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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Puzzle Developer: Backbone Entertainment Publisher: Activision |
Shrek has become a very popular character in the gaming industry since the release of the first film. With his name being placed on a large number of games across nearly every single gaming platform, players would
think that at least of a few of the titles would go beyond that which would be expected from a previous generation console (Xbox, PlayStation 2 or Nintendo Gamecube). However, “Shrek-N-Roll” offers the same low
gaming quality that has been seen with the past couple of games in the series. Worn out game play mechanics and an overall design that has been done time and time again has usually placed the games in the field
of not being good games, but not being anywhere close to good either. “Shrek-N-Roll” is the first time for Shrek to make his way to the Xbox Live Arcade, but it is sad to say that it isn’t very much fun to play.
The game focuses on one specific game type. Players select two characters from more than 20 recognizable characters from the film, including Shrek, Fiona, Prince Charming, Puss-in-Boots and many more
characters that will be recognized from the films. They will then choose from one of four environments, each which has four different levels, leaving players with a total of 16 playable levels in the game. The object of the
game is to feed the numerous number of Shrek’s babies that are situated throughout each level. The player’s characters are placed on opposite sides of a long plank, each has a crack on their side and players must
control the right and left analog sticks to move the plank up and down to move the food from one end of the board to the other. When players get the food to the little green baby ogres, the player is doing well. However, if
the food gets sucked into a purple portal, or falls through a hole in the wall, players are going to start seeing some trouble.
The level designs are quite varied, increasing in difficulty towards the end of the game. Even though the difficulty does increase, the whole game won’t take players more than a few hours to beat it. The practice of
feeding the babies of Shrek and Fiona can get to be extremely tedious and boring very quickly. Players will feel like they are doing the exact same task over and over again, and soon players will realize that this is exactly
what they are doing. The formula is always the same thing: start at the bottom of a wall with some food on the plank, avoid the purple portals and random holes, collect coins that are scattered around the level, feed the
babies that are scattered throughout the level and start all over again from the very beginning. Along the way players will unlock characters and levels, but the entire experience never turns out to be too much fun.
The one redeeming quality of the game is the multiplayer mode, more specifically the cooperative mode. While players can play locally against a friend, the cooperative mode is by far the better choice for gaming with
friends. Versus mode simply presents the same style of game play as single player game play, but splits the screen vertically and offers a few things to throw at the opponent. Capturing certain items allows players to
steal their opponents multiplier or make their plank disappear for a certain period of time, but it still ends up feeling all too similar to the mundane single player mode.
Cooperative mode is much more inventive as one players will take the control of one side of the board and the other players takes control of the other side of the board. Players will have to work together in an effort to
move the board in a way to feed to baby ogres throughout the level. The game play turns into a constant chatter between the two players in order to complete the task, which inevitably turns into an argument over whose
fault it is that the team failed. The feeling of having good timing and feeding the babies by moving the plank around the board just right shows a sign of skill and a willingness to work as a team.
“Shrek-N-Roll” delivers a decent visual representation of the world from the films, with environments like The Swamp and Evil Queen’s Castle that will bring players back to the films. The character models are okay
even though their animation set is very limited. It is nice to see that they yet a little further in development to include a wide variety of characters from the film, not just the most popular ones. The audio in the game is a
little bit limited and doesn’t feature the main theme from the films, and the original voice acting isn’t used in the game either, but that won’t have players enjoying some of the comments that the characters make
throughout game play, especially Gingy.
With more boredom and mundane game play than what players would expect from a film series that was fun and exhilarating, even those who are extreme fans of the film series will have trouble sticking with this game.
It would have been much better for the developers to go with a mini game compilation than a single game of this type. Players will quickly realize that this is one game that should have stayed in the swamp and probably
should have stayed out of the Xbox Live Arcade.
think that at least of a few of the titles would go beyond that which would be expected from a previous generation console (Xbox, PlayStation 2 or Nintendo Gamecube). However, “Shrek-N-Roll” offers the same low
gaming quality that has been seen with the past couple of games in the series. Worn out game play mechanics and an overall design that has been done time and time again has usually placed the games in the field
of not being good games, but not being anywhere close to good either. “Shrek-N-Roll” is the first time for Shrek to make his way to the Xbox Live Arcade, but it is sad to say that it isn’t very much fun to play.
The game focuses on one specific game type. Players select two characters from more than 20 recognizable characters from the film, including Shrek, Fiona, Prince Charming, Puss-in-Boots and many more
characters that will be recognized from the films. They will then choose from one of four environments, each which has four different levels, leaving players with a total of 16 playable levels in the game. The object of the
game is to feed the numerous number of Shrek’s babies that are situated throughout each level. The player’s characters are placed on opposite sides of a long plank, each has a crack on their side and players must
control the right and left analog sticks to move the plank up and down to move the food from one end of the board to the other. When players get the food to the little green baby ogres, the player is doing well. However, if
the food gets sucked into a purple portal, or falls through a hole in the wall, players are going to start seeing some trouble.
The level designs are quite varied, increasing in difficulty towards the end of the game. Even though the difficulty does increase, the whole game won’t take players more than a few hours to beat it. The practice of
feeding the babies of Shrek and Fiona can get to be extremely tedious and boring very quickly. Players will feel like they are doing the exact same task over and over again, and soon players will realize that this is exactly
what they are doing. The formula is always the same thing: start at the bottom of a wall with some food on the plank, avoid the purple portals and random holes, collect coins that are scattered around the level, feed the
babies that are scattered throughout the level and start all over again from the very beginning. Along the way players will unlock characters and levels, but the entire experience never turns out to be too much fun.
The one redeeming quality of the game is the multiplayer mode, more specifically the cooperative mode. While players can play locally against a friend, the cooperative mode is by far the better choice for gaming with
friends. Versus mode simply presents the same style of game play as single player game play, but splits the screen vertically and offers a few things to throw at the opponent. Capturing certain items allows players to
steal their opponents multiplier or make their plank disappear for a certain period of time, but it still ends up feeling all too similar to the mundane single player mode.
Cooperative mode is much more inventive as one players will take the control of one side of the board and the other players takes control of the other side of the board. Players will have to work together in an effort to
move the board in a way to feed to baby ogres throughout the level. The game play turns into a constant chatter between the two players in order to complete the task, which inevitably turns into an argument over whose
fault it is that the team failed. The feeling of having good timing and feeding the babies by moving the plank around the board just right shows a sign of skill and a willingness to work as a team.
“Shrek-N-Roll” delivers a decent visual representation of the world from the films, with environments like The Swamp and Evil Queen’s Castle that will bring players back to the films. The character models are okay
even though their animation set is very limited. It is nice to see that they yet a little further in development to include a wide variety of characters from the film, not just the most popular ones. The audio in the game is a
little bit limited and doesn’t feature the main theme from the films, and the original voice acting isn’t used in the game either, but that won’t have players enjoying some of the comments that the characters make
throughout game play, especially Gingy.
With more boredom and mundane game play than what players would expect from a film series that was fun and exhilarating, even those who are extreme fans of the film series will have trouble sticking with this game.
It would have been much better for the developers to go with a mini game compilation than a single game of this type. Players will quickly realize that this is one game that should have stayed in the swamp and probably
should have stayed out of the Xbox Live Arcade.
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