Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity (Viacom New Media) - 1995

This review is part of the “Let’s Adventure!” series. See all reviewed games sorted by rating here.

Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity is a point-and-click adventure computer game based on the American animated television series created by Mike Judge, Beavis and Butt-Head, that was developed by ICOM Simulations and published by Viacom New Media.

I have fond memories of Beavis and Butthead so I expected this playthrough to be done through some rose coloured glasses as a result. To be fair, the voice acting was excellent and the plot really felt like something lifted from one of the episodes.

GWAR still kicks ass! RIP Dave Brockie :(

If you click on some of the TVs in the game they’ll play music videos mixed with Beavis and Butthead’s commentary. From what I could remember watching this show growing up that commentary made up the vast majority of the show and was the best part, so including it in the game was a nice bonus when you found it. I actually don’t remember there being very much “cartoon content” in each episode …

As far as adventure games go this title doesn’t really add anything to the overall gaming landscape. Instead of a verb menu or action bar, when you right click on the screen you get a ring menu (similar to Full Throttle) which you use to select an action. The standard fare are here such as LOOK, MOVE, TALKand USE, as well as access to your inventory.

I’m guessing the interactions in this game were heavily inspired by LucasArts, as the character interactions feel like they were lifted directly from Sam & Max Hit the Road. As you navigate the game world you talk to various characters or interact with elements of the environment which will then be available as options when talking to certain characters. This is how you advance through the plot of this game.

The plot is pretty straightforward, and feels perfectly aligned with an episode of Beavis and Butthead. You run into Todd, who you think is super cool because he’s always threatening you so you want to join his gang. Once you escape from your high school, you roam around Highland (Texas) trying get “in” with Todd, which results in you getting up to all sorts of mischief, including being thrown in jail.

Throughout the game there are a series of mini-games that you can optionally play. The Hock-a-Loogie game is the only one you actually have to complete as hitting the principal with a super-loogie is the only way to get him to run inside, which allows you to sneak out of school and progress the game.

Each mini-game can be replayed whenever you want, including from a menu present at the title screen. These mini-games are all pretty stupid and extremely repetitive, but seeing as they’re mostly optional it’s kind of nice knowing they exist as a distraction only.

This wouldn’t be an adventure game if it wasn’t full of fetch quests and item combination puzzles. Make sure you try an pickup everything on every screen as the solutions to some of the puzzles in this game aren’t obvious. I chuckled a bit in the prison sequence where you had to distract an inmate by blinding him with a camera and flash, but to do this you had to find a flashcube and combine it with the camera first.

I’ve got a feeling anyone born after 2000 might not know what a flashcube is …

Animated cutscenes are mixed in throughout the game, which further assist with progressing the plot. The graphics of the game are descent and the downsampled graphics on the cutscenes actually make them feel more immersive with the game as the transition is more subtle.

When you finally reach the endgame you’ve rescued Todd, he’s about to let you join the gang - but you’re raided by the police and accidentally finger Todd as the perpetrator and he gets hauled off to prison. Better luck next time … I guess :P

There is a very narrow audience that this game would appeal to - though I have to admit I can count myself a member of that audience. It’s unlikely you’ll try this game out if you didn’t watch the original show, though some folks might stumble into this if they enjoyed 2022’s Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe.

I don’t think you’d consider the humour in this game “raunchy” by any means, but in the mid 90’s standards were a lot higher (or lower?). You know what you’re getting into when you pick up this title, and honestly it doesn’t really disappoint. It’s not a great game, but for a one time playthrough you’ll have a good time.

Game Information

Game	Beavis and Butt-Head in Virtual Stupidity
Developer	Viacom New Media
Publisher	Viacom New Media
Release Date	August 31, 1995
Systems	Windows, PlayStation (JP Only)
Game Engine	BBVS

My Playthrough

How Long To Beat?	4 hours
Version Played	Windows via ScummVM
Notes	Walkthrough

Score

See here for a refresher on how we’re scoring these games.

Atmosphere (20)	12
Story (25)	12
Experience (15)	8
Impact (10)	4
	51%

Gallery