Game Review: The Grinch: Christmas Adventures (Xbox Series X)

From the mind of Dr Seuss, developer Casual Brothers Limited, and publisher Outright Games comes a lovable game to make your heart grow three sizes. It’s The Grinch: Christmas Adventures, and it’s pretty good, provided you’re of a certain age.

Telling the Dr Seuss tale in loving fashion (with an excellent narrator), The Grinch: Christmas Adventures combines bright and colourful 2D/2.5D visuals, easy to understand gameplay, light co-op elements, and a low difficulty, making it a fun play for youngsters. Even though adults will likely find to far too easy and with very little replay value.

Players take on the role of the titular character, alongside Max the dog (a second player can control him) from the Dr Seuss tale and takes place over three locations and across eighteen levels.

First, getting the Grinch down the mountain through the caves. Then getting across the icy countryside, before rampaging throughthe town of Whoville. All while stealing presents, dodging, and defeating a range of enemies, sneaking through houses, and collecting puzzle pieces.

Collect all the presents and puzzle pieces in a level to full complete it, however, the latter of two actually serves a purpose. Used to unlock new skills such as a double jump, a jetpack, the ability to throw snowballs, and even the Santa suit that can make other elements of gameplay a bit easier. Although the puzzle building mini-game that you have to do before unlocking the upgrade feels a bit pointless.

At the end of each chapter, the level design chances to a mini game of sort, where players have to ride a snowboard and avoiding being consumed by an avalanche of snow. All while jumping over obstacles and avoiding pitfalls. While these levels are welcome, as they are different, they are few and very short. The main crux of gameplay is to make your way to the end of a 2D environment, with 2.5D moments of house exploration thrown in. The latter is a fun element that involves having to avoid hugs from gingerbread people and the Whos, all while trying to grab the presents in the house.

It’s this variety, and the overall general shortness of each level that makes The Grinch: Christmas Adventures never feel like it is overstaying its welcome. Everything about it has been designed to be fun, with just a small amount of increasing difficulty as the game goes on. Even ‘death’ holds little meaning, as checkpoints are in abundance throughout. It’s not a game designed to frustrate, evident by its simple controls, limited puzzles, and helpful hints.

The main draw of The Grinch: Christmas Adventures is how the story is told, and how it looks and sounds. Casual Brothers Limited have done an excellent job of recreating the Dr Seuss story and capturing the warmth and spirit of what the storyteller was aiming for.

There’s a couple of hours of content here, and most will have a lot of fun while playing it. However, this does not warrant the price tag it comes with, as once completed, there’s little encouragement to come back to it. Unless you want to make sure you have gained 100% in each level, but even that is no challenge. Should players get all the puzzle pieces and unlock everything, a mirror mode is offered, but it’s just the same levels, backwards, and there’s no incentive to play the game this way.

Christmas games are few and far between. Good Christmas games are ever rarer, so The Grinch: Christmas Adventures deserves credit for what it offers. If it was half the price it is, it would be a must buy, especially for those with young children.