Games based on animated family films never quite deliver the goods, cashing in on a hot property with half-baked gameplay more often than not. For all those hoping that the big green ogre's first next-gen outing would be any different, we are sorry to report that Shrek The Third is not the charm.
Like most movie-based games, Shrek The Third feels like a generic platformer with a cartoon skin thrown on the top of it. The game faithfully follows the story of the film, with Shrek on a quest to track down his replacement as King, and Fiona and the other Princesses locked up by Charming's minions. Each level provides gamers with several 'quests' to complete for bonus points, including retrieving all of two types of collectables in each level or completing a set number of 'finishing moves'. The 'quest' system adds a little depth to the otherwise mindless button-mashing gameplay, but never really adds enough meat to make it worth completing all quests. The game may follow the film a little too closely, as it will not take gamers much longer than the running time of the film to complete the game, with most people completing it in less than five hours.
The game's simplistic two-button fighting system gets old in a hurry. Most of the game, players will repetitively smash the two attack buttons as baddies repeatedly jump into your onslaught of green fists. Occasionally, gamers must stop the mindless mashing and block an attack from a larger enemy, but those trickier enemies only show up a handful of times at most.
The game offers a 'special move' meter for each of the characters that builds up with each defeated enemy as gamers pick-up the discarded energy orbs. The moves, including the 'Shrek Stomp' and Fiona's charge, work well to clear multiple approaching enemies in a hurry, but need to be used sparingly since only three uses can be built-up at a time. When the 'special move' meter is full, gamers playing with Shrek or Fiona can activate the 'Super Ogre Power' to slow the action down to a 'Bullet Time' like state to smash enemies in slow-motion for a few seconds. It, like the rest of the game, loses its luster rather fast.
The game also features 'finishing moves' for dazed enemies. While a good deal of thought was put into the several finishing moves for Shrek and Fiona, the other characters are left with one or two finishing moves only; making the secondary characters feel stale quickly – yes, even the cute purring Puss N Boots move. The game does however a decent job of allowing gamers to take control of several different members of the Shrek universe; including usual suspects Puss N Boots, Donkey, and Fiona.
The developers did at least take the time to ensure that each of the characters plays noticeably different. Obviously, Shrek being the main attraction means that he is the most effective of the battlers, with Princess Fiona following a distant second in the 'battle-ready' department. The rest of the characters, with the exception of Artie, are rather difficult to use. Sleeping Beauty, Puss N Boots, and Donkey are each a novelty that wears off quickly; as none of the three have the depth of finishing moves or quick-action fighting moves that make the other characters work so well. These secondary characters play in varying degrees of clunky, with Donkey moving around so poorly that it makes his levels nearly unplayable, as he must dodge flying barrels from a moving carriage while fighting numerous baddies.
