Donkey!
Here comes another animated movie license, following hot on the heels of Toy Story 2 and The Polar Express. However, unlike other similarly movie inspired games, this one is pretty run of the mill, and although it captures the look of the film pretty well, it's ultimately not all that memorable. The story here follows the film closely enough, with Shrek and his new bride, Fiona, travelling to meet her parents, and who aren't too fond of the big green ogre. The King works with the Fairy Godmother to send an assassin after Shrek, but along with his chums, Puss in Boots and Donkey, he gets to fight back so that romance can win the day. The plot is translated into a 3D action/platformer, with the player taking control of the three aforementioned characters and making their way through a number of levels each themed after areas from the film. The main focus is on fighting action, as you beat up a number of bad guys while also collecting coins and occasionally making use of your platforming skills. Coins can be spent on upgrades, which have numerous effects from freezing enemies to turning them into frogs, while there's also a few bonus levels to uncover. Shrek 2 is very much a standard movie license, which harks somewhat back to Ocean's darkest days (Knight Rider anyone?). There's nothing overly wrong with it, it's just almost entirely without any spark of imagination and thus fails to lodge in the player's mind, either during play or afterwards. The visuals are pleasant enough, while the audio is authentic to the film, but neither of these elements are enough to warrant investigation.
