Game title: Shrek 2
Franchise: Shrek
Developer: Luxoflux
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PlayStation 2
Original release date: April 28th 2004

What is the Game?

Shrek 2 is an action-adventure game which is based on the 2004 DreamWorks animated movie of the same name. The game follows the same story as the movie however more things occur which delay Shrek and his friends from reaching their goals. Gameplay wise, you play as four characters in each level with each of them having different abilities to allow for the player to defeat enemies and solve puzzles (e.g. Donkey has the Burro Blast, while Fiona can stop time). The characters differ in each level with the playable characters including but not limited to: Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Gingerbread Man, and Little Red. Each level has several collectables and side goals which, when completed, give the player a photograph. At the end of each level, a minigame called "Hero Time" (not to be confused with Ben Tennyson's catchphrase) is played before the level is finished. The first level's Hero Time is a rhythm game where the player has to time their button presses to Fiona's singing, while the second level's Hero Time involves avoiding hitting obstacles while playing as Donkey who is flying on Dragon.

What Are My Thoughts?

I didn't really expect much going into this as generally licensed kids games aren't very good. This one was okay. In terms of the controls, they were pretty good and each character felt nice to play as. Each of the characters' abilities worked well and were nice to use. The comedy, while not as good as the movie, was still pretty funny. The level design was decent, though sometimes a bit confusing. I'd have to say that the main thing that dampers the experience however is the camera. Unlike most other games where you play as multiple characters, the other characters are all present at the same time (even if you're not currently playing as them) meaning that the camera has to focus on all four characters. This can cause the camera to be too zoomed out, or at strange angles making it sometimes hard to see where I was going. The graphics were quite ugly and it was sometimes hard to tell what I was looking at (plus it was difficult to tell which ledges were too high to jump onto). The second level was quite frustrating as the mice quite often ran ahead while I was looking for collectibles causing them to run into a trap and requiring me to restart the section before I was finished. The second Hero Time minigame was also horrible as while it controlled decently, getting hit once meant that I had to restart the whole minigame over again no matter how far I was into it. Other than those issues, the game was decent and I would say that it is better than most licensed kids games.

My Score: 6/10
Will I play it again?: Maybe

Gameplay video:

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