Time to steal Christmas
This game takes its narrative inspiration from the classic Christmas tale about the grumpy old devil who just wants to ruin the holidays for everyone, and its gameplay inspiration from that Mario, and while it might not be a classic, it's a fun enough diversion. You take on the role of the Grinch himself and it's your job to be as spiteful and unpleasant as possible during Christmas. This involves a variety of things, like breaking presents, building unpleasant gadgets and making sure the mail gets messed up, amongst other things. You'll need to explore the various environments in order to uncover blueprints which with which to make your gadgets, while if you're stuck, you can even call on your friend Max for assistance. The basic gameplay takes a third person perspective, where you'll run around the various holiday-themed environments, being mean to people and engaging in several mini-game-style activities, making this a mix of puzzling and action/platforming. The Grinch certainly isn't the greatest game in the world, but when considering its target audience it just about hits the spot. The anti-Christmas sentiment does seem a bit odd, but if this doesn't bother you or your young ones, you'll have a good time here. Nothing is particularly complicated, making this appropriate for all ages, while the mix of gameplay elements will help keep younger gamers interested. The visuals have dated a little, but maintain a decent sense of personality with some well realized characters and environments, while the gameplay is solid, if less than spectacular. Not terrible, but not a must play either.
