Shrek 2 (video game)

Shrek 2 (video game)
"Ogre power!!" — Shrek
Protagonist(s): Shrek Genre(s): Action-Adventure Beat-'em-Up Platform(s): PlayStation 2 Nintendo GameCube Xbox Release Date: NA: April 28, 2004 PAL: June 18, 2004 Developer(s): Luxoflux Publisher(s): Activision Country: United States Series: Shrek Predecessor: Shrek Successor: Shrek the Third

NOTE: This page will mainly focus on the console versions of Shrek 2. For the original PC release developed by KnowWonder Digital Media Works, click here.

Shrek 2, known on PC as Shrek 2: Team Action, is an action-adventure/beat-'em-up game developed by Luxoflux and published by Activision, based on the movie of the same name.

Good Qualities

1. It is a big improvement over the tie-in video game of the first movie, since the controls and gameplay are way better.
2. Unlike its predecessor, this game is faithful to the movie and does a good job following its story (with a few liberties taken here and there).
3. There is a wide variety of characters to play as (those being Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Gingy, Li'l Red, Puss-in-Boots, Big Bad Wolf, Fairy, and Human Shrek & Horse Donkey), and each character has their own special abilities (such as Shrek's Ogre Lifting, Li'l Red's Rotten Apple bombs, Big Bad Wolf's dog breath, etc.)
   • While on the topic of characters, the ones from the movie are all their usual likable selves, while this version of Li'l Red (aka Little Red Riding Hood) and Fairy are huge improvements over their movie counterparts, especially the former.
4. You can change playable characters at any time using the shoulder buttons, which is useful for solving puzzles and reminiscent of the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance series (the first two games of which, ironically, were published by Activision) and the Nicktoons Unite! games.
5. Good graphics that are faithful to that of the movies, with many characters looking like how they did in the movie.
   • The storybook cutscenes narrated by Magic Mirror are also well-drawn and resemble the storybook intro from the movies.
6. The controls are much tighter than the previous game and are now designed around a beat-'em-up style. Certain characters (such as Gingy) can jump higher than others, and the game is designed with this in mind.
7. Excellent soundtrack composed by Kevin Manthei, Kevin Riepl, and Rob Berry, especially tracks such as "Wannabee Princess" (which has a James Gunn vibe to it), "Walking the Path", the Far Far Away criminal theme (which is also used for the credits), and the main menu music.
8. The levels and their designs are well-crafted, from the movie locations (Shrek's Swamp, Far Far Away, Cookie, Cookie, and especially Prison Break) to the original ones made for the game (Spooky Forest, Walking the Path, The Mines of Mt. Grimm, and Final Battle).
9. As one can expect from Shrek, there is plenty of humor throughout the game, including:
   • Some of the idle animations that certain character pairs have are hilarious, such as Shrek trying to ride Donkey but his weight is too much for him, or Big Bad Wolf sneaking up behind Li'l Red to jumpscare her.
   • When a knight gets kicked out of the Poison Apple, he says that Shrek's gang isn't taken too kindly around those parts, to which Li'l Red retorts "And what are you gonna do about it, tin man??"
   • If you die in Mt. Grimm's Hero Time, Fairy Godmother will mimic Shrek with this line: "Wah, wah, wah, I'm Shrek! I'll never see my precious Fiona again! Pathetic..."
10. If you can find Lucky Larry the Leprechaun in three specific levels (Spooky Forest, Walking the Path, Prison Break), he gives you charms so that you can upgrade your attacks, gain more coins, regain health every few seconds, etc.
11. There are five minigames to unlock as you progress through the story, and they are all fun to play in their own right:
    • Ring Coliseum: A giant ring arena where you play as Li'l Red to smash all the chests and collect tons of coins.
    • Floating Floor: A Frogger-type game where you guide Gingy across rising platforms in turn.
    • Cloud Maze: A sky maze game where you guide Puss-in-Boots through the titular sky maze and bouncing on spring platforms to reach the exit.
    • Cage Drop: A platform challenge where you guide Big Bad Wolf across the sinking platforms to collect the most coins while carefully planning your route.
    • Crash Coliseum: A battle arena mode where you ply as Shrek, Fiona, Fairy, and Donkey to defeat wave after wave of enemies.

Bad Qualities

1. The original PC version, while not too bad, is a noticeable downgrade from this version.
2. While the story does follow the movie, as before stated, it does take some liberties from said movie, including:
   • Most of Fiona's subplot is cut out to focus on Shrek and friends' journey. As such, her human form only appears at the beginning of the Final Battle.
   • Lillian and Pinocchio are nowhere to be seen in-game, with the former only appearing in storybook cutscenes.
   • The scene where Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey return to their normal selves came before the final battle rather than after. Also, while Harold is turned into a frog (and Fiona's line following it is funny), it doesn't seem to be his true form here.
3. While it is nice to upgrade your abilities from Lucky Larry's Shop, the three times he appears outside of story progression are in such out-of-the-way places that you may miss on your first playthrough.
4. Fairy is severely underused, only being playable in Prison Break and Crash Coliseum.

Reception

Shrek 2 received mixed to positive reviews by critics and is considered by a lot to be the best Shrek game ever made.

On Metacritic, the game had a score of 72 for the Xbox version, 71 for the PS2 version, and a 70 for the GameCube version.

Trivia

• Prison Break is the only chapter not to feature Shrek and Donkey as playable characters.
• Human Shrek & Horse Donkey are the only characters that aren't playable in any of the bonus games.
• One of Donkey's quotes, "Straight outta Duloc baby!" is the only direct reference to the original Shrek film.

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