Shrek Forever After Review

What if you had an option to get your old life back for a day in exchange for the day you were born?? Would you take it?? This is what this movie-to-game title is all about. As it is known this is the last installment of the series so the game starts off with Rumplestiltskin (a short man who makes magical deals) explaining about Shrek’s life and everything which has gone wrong in it. He makes a deal with Shrek in which Rumplestilskin gives him his life back for one day i.e. everything which happened in the course of the past few years never took place in exchange for the day Shrek was born. So what we get is a combination of the ogre’s present life and an alternate reality in which Shrek hasn’t had any of the adventures.

Like me if you guys haven’t watched the previous movies, this game would be totally confusing and everything taking place would seem so random. There is no formal introduction to the characters in the game; it is expected that the ones playing this game should have some previous knowledge about the storyline and its characters.

The game menus are very basic and the graphic detail is simple. You basically get to play 4 characters: Shrek (duh!), Fiona, Puss In Boots and Donkey, each having their own special abilities, and each required for completing different set of tasks. For example, Shrek can move crates and make loud noises to scare away enemies, whereas donkey can kick. The powers are upgradable and becomes a necessity as the game progresses.

We can switch between characters with the quick press of a button negating, thankfully, the need to pause the game or going to any allocated location to swap characters. At any particular time only one character is on-screen which a huge plus point (or else we would have utter commotion a la Marvel Ultimate Alliance).

The puzzles in this game are really easy, basically showing that this game was made keeping in mind the younger crowd (say from 7 – 13). The puzzles consist of simple tasks like moving objects, climbing boxes and trees or even kicking open gates and knocking down objects. After completing the first 4 puzzle rooms you are allowed to participate in arena-type battles. The controls are very easy and completing such battles is rather mundane. Another thing regarding the puzzles is that if you ever get stuck, you can easily get hints from the Three Blind Mice in exchange for coins (however, ironic it is!). So you can either take a hint for a single move or just go past the whole puzzle depending upon how deep your pockets are. There are also bosses in between which require some strategy to defeat.

The game also features online co-op, and as with any game, provides a better experience than going solo. You will be ploughing through the same story campaign, however; but it is a perfect setup if you are a parent.

For adult gamers, Shrek 4 may not offer much – in fact it can get tedious and boring quickly and often. However, the in-depth graphic details, cut scenes and a similar plot line may work for those who have kids and want to spend some time gaming with their tots.