Shrek SuperSlam – PC – Review

“Give me
a shot of your best milk, and a cookie chaser …”

“You
monster … as long as I wear this badge, no cookies get crumbled in this town!”

And so it
begins, Puss ‘n Boots versus the Gingerbread Man in a rock ‘em, sock ‘em battle
inside a western-style saloon with destructible environmental elements.

Hey, look! A
giant ham hock. Now wouldn’t that be perfect for smacking your opponent
alongside the head. The battle is part of the beginning of the story mode, if it
could be called such, and the beginning of the Activision PC family title Shrek
SuperSlam.

This is not
an overly involved game. It has a few drawbacks and for the most part is exactly
like its console counterparts. The game is geared for families, young players
and old, and is not particularly deep. There is the story mode, with sequential
chapters that must be unlocked by winning the levels above them (eight chapters
are available in total), and there is the mega challenge mode, melee, training
and trophy room. The mega challenges will enable you to unlock other game
features, melee is timed matches (and realistically, the majority of the game’s
fights are timed, the only real difference being what needs to be accomplished
within that time span), and training is where you learn to master the control
scheme.

The idea is
a simple one, outperform your opponent – and this is accomplished in a variety
of ways depending on the parameters selected for the combat – before the timer
runs out. Build up the slam meter and then pull off devastating attacks replete
with dazzling special effects. You can tell when you have enough juice to
execute your slam in a couple of ways. There is the word ‘slam’ on the bottom of
the screen that acts as a meter, and fills up. When it does so, your toon will
be outlined in a fiery red glow. Grab Puss, and power drive him through the
environment, busting up furniture, destroying the stairs and tossing him through
a door.

The action
is somewhat arcade-like in tempo, and as with any good arcade title, there are a
variety of power-ups that add to the general mayhem. They take on a variety of
styles, from the fart wand (you get Shrek’s Green Storm attack), to pot ‘o gold
grenades, a gravity wand, pirate cannon, rocket sauce to speed movement, and
other special items like the Viking Horned Helmet, which can turn every hit into
a slam. The assorted powerups – 12 weapons, five potions and six magical items –
add an element that keeps the general tone light and amusing.


While this image was
taken from our PS2 screenshots page,
this is indicative of the PC graphics

The game’s
sound spans from Beethoven’s Fifth to a Saturday morning cartoon style that can
be upbeat and light in tempo.

Where the
game begins to go awry is in the filmed cutscenes that act as filler. They were
filmed at low resolution and popping the game’s action resolution does not
affect them. As a result, they look rather blurry and pixilated. The cutscenes
that carry the storyline are much better and while some of the humor feels a
little forced, doubtless it will appeal to younger game players.

Overall the
graphics are very good for the style of game. The camera is fixed, but surveys
the action well. There are 20 characters in the game (most will need to be
unlocked) and 16 destructible environments to cavort through. Both the
characters and the environments are very well rendered – colorful and bright,
and the animation is quite fun.

When it
comes to the actual action of the game, the controls will take some time to
become accustomed to. You can use the keyboard, or a gamepad, and more than one
player can participate in the multiplayer mode. But these are not entirely
intuitive but you can remap the controls to suit your style of play.

Other
elements continue, though, to not get certain messages. Regardless of the number
of times the choice was made to disable the autosave feature, it continually
popped up after every fight to ask if autosave should be enabled. Hmm, what part
of ‘No,’ did it not understand?

But even
with these minor drawbacks, the title has a niche that it most certainly will
appeal to. Get a group of teens together and let them battle it out and the
laughter will roll. Play it solo and while there is some challenge, it feels a
little empty. This is definitely a game best shared, and while not particularly
deep, it does have its share of grins built in.


Review Scoring Details

for Shrek SuperSlam

Gameplay:
7.0
The game is
somewhat repetitious, and the default keyboard controls are confusing
(thankfully the controls can be remapped). There are load times, but they are
not too bad.

Graphics:
7.5
Some of the
cutscenes are blurry on bigger monitors, but once you get the resolution set,
this game sparkles with lush, vibrant characters and environments, and the
animation is fun.

Sound:
7.0
A nice range of
sounds and music, and the voice-over work sounds is almost spot on with the
movies. The audio portion does an excellent job of supporting the visuals.


Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Nothing overly
difficult here.

Concept:
6.5
Some things might
have been handled differently, but for the most part this game has a nice
selection of characters, solid environments, and nice arcade touches.


Multiplayer: 7.7
The single-player
game is Ok, but the multiplayer player is much more enjoyable.

Overall:
7.0
There may be some
fumbling with the controls until you get comfortable and the keyboard is
definitely much harder to use than a gamepad. The control elements
notwithstanding though, this is a game that is better in multiplayer (the AI is
good, but the fun is in competition with another player) than in a single-player
setting. The humor is much more appealing to younger players, but the graphics,
sound and action combine for an entertaining, if not irreverent, trip into
Shrek’s world. While good, this game translates better, control-wise, on the
home console platforms.