Blockbuster. Baseball caps back and flannel shirts attached around the waist. This strange neon pattern on all carpets and chairs. A societal obsession for babies and furbies. If one of them creates a feeling of nostalgia for you, you should check The Grand Con As soon as possible and get a dose of fan-fiction from the 90s directly in your veins.
The Grand Con Follows the protagonist Ali as she tries to collect $ 97,000 in 10 days to save the rental store for her mother’s videos, griding and pulling on her way through America with a new friend and a criminal emerging Ted. This new independent version is the most successful as an exploration of a playground from the end of the 20th century, rather than the con-artist extravagance that his name promises.
Back to the 90s
Every aspect of The Grand Con has been meticulously designed to remind you of the 1990s in the United States, whether it is a true or fictitious version. The game opening menus present a mini Cathode Ray television with a VHS band game. He tells you that the automatic backup icon in the upper right corner is a “disk; We used them to save things during the day. »»
The colors are bright, sometimes even disturbing, many characters are in various purple and green shades to the distribution of the Nickelodeon series Doug (1991–1999). The music is tiny with energy, recalling the cranberries and the Nirvana. The theme song (yes, There is a theme song) is sung by Rockapella, the group behind the Carmen Sandiego Theme (1991-1995). There is an option on the menu to deactivate / on a laughter to make your show feel like Seinfeld,, Boy meets the worldOr Full house. Even the loading screen commits: it is an animation of COOL S.
The tribute to a certain vision of the 90s also extends to writing. Ali tells how much she likes her mom’s video shop, even the chore of rewinding cassettes. She quotes public school lessons dares to encourage others to quit smoking or not to take drugs. To name a few background NPC jokes: 1) We deplore that nobody wants to invest in their idea of shoes with wheels, 2) a financial investor claims that banks are invincible and 3) two men clearly designed to imitate Wayne’s world To say: “Hey guy, we should start a television program.”
It is a pleasant, fanciful and fun journey.
The great con of The Grand Con
From the preview screenshots, I thought I would take Ali, a rebellious teenager and “anti-man”, in an adventure where she would steal corporate stores and magnates. Instead, the gameplay is largely composed of vomiting from all those you see around various cards in the city, most of whom are only normal people.
The game tutorial takes place on the place of the hometown of Ali (with a Gazebo and an inexplicably large gold statue). She gets closer to friends and neighbors that she knows all her life so that she can steal $ 1, even if they say things aloud like: “I hope I can do this concert” or “I save myself for the school fees of my child’s college.” I felt viscous and disgusting, and I was relieved when Ali did it too.
Unfortunately, the feeling does not stop there. Throughout the game, you have options to listen to characters and essentially check their wallets before flying them. For a certain time, I only tried to vomit characters who looked like assholes (a father whispered with him next to his screaming child: “If you have the money to spoil a child, you should!”) Or have a lot to save (a rich train boss whose family fortune seems to come from war crimes).
But, inevitably, to make the amount you need, you will have to praise everyone, even people who have only a few dollars in their pocket and just hope a cup of coffee, a new whim for their acting career, or to take their crushing.
The game establishes the promise from the start that the tickpocket is not the only way to earn money you need, that you can manage the NPCs by listening to them, then bringing them the article they want in exchange for gratitude money. But these opportunities are distant and rare, and the controls are awkward enough so that it is not always clear to whom you can “give” articles or if you have done enough to satisfy certain thresholds. Once, I stole a guy from a golden banana bag, then I realized that I could offer him a Fanny Platinum bag, but apparently only in exchange for the gold band pack – what I already had, because I stole it – and then I just had this pack of additional platinum strips.
In the end, Pickpocketring (a timed mini-game that you can really turn off from the main menu) is the main push of the gameplay. It is a discreetly satisfactory activity, but I do not know if that is enough to retain the interests of the players, especially when there were several levels where I ran around a very large card in search of a few wandering NPCs. In addition, the cards are not always super clear; I did not always know when I was about to leave an area permanently and I had trouble seeing behind the buildings for a mission element that I had to look for. These moments cause a short and soft game.
The game has heart
Where the gameplay can miss, The Grand Con compensates for emotional issues. I found that Ali’s relationships were engaging, funny and sincere. She can call her mother and her best friend – with whom she is currently behind – from the road. She befriends recurring guests along the road, including a particularly funny lending broker (the way of the game to allow you to sell random items for additional money). She even has a delicious imaginary friend called Rad Ghost who serves as help – emotionally, and logistically with controls – throughout the game.
I reviewed The Grand Con On Xbox One, and although I appreciated the gameplay enough, I imagine that it would work even better on a mobile device (on which it is not currently). The game can be completed in less than 10 hours, and taking into account the feeling of Road Trippy and Min-Max at each of its levels, I think it would be better appreciated with the space to breathe. The Grand Con This could be a good adjustment for anyone who needs a game where he can quickly play a level or two between lessons, work meetings, lunch breaks, races, etc., and less optional for a serious deep game frenzy.
In the midst of nostalgia and time trips, there is a very tangible reflection on the transitional of commercial modes as well as a love and a concern for small businesses. Ali is a good child, and being able to follow his journey, living by proxy through her as the teenager of the 90s that I was never, even the dullest of choice of choice.
Score: 8.0 / 10
The Grand Con is now available for PC, Xbox Series X | S and Xbox One to a PDSF of $ 14.99.
* Review the code provided by the publisher
