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Shrek the Third Review
Written by Anthony Gallegos on Friday, June 1, 2007
Play as an ogre!
Your worst nightmare was probably more exciting than this game.
Shrek the Third on the GBA has just been released into the wild. Shrek, Donkey, and the rest of the gang have gathered to try to save Far Far Away and Princess Fiona from the evil Prince Charming. If this sounds pretty benign and uninteresting that's because it is. At least when you watch the movie you have the comedic writing and delivery of the actors to make up for the cliched story. The game takes the boring story and somehow makes it even worse.
However before we move onto the negative aspects of this game it would be best to say what it does do at least decently. Or I would, but it doesn't do anything decently. The game has passable character sprites but even these will drive you to punch the next Shrek cut-out or poster you see; as these will inevitably spark memories of having played this game.
The game has one of the most repetitious game play models ever. It might even make one reminisce about the Atari version of E.T. in that, just like that title, you do the same damn thing over and over again. In Shrek players have to find faeries in order to gather enough magic power for Merlin to transport you to Far Far Away. Players gather faeries by playing through a level and finding them. Each area of the game has 5 levels and each level has four faeries. As long as you find 10 by the end of the area you'll be transported to the next area where the process will repeat. Eventually you'll reach the Kingdom of Far Far Away where you'll do the same thing only this time you'll be collecting pages of a play.
In order to collect the faeries or pages needed to progress the player has to switch between various characters. Certain parts of levels can only be accessed by certain members of the playable characters: Shrek, Donkey, Puss in Boots, and Arthur. While there was a lot of potential to make some unique puzzles that involved the unique attributes of multiple characters, the actual finished product is so limited by its perceived audience that it results in puzzles that are insultingly simple. Children who are in love with the franchise and don't know how to read might enjoy this game at first but even they will feel like their intelligence is being insulted.
Even the ability to switch between characters, what could have been a unique game play attribute, becomes a burden to the game's progress. Players switch between the characters by hitting the L or R buttons. However when the player switches between characters it leaves all the other characters standing in place. This wouldn't be such an issue if you didn't have to get all the characters to the end of the level. It makes it feel like you are playing the same level over and over again. And god forbid you accidentally kill one of your characters by jumping down a hole or something, you'll have to start the whole process over again (with all the characters).
Shrek the Third on the GBA is a seriously disappointing title. It tarnishes the name of a great and funny comedic franchise. Save the money that you were considering spending on this game and go get a decent meal or something. Or perhaps you could see the movie over and over again until the cash runs out; it would still bring more pleasure and feel less repetitive than this game.
posted January 20, 2008