Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (Wii) - Review by skarma

Introduction

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy is a 3D fighter game loosely based on the child's cartoon of the same name. The game features fully interactive 3D environments which can really cause mayhem in the game, although often can make the game much too frantic at times. The game seems quite similar to Dreamcast brawler Powerstone, and as such manages to make the fun muscles on your body pop out for a few hours. However, the game itself is extremely samey, with the apparent 'Story Mode' being the exact same as 'Versus' mode with cut scenes in between the action. The Wii version is exactly the same as the Gamecube and Playstation 2 versions (never realeased in Europe), so the unique capabilities of the Wii Remote are not being used to the fullest of potential, though the times it does make use of it are quite enjoyable.

Gameplay

Each of the game's various modes (versus, story etc) revolves around your character beating the hell out of each other by using weapons scattered throughout the 3D levels or activiting traps such as electrocution fields and spikes. Each character has a quick weak attack and a slower-but-heavier attack, which are done by shaking the Wii Remote (original, I know). Around the levels, Mojo Balls are placed for the characters to collect and fill up their mojo meter respectively. Once the Mojo meter is at the highest, a Mojo Meltdown can be performed, which is pretty much killing the character in one shot. When the Mojo Meltdown is activated, a matrix-style cut scene occurs and you aim the Wii Remote at designated points on the screen to finish them off. The Mojo Meltdown is actually one of the best points of the combat, as it is represented in such a slick way.

The combat itself is suprisingly fun, each stage is very interactive and offers the player a certain degree of control of all objects on-screen. For example, in the Graveyard stage, you can pick up gravestones or pumpkins and throw them from afar to attack the enemy. There are a multitude of melee and projectile weapons that can drop in from the sky to aid you in battle. These vary from a glass-gun to a worm-gun, the former firing shards of glass and the later firing exploding grubs. The melee weapons range from scythes to hammers to swords, and each weapon provides an interesting way of taking down your opponent. Around the stage certain traps can be activated, such as ghosts coming out of the ground, spikes coming out of the ground of electrocution fields being activated. While fun, this is one of the main problems which crop up in Billy & Mandy the most. Since there is so much stuff going on in, the action becomes far too chaotic to know what's happening, especially in 4-players. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't spoil the entire game at all, but can make some fights a bit of a chore if too much is happening at once.

And that's all there is to the gameplay. The games 'Story Mode' sees you beating the hell out of each other as well, though with this time gamers are treated to a nicely animated cut-scene between modes. There are a fair amount of unlockables in the game such as new outfits, characters and videos, though these can be unlocked largely by just playing the Story Mode. The versus mode is where the fun is at, as multiplayer is where this title shines if your with friends, since you can pretty much control how hectic things get. Mission Mode is where you can unlock more characters after completing certain simple tasks. There are 45 missions, though these aren't especially difficult and shouldn't last you too long. If you have friends who love this sort of game then the replay value will bump it up a lot. On the other side of the spectrum, single player mode can get very boring after you have unlocked everything, and there is no incentive to come back to play it again.

Controls

The game makes use of both the Wii Remote and Nunchuck combo, and uses a very classic control method. The only 'Wii-specific' controls would be the heavy attacks, which require the user to shake the controller, the 'slam' (which requires you to slam the controller down) and the Mojo Meltdown attacks where you point to the areas on screen to perform each attack, which is more fun than it sounds. Doesn't make use of the Wii Remote heavily but an action-fighter game like this is much more suited to the classic control here, so it wins points.

Graphics

The game has a certain childish charm to it, and is often overloaded with special effects which can either be a pleasure or get in the way. The animations are slick and well-drawn out, though there are again minor problems which can decrease your enjoyment of the game. Unfortunately, the characters often blend in with the scenery, and since there isn't a great indication of where you are, it can be difficult to tell where exactly you are and who you're controlling. This isn't helped by the camera which tends to zoom out of the action a bit too much. Since the game is frantic and occasionally hectic, the frame rate tends to drop to noticeable levels, but thankfully these times are rare.

Sound

The sound matches the wacky and over-the-top style of the game. "Weird Al" Yankovic provides the voices for the announcer throughout each battle. Each character has their own set of lines of dialogue, those these are very short clips and each character only has about 3 actual lines of speech as well as their own random sound effects. The cutscenes are fully voiced-over, which is very nice and makes the whole game seem very faithful to the cartoon series thanks to this. The music itself is entirely forgettable, with each music piece playing quietly in the background while the characters erratic behavour causing sounds to emit from your TV every second or so.

Final comments

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy is a good, but not great, fighter with a multitude of characters and stages. The game is best enjoyed in multiplayer mode where the action can be controlled to ones taste, as the game often gets far too chaotic than need be.

Pro: Smooth animations, great combat system
Con: Awkward camera, often much too frantic
Final score: 6.5

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