Reviewed: December 3, 2005
Reviewed by: John Dewesse
Publisher
Activision
Developer
Shaba Games
Released: October 25, 2005
Genre: Fighter
Players: 1-4
ESRB: Everyone
6
8
8
5
6.1
System Requirements
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
I really wanted to love Shrek SuperSlam on the PC. The new title from Activision, DreamWorks, and Shaba Games combines all the hectic fun of classic fighting games with the off-the-wall humor of the jolly green ogre and his wisecracking donkey.
But this is a classic case of a bad console port. Despite the colorful graphics, the computer version suffers from clunky controls and no Internet multiplayer options. The PC version of Shrek SuperSlam seems like a complete afterthought at best – and a blatant attempt to milk every penny out of the Shrek franchise at worst.
Shrek SuperSlam follows the lead of Super Smash Brothers and other fighting games aimed at a younger audience. There’s plenty of punching, kicking, and fart attacks but no gruesome decapitations or blood spurts to upset mom and dad.
You can enter the ring as one of 20 different characters, including Shrek, Fiona (in both human and ogre form), Puss in Boots, Donkey, Pinocchio, Gingerbread Man, or Prince Charming. The game also introduces some new entertaining faces like the garden gangsta, G-nome.
The brief tutorial does a good job of teaching players the basic attacks and ways to win. Like a late night meal at Denny’s, this game is all about the slam. As you hit your opponent with fast or special attacks, you build up points on the slam meter until you have enough to “SuperSlam” the other guy off the screen. The match winner is whoever scores the most SuperSlams before time runs out. The job of beating down your opponent is made easier with such cartoon weapons as bee hives, fairy bazookas, Viking horned helmets, and the magic mirror mask.
About halfway through the tutorial, I realized the PC version has some serious issues. Using the keyboard to move around and perform basic attacks was fine, but trying to perform special attacks was a pain in the Donkey. This was the first time I’d ever played a console-style fight game on a PC, and how I longed for simple X and Y buttons to push in rapid succession. Multiplayer controls were even worse, with one player using the keyboard and the other using the number-pad.
The best part of the PC version is the single-player campaign, which features Shrek recounting bedtime fight stories to Donkey’s little half-mule, half-dragon brats. Some of these scenarios are quite entertaining; Donkey fights Prince Charming on an episode of KNIGHTS while Sheriff Gingerbread faces down Puss-In-Boots after the desperado cat orders milk and cookies in a Wild West Saloon.
The mega-challenge section offers 45 challenging mini-games, but I found this section too frustrating to play without an Xbox controller. Multiplayer is extremely limited because there is no way to challenge opponents online. If you want to battle a friend, you’ll be sitting side by side mashing on the same keyboard.
Shrek SuperSlam for the PC may not be as polished as a DreamWorks movie, but the characters look almost as lifelike as their big screen counterparts. The cut-scenes are entertaining and run very smoothly – lag may be an issue in the console version but I didn’t experience any slow-downs. While the special effects and combat moves are not overly original, I did appreciate that every character has a very unique-looking fighting style.
What I really loved were the 3-D destructible backgrounds, with fights breaking out at Prince Charming’s castle, Gepetto’s creepy toy laboratory or Humpty Dumpty’s Kung-fu dojo. I have to agree with my editor Mark Smith – the Gingerbread Man’s pimped out Candyland “crib” is flat-out hilarious. Every scene has a very “Shrek-like” quality to it, with familiar items and locales from modern life given a fairy tale twist.
My only complaint is the lack of a zoom function during fights. Maybe I’m used to having easy zoom functions in RTS and first-person shooters, but I found myself losing track of the action if the characters where on the far side of the screen.
I wished Mike Myers and crew had recorded the voice-overs instead of unknown stand-ins. The voice acting is still pretty good, but Shrek just isn’t Shrek without Myers or Eddie Murphy as his sidekick. At least the fight tunes sound great, especially the mix of Jamaican Ska Irish music that plays when Shrek is laying some beat-down on Prince Charming.
I don’t like giving a family friendly title this low a score, but I can see no reason to buy the PC version. The single player campaign is much too short and sharing a keyboard in multiplayer will quickly frustrate youngsters. Even adult Shrek fans will soon tire of the clunky keyboard controls.
Considering this game is really about multiplayer mayhem, I cannot understand why the PC version doesn’t offer Internet competition. The chance to take on online opponents would increase replay value a hundredfold.
I would recommend buying Shrek SuperSlam for the PC if you’re a big Shrek fan AND you see it a year from now in the $10 value bin. Otherwise, pick up the console version to put under the Christmas tree.
Shrek SuperSlam will leave PC gamers incredibly disappointed. Humorous fight scenes and colorful backgrounds cannot make up for the poor game controls and lack of Internet multiplayer. I had the chance to play the Xbox version with my young nephews Jack and Peter over Thanksgiving and the difference in playability between the PC and console versions is night and day. If you’re interested in giving this game to the little Prince Charmings this holiday season, I recommend reading Tyler Whitney’s and Mark Smith’s reviews of the superior PS2 and Xbox versions.
It’s ironic that a game staring Shrek – one of the most popular computer animated characters ever created – is a complete clunker on the home computer. Pretend this title is one of Shrek’s fart attacks and give it a wide berth.