Pros: Cartoon feel. Actual voices, and idea of game
Cons: Not enough use of the Wii Remote and no co-op
The bottom line: Great game for the Wii, but it could have been better
Being a fan of cartoons and anime, my kids have me hooked on the disgustingly disturbing show “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy”. The reaper has been beaten and forced to spend his existence serving two kids Billy, a dumb disgusting psycho and Mandy, an angry little girl who hates the world. Grim (the reaper) spends his time wanting to “reap” the children to be done with them, but has grown fond of them even though he won’t admit it.

Well, in the game for the Wii, someone has stolen Grim’s mojo and now the kids must fight with everyone to get it back. The premise sounds lame, but the game is fun to play. The problem is, Midway, the maker of the game, did not take full advantage of the Wii remote. If they had, this game would be amongst my favorites.

The story mode plays like a cartoon. In between scenes, you shift into the multiplayer mode to battle the enemy, family, or other persons that are in the show to get through the game. The first flaw of the game is that there is no co-op player mode. The battles look just like the multiplayer, so why not allow another player to join in? Midway missed out here and my kids were disappointed when they read the manual and found out that only one player can do the story mode at a time.

The battles are fun. Anything can be destroyed and there are several ways to fight. The “B” trigger is your main button to press when attacking. Each character has their own weapon built in to fight with. For example, Billy has a wood mallet, Mandy uses her fists, Erwin uses a book, and Fred Fred Burger uses a frying pan. 15 characters in all and each has their own catch phrases they spew as the battles rage. You can also use the nun chuck controller to pick up items and dash at opponents. During the fights, you can go onto different levels and fight in a new board. Pretty smart and fun. The problem is, Midway did not take advantage of the Wii remote. Moving the remote up and down when jumping or during an attack allows the fighter to jump and attack hard. Usually tosses your opponent across the arena. Wave the Wii remote side to side and the attack is harder than just pressing the “B” button. During the battle you collect purple balls that have “mojo” and once you collect enough, you can melee attack your opponent by moving the nun chuck up and down. Sounds like your using the Wii remote and nun chuck a lot, but you aren’t.

I loved the Wii sports because you actually had to move to play. You could not sit down in this game you can. Midway missed out on some great action and if had just stolen the movements from the Wii sports boxing game, this game would have been a lot more fun and breathtaking.

Don’t get me wrong, I love playing this game, but expected more use of the controllers. I especially loved the fact that you can destroy the credits in the game while Bill yells “Destroy us all” from one of the classic episodes. Fred Fred Burger is my kids favorite character and I love the way they did up Billy’s Dad as a rock star. He was like that in one of the classic cartoons and spews lines from the episode. If you are a fan of this show, this game is a must have. I just had a couple problems with it as described in my review, but I would recommend this to any Wii owner.