Shrek: Hassle at the Castle

"When they say hassle, they are not kidding. Buy the movie instead."

This game is terrible in every area except for the graphics. I really liked the graphics in this game, because of the caracature-type sprites used, the color, and absoulute clearness.

Do not let the graphics fool you, however. I will try not to flame the game too much.

CONTROL 1/10
Oh, what a pain in the A-double-scribble controls were. First of all, they were unresponsive. I felt as if I was not in control at all. Your attack button is the same thing as your run button, and it is also part of a 2 button combo. Jumping is EXTREMLY clumsy, and moving in the air is hard. If you Stop running, you will skid as if on ice. If you do a run-jump and land, you will skid, causing falls left-and right. The controls are terrible.

GAMEPLAY
Gameplay is not much better. It will give you a Side-scrolling 2D platform level with an objective to accomplish. Objectives are very cliche, it is either beat it within a time limit, catch this character, find this character, protect this character, beat this boss, or get to the end of a level. After you go through all of the sections in an area, each section having a different objective, then you move to a different story area. You start off playing as shrek, but you can unlock others as you play. Who you play as makes very little difference. You have the standard walk/run/jump/attack combo, with a special meter. Special meters slowly recharge, and they allow a character to do a ''defeat all enemies on screen attack''. Health is done by half-hearts *cough*zelda-ripoff*cough*, and there are a few other collectables.

SOUND/MUSIC
NOOOO, MY POOR EARS! is what you will be crying if you do not have the sense to use mute (and earplugs, just to be safe). The music is loud and clear, but annoying, and repetitive. They use a lot of clashing sounds, and the music does not even fit. The game uses around 15 sound effects, which would probabally sound terrible if you could hear them. It does not matter, because you are playing with mute, remember? Seriously, the sound IS bad. The 20 sound effects are not great, and are not often heard.

STORY
The game follows the movie exactly. If you are not familliar with the movie, here it is: You are an ogre/hermit who suddenly has a whole bunch of fairy tale creatures appear on his doorstep. you take a donkey companion and go talk to lord farquad, the ruler who sent the creatures to you. You get your swamp back if you go rescue a princess for him.

BUY or NOT?
If you never saw or did not like the movie, stay away from this game. If you liked the movie, stay away from this game. The moral? Stay away from this game. Got it? Good.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/03, Updated 04/06/03