Shrek the Third is due in theatres soon, but as of this review isn’t released
yet. So, it’s a little hard to say how exactly the game follows the movie. It
appears to use the same characters plus some new ones, and the story seems to
parallel the movie somewhat. As in the movie, the story in the game follows
Shrek’s journey to find a replacement heir to the throne in order to ensure
that Fiona doesn’t become Queen, thus making Shrek King. While he’s gone on
this journey, Prince Charming sees his chance to capture the throne for
himself and besieges the castle with a Fairy army. Fiona enlists the help of
several famous princesses and defends the castle against this fairy horde.
The game begins with Shrek leaving the castle with Puss in Boots and Donkey to
find Arthur. They plan on taking a ship, but have to overcome several
obstacles along the way. This first level is a tutorial and each new action
has the required button controls and any needed additional comments
highlighted on the screen. In this Wii version,
players will use the wireless control to fight and jump, and the
nunchuk to move Shrek, power up his moves and open
objects. The onscreen explanations are clear and easy to understand for the
most part, but are sometimes less than informative. For instance, to open
chests and push open doors, the game directs players to use the C button on
the Nunchuk. Well, we did and nothing ever
happened. We finally discovered that we had to repeatedly hit the C button
very fast, not just push it and hold it down. The directions didn’t say to do
this.
This game is a platform game, but most of the action is comprised of bashing
enemies in every screen. The fighting is simple and easy to accomplish for the
most part, and players can usually just use the basic attack with the A button
without worrying about using the more complicated combos and special attacks.
Each character has a special attack, such as Sleeping Beauty’s sleep attack,
Puss-N-Boots cute puss, Shrek’s ogre power and other like abilities. Shrek’s
ogre attack is especially powerful. When he uses it, a ring shaped aura of
havoc spreads out in concentric circles, stunning everyone in its path.
Sleeping Beauty can put everyone to sleep. Puss-N-Boot’s cute puss stuns
everyone around. However, these attacks, while cool, don’t have to be used for
the most part.
Some of the levels do require some platform maneuvering and puzzle solving,
mostly to do with getting to another location by figuring out what to jump on,
or what to push around. However, most of the time gamers will spend the bulk
of their time fighting enemies. There is some coin collecting, and a few other
items in each level to be collected. Much of this differentiated collecting is
correlated with quests. Each level has a number of quests for gamers to
fulfill. These quests are listed in a task list for gamers to reference during
the game. But, gamers can still finish the levels and move on even if all the
tasks aren’t done. Points are awarded for each task, but this is just for
score keeping. Being able to move on is good in the sense that players won’t
be stuck forever in a level, but there is no warning that advancement is
imminent, either. If players come to the end of the level, they have to move
on and can’t get any more points. The harder levels appear to be only
different in the lesser amount of damage the main character will take before
expiring, not in the type of quests.
Moving the characters around is easy enough with the
nunchuk, but sometimes they can get stuck. The camera isn’t very
responsive, either, and the viewpoint is bad at times. This doesn’t matter
very often, though, as the enemies are easy to see and fight for the most
part. At times, however, the controls are sketchy. In one part of the Academy
level, Shrek has to pick up soccer balls and throw them at the witch who is
guarding Lancelot. When Shrek runs up to the ball, it moves away. When he
finally can get close enough to pick it up, it often disappears! Then he has
to run all around looking for it. This is annoying. Fortunately, the witch
isn’t shooting at him non-stop while he’s looking for the ball.
The graphics are decent, but nothing to get excited about. They don’t look
much different on the Wii than they would on the
GameCube. There are a few graphical glitches, when the main character
sometimes disappears from view, even though he or she is still present. He or
she will continue to fight and run around, but only a shadow is visible. This
usually only lasts for a few minutes, though. The voice acting is great, even
if the voice actors aren’t the real deal, except for the narration by John
Cleese. The same type of humor from the films is
present and is just as funny.
Besides the adventure mode, there are also lots of mini-games which are
available right from the beginning. These are all simple arcade games that are
shooting gallery games, herding type games, missile launching games and a
clone of Frogger. Most of these games are pretty
fun and can be played with a friend, too. We especially liked the
Shrekleboard game (shuffleboard) and Castle
Capture (a game where players launch missiles at the castle walls). In some of
the games, though, using the Wii remote feels
sluggish. In Shooting Gallery, players use the Wii
remote to aim shots at items moving by in a gallery shootout, but getting the
weapon to line up on the targets is hard to do. There is also a fun demo of a
November release game from Activision, which entails moving a bee around with
on-screen directional arrows.
Shrek the Third is a cute platform game designed for children and has been
designed to be easy to pick up and play. In the cuteness respect and the ease
of playability, the game designers have done well. The game does a good job of
featuring lots of characters from the movies and imbuing them with their
respective personas. The humor is also just right for young players.
Having lots of multi-player mini-games that can be played
without unlocking them is also a good addition. But, cuteness will only
go so far and the gameplay soon becomes repetitive
and somewhat boring, as Shrek and company fight their way through each level.
There really isn’t a whole lot to do besides constantly whack away at enemies
by swinging the remote back and forth. After about the third or fourth level,
the feeling is “Is this all there is?”
This isn’t a bad game overall, but it isn’t a very good game, either. It’s
just an average game and isn’t nearly as fun as Shrek 2. For $30, it wouldn’t
be a bad buy for the kids who want a Shrek game, but for $50 for the
Wii version, it’s just not worth it. Parents may
want to try renting it for a weekend for the kiddies, first.
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Gameplay: 6.5
Shrek
and company are funny and cute, but the gameplay
itself isn’t all that fun after awhile. The constant fighting becomes
repetitive and the collection aspects and mini-games aren’t enough to add
anything substantial in terms of enjoyment.
Graphics: 7.0
The
graphics are adequate and the characters look like their movie counterparts,
but overall the graphics are pretty average for a Wii
game.
Sound: 8.0
The
voice acting is very good and the sound effects are also good.
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The
difficulty level is pretty easy, even on the hardest level. The main
differences in difficulty levels lie in the amount of punishment the main
characters can take before players have to start the level over again.
Concept: 6.0
The
game doesn’t offer anything new. Having the mini-games available from the
beginning is nice, though.
Multiplayer: 8.0
Overall: 6.5
The
saving grace of this game is Shrek and the other characters. They are
portrayed charmingly and just like in the movies. The mini-games are also fun.
However, the game as a whole isn’t anything above average and would probably
receive a lesser rating without the presence of Shrek and company. Kids who
like Shrek will enjoy this game.
