Shrek The Third

As the current crop of summer blockbusters vie for your hard-earned dollars this year, it seems that the film industry has developed a nasty case of sequel-itis. The trilogies seem very in this year, with the third entries in the Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Spider-man franchises all cleaning up at the box office. Unfortunately, these movies left quite a lot to be desired, not quite living up to the lofty standards set by their predecessors.

Such is the case with their licensed video game tie-ins. Spider-Man 3 certainly had its ups (and some major downs), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was a letdown, and now Shrek the Third hits the PSP with a resounding thud. The game is a simplistic, by the numbers action game that skirts by solely on the strength of its license. Basically, if you buy Shrek the Third, you’re not doing it for the gameplay.

Shrek the Third follows the storyline of the popular film, putting you in control of Shrek, Fiona, Puss, Donkey, and Sleeping Beauty at certain points when the story calls for it. The story lightly mirrors the film without implicitly mirroring, and the cutscenes are done through clever little puppet shows.

However, the novelty behind Shrek the Third wears off quickly once you start playing it. The game is a by the numbers brawler. As Shrek, you punch your way through hordes of enemies. You do have some rudimentary combos that you can perform, but these are simple two-button deals that every character seems to be relegated to.

The characters have light elements to separate them from each other. For example, Sleeping Beauty can glide while jumping (a la the Princess in Super Mario Bros. 2), Puss can double-jump, and Shrek and Fiona can go into bullet time by kicking in their ogre meter after taking out a certain number of bad guys.

Aside from these small differences, the gameplay in Shrek the Third stays pretty consistent throughout. The game is a button-mashing fighting game through and through. While there are some puzzles thrown in here and there to stir up the pot, these aren’t taxing whatsoever and feel more like a chore than an engaging brain-bender. It shouldn’t be difficult for anyone to go through Shrek the Third’s storyline in under five hours. Aside from a two-player minigame playable through ad-hoc (which couldn’t be factored into this review since my chances of finding another person with Shrek the Third on PSP were, shall we say, pretty bleak), the game’s replayability isn’t too terribly high.

Graphically, Shrek the Third isn’t a terrible looking game, but there are better showcases out there for your PSP. The character models do a fine job of representing their movie counterparts, and the environments are pretty decent. However, the game’s fixed camera can be a huge pain. It would’ve been nice for the developers to implement some way for the player to manipulate it when it gets stuck in a wall, but it seems that it just wasn’t in the cards.

The sound is a mixed bag. The score is pretty good and reflects the movie well, but the voice acting is a hit and a miss. Some characters like Shrek are well represented, while others (like Donkey) are pretty lousy imitations.

Shrek the Third won’t dazzle you with innovation or engaging gameplay elements. This game is banking on whether or not you’re enough of a fan of the movie to drop your cold hard cash. But, take it from me, it’s just not worth it.

Gameplay: 6.0
Repetitive button-mashing combat and simplistic puzzles make for some pretty boring gameplay, even if you’re a fan of the big green ogre.

Graphics: 7.0
Decent-looking character models and environments are mired by a cumbersome nonadjustable camera.

Sound: 7.0
The score sounds pretty good, but the voice acting ranges from fairly accurate to way off-base.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 5.5
Just another ho-hum licensed game.

Overall: 6.0
Shrek the Third doesn’t bring anything new to the table.