Shrek Forever After - Review
Shrek Forever After is the video game tie-in for the latest Shrek film that's just hit the cinemas. One of the big draws for Shrek Forever After is that you can play with up to four people locally.
If you're playing by yourself, you're stuck switching roles between Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and Puss as you explore the different fantasy themed worlds, and their dark counterparts, hunting down different items, power-ups, coins, and bosses in order to finish the game.
The game features the entire cast of the current series, but you'll only play as the four listed. If you're playing with friends, then you'll each take on a role, and to be honest the game is a lot better with more people joining in.
At first glance Shrek Forever After looks like little more than a run of the mill 3-D beat 'em up title. Your character goes from level to level, bashing enemies with a series of basic combo attacks, and those enemies in turn will yield different power-ups, like temporary increases in strength, or a special attack for you to use. There's not a whole lot to the game when it comes to combat, it's awfully repetitive and pretty boring in the one on one encounters.
It doesn't help that the game often herds you into these single space fight areas, where a small cutscene will trigger and you'll take on wave after wave of bad guys, often to the tune of some type of pop music, typically something pulled from the Shrek films like "Walking on Sunshine".
The music is pretty much as out of place as it sounds and it's definitely tossed in there just to pull on your memories of the existing films, without really being appropriate to the action on screen.
The most enjoyable part of Shrek Forever is all of the puzzle solving sequences and how each character has a specific role to play.
Shrek is your big guy, able to move large objects, carry things around and so on. Fiona is used to ignite flammable objects, whether that's barrels of oil or simply a pile of logs.
Donkey uses his ability to kick to break open gates, knock loose different items, or rotate various objects. Finally, Puss in Boots can climb different objects to get to out of reach places, allowing the rest of your gang to do their thing.
There are a number of instances in each level of the game that will have you switching control back and forth between each member of your party, which is done simply by a single button press. The puzzles can also get repetitive, but with a group of people playing it's a little easier to manage, quite and fun, and a lot quicker.
There are some inventive puzzles though, and a number of hidden chests and other items that are purely optional if you feel like figuring them out.
Along with the puzzles, some of the boss fights involve some inventive mechanics and solving too. It's certainly better than just mashing the attack button like you do in most of the basic enemy encounters, and at least shows some thought was put into making the game enjoyable.
These highlights may not be enough to suggest the game to the older crowd, some of the puzzles can be a little difficult, but most aren't something we haven't seen in the games before, and as a whole the game doesn't feel all that inventive once you get over that new game shine.
This is a great title for a parent with multiple kids, as there's always something for the characters to do, and the game doesn't really punish you that much with death or obtuse limitations on the gameplay.
It also helps that the game features a number of the Shrek characters, which are certainly going to appeal to a younger demographic.
Overall, Shrek Forever After is a decent family title, and will certainly keep the youngers ones entertained for many hours.
8 / 10
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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