The grim adventure’s of Billy and Mandy is a popular show on Cartoon Network. The plot of the story is about 2 kids, who tricked the grim reaper into becoming their best friend forever and must not kill anyone while they’re friends. The show is popular with children over the age of 7 because the show is rated TV-Y7 for some language. The show is also popular with some adults as well because of their crude yet funny comedy.

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy video game pits the characters from the popular Cartoon Network television show against each other in a fighting-adventure game, filled with mayhem and chaos. In battle mode, up to four players can use a multitude of weapons in destructible arenas like the Desert of Doom and the Underworld to battle it out to be the last one standing. Players also have the option to play on their own or with a friend in mission mode, a series of 45 missions where players can unlock new weapons and characters like Hoss Delgado and the Boogey Man.

When you first start the game you only start out with a few characters from the show and you need to unlock every other character. TGABM short for The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, features of 15 playable characters each with their own unique fighting style and well as finishing moves. The game or should I say the characters will not die until you pull a finishing move. You have to follow the onscreen commands in order to execute your characters finishing move.

The environment is interactive with many things to destroy and throw your opponent to. This game is as violent as other fighting games but it still manages to keep the comedy and pull a laugh or two from the player. Just like the show things happen without notice, for example on the first level when you think you’re finishing all of the sudden the entire ceiling comes crashing down without a warning. Of course you don’t die but it is funny. There are also other levels where you need to keep moving or you can throw your opponent off course like in lava which they loose health every time they’re thrown over board.

The camera stands at a 4th or 5th person point of view on stages arenas and on 4rd person point of view when you’re side scrolling while fighting. Side scrolling fighting can be really interesting because you need to focus on your opponent and on the thing that is chasing you. The camera seems to work perfectly for this game especially since the environment is destructible.

The characters always start out with 3 lives and like any other fighting game you need to defeat them 4 times before moving on. The reason you have to defeat them 4 time and they only have 3 lives is because 0 always counts as a life point.

The game features Cell Shaded graphics which is the choice of most games that are based on cartoon shows. The reason why they go with this kind of style is because the developers still want to keep the game close to the cartoon and it seems to work for some games such as this one. During the cut scenes you actually forget you’re playing the game and watching the show.

With voice over from the entire original casting this game keeps its originality especially with the sound. It never gets old for you to hear grim screaming in pain or to watch him burn his behind on lava. With destructible environments and a surround sound system this game can be really enjoyable, but since I cannot afford a surround sound system and all I have is a standard TV with Standard speakers. But just because I don’t have that doesn’t mean that the sound is not great. I can still enjoy this game even with the basics.

The music is featured in the show as well as the game. The music changes depending on the level and the situation you’re on. The music is OK you’re really not missing anything if you turn it down or up.

The controls are easy to understand. You or you’re little brother can pick it up and play like pro’s beating each other to death in the game. The controls respond well to commands from the player that you are able to execute combos with no problems. There are really no skills required to play this game however it will require other sets of skills that you need to learn and get used to such as dodging and learning to pick up weapons.

With multiplayer, mission and story mode this game should provide you with a couple of hours of game play fun. Unlocking every character does not take long to accomplish. All you need to do is complete story mode once and all the characters are unlocked after that. You can play story mode so much before getting bored of the game itself. The game offers little replay value and after a few days you will definitely be bored of the game. If you’re like me you will put this game away for a few years and bring it out later on, if not then you will probably go trade it in at your local game store.

The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is a button smashing fun game, although throughout the entire game all that you will be doing is pressing on the Button B which is for punching and A for Jumping. The game is fun for both kids and adults. It is very addictive to little kids if they are fans of the show. For $29.99 the game is not that expensive for a game that offers many things.