Beavis and Butt-head

"Dude, no."

Introduction
In 1993, MTV decided to air a television cartoon that starred two idiots going about their daily lives. Of course, the show was a hit, and it did have its fair share of memorable moments. However, when the TV show was remade into a SNES game…something horrible happened. This. The game is so incredibly bad on all levels that no one but die-hard fans of the show could find themselves enjoying it. Every aspect of it will make you wonder how this game was approved for production.

Story- 6/10
The story, although incredibly bad, I can live with, simply because it fits Beavis and Butthead perfectly. The dynamic duo are sitting around as usual when they see a G-WAR rock concert commercial come up. Not wanting to miss this spectacular event, the two decide to do some crazy things and take pictures of it to gain entrance. Of course, the plot is ridiculous, but it fits the characters perfectly. While Beavis and Butthead has seen better “stupid” plots, this certainly fits them well.

Gameplay and Controls- 2/10
Eughh…where do I start? The gameplay of this game is definitely its lowest point. You control one of the idiots at a time, and you advance through various levels in a side-scrolling fashion. Your only actions are jumping, shooting your gun, and licking. Do you get where I'm going with this? The gameplay is extremely monotonous and changes very little throughout the game. You basically have to dodge random obstacles that get in your way, like kids on skateboards or thugs who knock lockers over. You'll find yourself getting bored before you complete the first level, and nearly falling asleep by the time you have beaten the second. It simply does not have enough variety, for you are given very little commands. Rarely you'll find some random objects on the ground that refill your health, but the depth of the gameplay doesn't really get any more complicated than that. Even for Beavis and Butthead standards, this game is waaaay too simple and monotonous. Not to mention frustrating, especially when the skater kids pop up from nowhere and damage you before you can even react. Once in a while, you will have to get on your partners shoulders and fight another pair with a boxing glove on a stick. It's incredibly easy and dull. But who could forget the words shown on the screen before you start a level? “GET READY, DUDE.” Dude…no. The gameplay never breaks away from monotony and creates a frustrating, boring experience. Eughh.

The controls are simple and easy to use, with the exception of some actions that you perform. In certain areas, you have to kick your partner across an obstacle to get past. However, it is nearly impossible to figure out how to do this without hours of experimenting, and even when you figure it out, it takes a while to get working. Jumping is easy enough, and the weapons, for the most part, are responsive.

Music and Sound- 3/10
…yeah, I only endured three minutes of this game's music before muting my television. Why? Because the music is mainly background rock that gets annoying after the first ten seconds. It's repetitive and cannot be better described by calling it “bad”. Every single level, whether it's in a hallway or a shower, has the same music. There is little or no variation at all. For some reason, rock plays everywhere. The game makers didn't even bother to try mixing it up a bit every now and then and actually play music that fit the scene, no, they just wanted to blast rock everywhere you went. The music is there just because it has to be. There was no thought at all put into it. The sound, you ask? Let me sum it up for you in one word: Uhuhuhuhuhuhuh. That's about it. The game uses that ever-so annoying “uh” over and over and over again. Besides that, all you have is the popping sound your gun makes when fired, or when you whack someone with your boxing glove. The sound fits pretty well, with the exception of the uhuhuhuh's.

Graphics- 2/10
Okay, I know, Beavis and Butthead is supposed to have bad graphics. It is supposed to look like crap. Well, I've seen the show and, quite frankly, the graphics in this game are considerably worse. The characters are nicely colored, but they seem to have as much detail as a five year old would use. Even less than the TV show. Everything looks like it was drawn by a kindergartener…and not by the kid who was really good at drawing. I like how it was based off of the TV show, but really, if you're going to remake visuals, at least do it the way it was done before instead of doing a crappy job and making it look even worse than it already was.

Replay Value- 1/10
I was reluctant to giving this a one out of ten…simply because I've never done it before, but this time I think it really fits. This game has horrible replay value, simply because it offers absolutely nothing new after you've beaten the game (granted, it didn't offer much the first time through). Even getting through it the first time may be tough, unless you have a ton of patience. Put simply, there is no replay value.

Conclusion
MTV may have produced a fresh television show in 1993, but it was never meant to be a video game. Beavis and Butthead is a game that fell deeply in its lack of variety in gameplay, its incredibly dull and repetitive music, and its terrible graphics. While its story stuck to the show's roots of idiocy, the graphics seriously decreased in the transition from show to game. The music seemed to be there only because it had to be, just floating annoyingly in the background. The game's lowest point is its gameplay, which consists of doing the same boring thing over and over until you at last see the credits. I do not recommend this to anyone who isn't a die-hard Beavis and Butthead fan. Buy it if you want the B&B memorabilia, but don't expect to have any fun.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/06