The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

"I LOVES this game! (Well, mostly...)"

Ah, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. A show on Cartoon Network about two kids who win over the Grim Reaper's friendship (against his will). When a game based on the show was made, I decided to give it a try.

Here's the review:

GRAPHICS: 7/10 (Good)- The game is cel-shaded (which I know turns some people off), but it still looks very amusing. The characters look almost like they should in 3D. The environments also look very colorful and vivid, like a cartoon should. Did I mention that not everybody likes cell shading? Because of that, one's opinion may differ from mine.

SOUND: 9/10 (Awesome)- The sound affects in this game sound like they should in a typical episode of Billy and Mandy, and the music isn't bad, either. But the best aspect of the sound comes from the voice acting, hands down. Some of today's greatest voice actors supply the characters' voices (like the lovely and talented Grey DeLisle, who plays a ton of different cartoon and video game voices, Armin Shimerman, who played Quark on Star Trek, and Richard Horvitz, better known as the voice of Invader Zim), and the characters have quite a lot of things to say, especially when they defeat a specific opponent. Also, the announcer's voice is done by none other than "Weird Al" Yankovic (one of my favorite musicians/comedians), whom I think made his video game debut in this one.

GAMEPLAY- 7/10 (Good)- In this game, you can perform a combo attack and a big attack. You can also jump, grab, dash, and perfom a Mojo move (which is sort of like a super combo) when your Mojo meter is full. The dash button works well in this game, considering that you can't block attacks. The combat itself is fun, especially with 4 players. There are things in each environment that you can interact with, plus there's a bevy of weapons and items you can pick up. The stages also transcend into different levels as time passes, but you can choose to only battle in one level within a stage, if you want. However, if someone catches you in a combo, you're not getting out of it until it's done, which I think is a little cheap. Also, some of the characters are somewhat unbalanced in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

REPLAY VALUE- 8/10 (Great)- There are lots of different things to unlock by playing the Story and Mission Modes. New characters, alternate outfits for each character (some of them look pretty cool, like Fred Fredburger in an Elvis suit), new gameplay modes, concept art, character bios, and some other random junk. Also the game can be played with up to 4 people, which is great fun if you have some friends.

RENT, BUY, OR BURN?- You can try renting it whether or not you're a fan of the show, but I don't know anywhere where you can rent it (not by me, anyway). If you are a fan of the show like me, you should definitely consider buying this game. That's what I did.

Playing this game is about as much fun as watching some really good episodes of Billy and Mandy, maybe even more so, in my opinion. Plus it has Weird Al. WEIRD AL!!!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/22/07