supposed to be played a lot slower than I ended up playing it. Nevertheless, I did enjoy all the little ways they tried to scare you, and even got the heebie-jeebies a couple of times when they surprised me here and there. Then again, I'm easily scared in horror, so if I managed to get through without much bother, it probably isn't all that spooky in the first place.

Ultimately though, I had a good time playing a game that I have always heard about and been a little bit interested in. I'm sure a lot of my enjoyment came from some kind of nostalgic memory of the excitement that surrounded its release, but I do think there's something interesting in there for anyone keen on delving deeper in to the evolution of the FPS genre at the time.