GENRE
	Action
	DEVELOPER
	Luxoflux
	PUBLISHER
	Activision
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-4
	CONNECTIVITY
	no
	BUY NOW AT

The movie-based games are already upon us. How will they stack up to last year’s? VU Games has Van Helsing on the PS2 and Xbox and EA Games released Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for all five platforms. Further down the line we’ve got VU Games’ Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay on the Xbox and Activision’s Spider-Man 2 across all five platforms as well. Speaking of Activision, they were the first to the plate with Shrek 2 even though it wasn’t necessarily the first summer movie. How does it compare to the others? Well, it’s no Riddick, that much you should know. Then again, it’s much, much better than the crap fest that was Shrek Extra Large from TDK. That’s not saying a whole lot, though. All in all, Shrek 2 is a very entertaining game from start to finish and features a lot of dedication to the source material.

visuals

Activision put the popular license into the hands of Luxoflux. You’ve heard of them before. They worked on such family friendly games as True Crime: Streets of L.A. and Vigilante 8. Visually, they are more than capable of delivering a bustling landscape and smooth character models. They’ve implemented some of their best work in Shrek 2. While the character models may be a little jagged, they are authentic and work a lot better than what we’ve seen so far in the Shrek universe. The environments are filled with color and the level design is solid, given what they had to work with. Longer levels and more complicated missions could have helped extend the life of the game, though. This is easily the best looking Shrek game ever.

audio

The sound effects and orchestrated music are good enough to fit in with the rest of the game, but what stands out is the voice acting. Twenty minutes into the game, you may finally realize that the voices aren’t coming from the original voice actors. Some of the vocal talent used in Shrek 2 is so authentic that most of the time you’ll be wondering if it’s really Eddie Murphy or Mike Meyers playing the voices. Once you get to the end, however, you’ll have heard their voices so often that it’s easy to tell them apart. Some of the bits repeat and repeat over and over again. Not to the point of annoyance, but definitely to the point where it just isn’t funny anymore.

gameplay

You may have had some good times with little Billy playing through True Crime, but Shrek 2 is a little different. This game centers on puzzle-based elements rather than straight-up action. You’ll have four characters to control, rotating around with your shoulder buttons. Each character has specific powers that will let you progress through each stage. For example, Shrek can lift things, Donkey can kick things, and Lil’ Red can throw things. There are ten playable characters through the entire game and most of them rotate from level to level. Once you get into cracking down on enemies, though, things get a little rough around the edges. The battle system is a little weak and may be too difficult for some younger gamers without some cooperative help, since the AI seems to enjoy frolicking rather than walloping. The team-based gameplay works incredibly well for the game, but after a day’s worth of gaming, it’s all over and done with. At least the game controls fairly well, so even younger players can join in. However, the plot leaves a lot open and it could spoil the movie for you if you haven’t seen it yet. Shrek 2 isn’t a great game, but it certainly has its moments.

multiplayer

Shrek 2 features four-player simultaneous drop-in multiplayer. That’s enough to sell any game, really. So long as you have this, you’re golden. It helps keep the game alive and a lot more fun.

overall

Shrek 2 isn’t the best film-licensed game this year, or any year for that matter, but it does offer it’s own charm for fans of the films. If you didn’t like the films, chances are you won’t like this title. The only downside for fans is the spoilers. If you haven’t seen this yet, you may want to step aside and wait. There are story elements in this game that you may want to wait for until you actually sit down in the auditorium. Unfortunately, this game is very short, so it really only belongs with the fans. With this tight of a niche, it’s amazing to see Luxoflux do such a good job, considering it’s a licensed game and what not. Activision still has Spider-Man 2 in their belts, though, so we’ll have to see how that’ll turn out.

7.3/10