The latest CGI animated feature to be released by
Dreamworks, Shark Tale, is hitting movie screens this fall, as is Activision’s
cross-platform game based on the film. Featuring the voices of Will Smith, Jack
Black, Robert De Niro and Angelina Jolie, Shark Tale revolves around Oscar, a
self-professed shark slayer who basically stages his battles against sharks in
order to impress crowds of other fish. The game will tell the story of the
movie through a variety of different gameplay modes, ranging from stealth stages
to rhythm games to all-out boss battles. We at GameZone sat down for a while
with the latest build of the game, and found that it provided a wide range of
gameplay that should appeal to the younger crowd once both the film and the game
are released.
Shark Tale puts you in the shoes, uh, fins, of Oscar,
the hero of the film. The game starts with a high-speed chase through the
ocean, with a shark hot on your heels. In this section, you have to follow the
arrows and move to the edges of the screen in order to keep from getting
chomped. This was easy enough, but as the level progressed, the shark bit a
little faster, causing the player to up the ante a bit in terms of focus.
The next stage was a rhythm game where you have to press
a direction on the D-Pad when the arrows lined up on the screen. This felt like
DDR (although it felt a little strange being forced to use a controller and not
being able to stomp and sweat all over a Dance Mat), and like the chase mode,
grew increasingly complex as the stage wore on. The song, MC Hammer’s “You
Can’t Touch This”, brought a nostalgic tear to my old, wrinkly eye. Following
this was a taxi chase level, which has you follow someone through the
well-rendered fish city.
The next level began to feel more like the meat and
potatoes of the game, where you have to guide Oscar through a dark area while
hiding from a guard fish with a light. This mode was a cross between 2D and 3D
gameplay, as you are limited to a 2D plane of movement, but the graphics are
presented in 3D and you can move left, right, up and down. There was also
another level in the preview build that contained this same type of gameplay,
requiring you to now find a bunch of objects throughout the stage while hiding
behind bushes in order to avoid a cagey photographer.
The final gameplay type showcased in the preview build
had Oscar squaring off against a hammerhead shark. This played a bit like the
shark chase, although now you can actually get some punches in. By timing your
hits and dodges just right, you could build up your combo meter and get some
serious hits.
Even in incomplete stages, the graphics are great and
easily rival the characters in the film. The character models are animated with
all of the skill of those in the movie, and the backgrounds are very well done.
All of the action trucks along at a very smooth framerate as well.
With several different forms of gameplay, Shark Tale
should contain something for everyone when it’s released along side the film,
but the game’s subject matter will definitely appeal to the younger crowd or
fans of the movie.
