Reviewed: October 17, 2004
Reviewed by: Mike Gonzales
Publisher
Activision
Developer
Edge of Reality
Released: September 27, 2004
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
8
9
9
8
8.2
Supported Features
Year after year, DreamWorks premiers a new animated movie for our children to enjoy. These films are always as rich and wholesome as the talent chosen to act in them and of course, this year’s Shark Tale is no different. What’s also standard these days is the simultaneous release of a movie-based platformer designed to capture the fun of the latest flick and bring it home to our loveable tikes. This time around, DreamWorks has hired the talent of young-gun Edge of Reality to ship this media and, as far as we’re concerned, it was a good decision.
Edge of Reality, the Dallas-based developer, really has delivered a beautiful action adventure game here. Every screen looks exactly like its theatrical counter-part and every voice is straight from the movie, which is pretty impressive considering the cast consists of stars like Will Smith and even the tomb raider herself, Angelina Jolie.
The game also has the largest list of unlockables I’ve seen in a children’s game, meaning all of the pearls picked up throughout the game can be used to purchase all kinds of goodies ranging from movie concept art to in-game cinematics. The only category Shark Tale really loses points in is gameplay. While some of the concepts like the shark chases work really well, others can seem a little uninspired at times.
Fortunately, since this game is intended for a young audience, the controls and gameplay really aren’t nearly as importance as the flash emitted on the screen and as long as 8-year old Timmy can understand how to move our hero through the same colorful environments he saw on the big screen, Edge of Reality can write this game off as a success.
Shark Tale collectively has four types of gameplay, fight, adventure, race, and dance. The first style you’ll play is the fight mode, which is experienced through an exhilarating chase. In this opening sequence, Oscar is being chased by a huge great white on a predefined path. The camera used for this sequence has Oscar in the middle facing the screen as we watch the ferocious shark as he pursues closely behind. By using the left analog stick, the player will have to match the direction shown on-screen a split second before the shark attacks just like something out of the old school hit Dragon’s Lair.
Later, as the game progresses, Oscar will be given the opportunity to fight these predators with the controller’s right thumb buttons. However, the graphics are what really take center stage while the simple controls used to fight and dodge offer just enough to feel interactive. And while some may consider it to be too simple for today’s games I think it’s perfect for a young kid to appreciate. The stunning graphics provide a great sense of excitement while a terrified Oscar keeps us entertained with his witty lines.
The next gameplay mode is your standard 3D side scrolling action. Using the left analog stick to maneuver Oscar through under water towns isn’t as exhilarating as the shark chase, but lets the gamer relax and collect his pearls, bonus points, or whatever the mission goals demands from our hero. At first this part of the game seemed fun, but once every fish or sea creature from that stage had been seen, the levels began to seem boring and sometimes frustrating if you happened to have missed something at the beginning of the stage. Then it’s all the way back to through charted territory, which is never all that fun in any game.
Unfortunately, the last two modes suffer from the same flaw as the second. The racing and dance mode, while displayed to the gamer completely different are actually pretty similar. Both can be fun at first, but after your first half hour is up, the mode can feel a little boring especially if you lose the mission by 1% and have to repeat it over. They also both feel surprisingly less responsive then the other two modes. There are plenty of times you’ll have to compensate for a delayed response, which is something that the Playstation 2 shouldn’t have a problem with, especially after being a few years old.
After saying all that, I feel that I should justify my gameplay score, which might seem a little higher than I imply, but here’s why. The target audience of this game is probably around ten years of age and those kids aren’t going to get the same out of a game that we older kids get. Despite the simplistic controls and similar modes, this game will offer a fun beginning for a young gamer. Shark Tale feels like the kind of a game that’ll be a great way to get kids into interactive media without scaring them off with a ten-button controller. For that, I have to give Edge of Reality props for looking out for our future gamers.
Visually, I’m proud to say, Shark Tale is cream of the crop. Much like other DreamWorks games, this game uses its license brilliantly as practically ever character seen in film is here and looking identical to the original. Every environment in the game is overflowing with detail from the amusing billboards to the brick buildings that house our underwater friends. Even the skyline behind all of the colorful action will have plenty to gawk at as schools of fish swimming to the surface are stunning and crystal clear. In fact, at times there can be too much to look at, distracting the player from his or her goals causing them to miss the appropriate move.
The menus and load screens also keep the atmosphere throughout the game. Load screens are actually shown like a newspaper, zooming in on an article at the beginning of a new mission and then morphing the picture from a still black and white to a cut scene. In my opinion, it’s all this extra flare that Edge of Reality has thrown in that makes this game better than the sum of its parts.
Much like the game’s graphics, the sound throughout Shark Tale is incredible. And for those of you who’ve played a movie licensed game before, you know that having good actors doesn’t guarantee good voice acting (Kirsten Dunst). Maybe that’s why Edge of Reality chose a different cast for the game. Despite this surprising move, all of the characters give solid performances making this game feel like a true extension of the movie.
Character’s like Lino, the mafia shark and Crazy Joe, the informative hermit crab are no different from their movie appearances, almost as if DreamWorks handed over all of their production sounds to the game’s developers. Put that together with the great hip hop jams during the menus and dance sequences, like “Can’t Touch This” and Will Smith’s own “Summertime,” and you’ve got some of the best game sounds in the biz.
Being a standard action adventure game for children, this title doesn’t offer anything more than a single player mode. So the only real replay value will stem from a desire to unlock all the unlockables in the game’s extras section, which might not be a task a ten year old is up for. Then again, since most kid-games don’t even have unlockable content, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky here.
Overall, Shark Tale is a beautiful and fun action game for a young audience. The game’s four different gameplay modes should keep children from losing interest, while the simple controls will provide a great beginning for future gamers. And despite some slow button response in some game modes, the sound and graphics of this game will make the kids feel like they’ve left their boring living rooms and jumped straight into DreamWorks’ latest fantasy.
My advice is to rent this for your children. If you can’t pry the controller out of their hands after a week, then you’ll want to give the jolly red fat-man a heads-up this Christmas season.