The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

"Fans of the show will enjoy this Gamecube port."

I really enjoy the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy cartoon. First saw it on a flight to London and I watch it every time I pass it while channel surfing. I was interested in the game but not enough to buy it. I got it from my rental service and decided to go with the Wii version since my Wii is so neglected. Is it worth playing at all? Is it a sweet Wii title? Read on!

Someone has opened Grim's chest of deadly green glowing balls. They induce rage in people and it's up to Billy, Mandy and Grim to find them all and figure out who opened the box. It's a cut little story. Not much happens but it works for a fighting game.

Graphic wise this game has some stellar visuals for a Gamecube title. Except this is a Wii title but whatever. Character models are very nicely detailed. The levels while small look good, are very interactive and destructible.

The sound in the game is okay. Music felt about right and the voice actors from the cartoon provide their talent for this game, Sound effects are pretty good as well but nothing to write home about.

Control in the game really let me down. I rented this for the Wii because I figured it would have some really interesting controls. Well, first of all you can play this game with either the Gamecube controller or the Wiimote and nun chuck. There's a jump button, grab button and attack button. That's it. Once an enemy has been killed you must finish them off. Screen enters a bland screen with a dot, move the Wiimote to each dot as they appear to pull the finishing move off. Kind of lame and it's the only Wii controls added to the game.

This game is a fighting game. Think Smash bros. and you're almost there. At the start you only have 4 characters but as you play more and do different things a lot more become playable. They all pretty much play the same though but some have better distance with attacks.

The story mode has 6 or so stages. The themes vary. One on one, three vs. one, three vs. three ECT. The cool thing is that the stages are interactive. Hit switches and stuff and different things happen. You can also damage the areas. If you spend too much time in an area then it advances to its next section by some bad events. Like the normal house stage. All is find and dandy until a giant three headed dog lands at one corner and flames the area in front of him and eats anyone who gets close to him. This works for and against you but it keeps things interesting without the game feeling like it's out to get just you.

The game also features a challenge mode but I was quickly bored with that. It's just a fight with specific rules you need to follow. It's a little harder than story mode, or so I thought.

The fighting itself is a bit tame. It's all one button but you can also throw, use weapons and jump. The weapons are kind of cool and while there isn't a lot of them I never found that the game depended just on weapons, it was more of a mix of it all. Someone grabs a weapon; everyone (including myself) was running for a weapon if possible.

The game is a bit short but to unlock everything can take a while because some of the tasks are a bit challenging. It's a great game for a weekend rental or maybe a bargain bin purchase.

Like I said. I'd buy this game if it was much cheaper but as it stands it's a bit too simple, hardly uses the Wii controls and really doesn't offer enough content for the current asking price. Fans of the cartoon will enjoy it though. Sadly this is also some of the most fun I've had with my Wii console.

Story - 6/10
Graphics - 8/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 7/10
Game Play - 7/10
Replay value - 6/10

Final Score - 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/07