PS2: Shrek 2, No Manual
As Shrek, his love interest and donkey sidekick are welcomed to the big screen for a second animated adventure, publisher Activision has revived the video game equivalent to bring us the aptly named Shrek 2 for PlayStation 2. It's developed by Luxoflux, and although it's not your average, generic 3D platform adventure, it's very entertaining and mentally stimulating. As with most virtual movie tie-ins, Shrek 2 sees players embarking on an adventure faithful to the film and visiting a variety of familiar big screen locations. That's almost a given, but to expand, Shrek 2 also affords several brand new areas and characters. The game world and its inhabitants are convincing, and generally the game is vibrant and pleasing to the eye. Additionally, players will be subjected to humorous dialogue and an array of genuinely amusing gags, helping the immersion into what is a surprisingly convincing Shrek world. And refreshingly, gameplay isn't at all what you'd expect it to be. Instead of a run-of-the-mill single-player adventure, Luxoflux has brought us a game with puzzles and strategic elements that see players embark on squad-based missions with four familiar characters. The player can assume control of one character at any one time in order to take advantage of their special abilities. For example, Shrek is good when it comes to shifting heavy objects, whereas Fiona possesses a Matrix-style bullet-time combat mechanic to dispose of nearby enemies. It's through these abilities that you must fight your way from A to B, solving problems along the way. But what makes Shrek 2 stand out above all of its predecessors is its multi-player approach. In a similar way to Gauntlet, other players can, at any time, plug in their pads to assume control of one of the unmanned characters. With four of you playing co-operatively, Shrek 2 is much easier and great fun. All in all, Luxoflux has done its job and done it monstrously well.
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