Shrek Superslam might look like it could provide a good time. The game has twenty playable characters, interactive 3D environments, and wireless multiplayer. Heck, it even has a decent license; the Shrek movies are funny, and the games usually keep the same sense of humor. It seems that the game had a lot of work put into it -- each character has a lot of moves, and the 3D environments are fairly interactive. However, Shrek Superslam is a lot like the movie the Sixth Sense: compelling until you figure out the answer, at which point you realize you can never sit through it again.
Of course, the answer in Shrek Superslam isn’t an ogre seeing dead people; it’s that repeatedly jamming on X makes dead people. For everything Shrek Superslam offers up, it can all be completed more-or-less by jamming on the X button.
"Shrek Superslam might look like it could provide a good time, but don’t be fooled."
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The single-player story mode can be completed in, no lie, ten minutes. I suppose it might help you when you want to unlock all twenty characters, but that still only makes for an hour or two of gameplay. And I feel it’s worth mentioning that calling it story mode feels like a stretch, since there’s basically no story to speak of.
Of course, story mode takes a back seat to the challenge mode, much like it did in Super Smash Bros. Melee-- the game Shrek Superslam desperately wants to be. Obviously though, it’s not going to be as much fun, because the game is made so pathetically basic through abuse of the X button.
It’s a shame, because challenge mode offers up a sizeable amount of content, and even switches things up a little bit by using the touch-screen in some non-fighting game types of games. The developer’s heart was in the right place, but again, they didn’t go the extra mile to make sure things would stay compelling. Do we really need a matching game? I understand this game is targeted at younger players, but I think even they’d be insulted by that.
"Childrens game? The difficulty in Shrek Superslam is set to ’Annihilate.’ "
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As I said, the fighting system isn’t half bad and provides a good number of attacks, but keep in mind you‘ll likely be hitting X more than a horny teenager at a rave who‘s ready to make some bad decisions. Basically, the game plays like a mix between Power Stone and Super Smash Bros. Melee. You run around a full 3D environment, which is usually small and box shaped, and it may have multiple floors. Some of the environments have hazards that can hurt you, or warp you across the level.
Littered throughout the stages are weapons and power-ups. Power-ups take effect right as you touch them, and can make you bigger, smaller, faster, or stronger. Weapons are picked up and stored on the second screen, where you can hold up to three weapons at once. Touching one of the weapons displayed will put it in the hands of your character. Weapons last a short amount of time though, so using them quickly and maliciously is the best strategy.
Now, you might be saying something like “Well shucks, I’ll just play the game and not use the X button at all.” Well let me stop you right there by saying the A.I. will demolish you if you don’t abuse the X button. The odds of beating the computer through pure skill are slim, because it seems the difficulty in Shrek Superslam is set to “Annihilate.” It gets even worse when it’s a two-on-one situation, or when you’re in a three or four character fight. The A.I. attacks viciously-- it’s like you have a nuke in your back pocket while walking through the X-ray machine at an Airport Security checkpoint.
I want to give this game credit for including a four-player wireless battle mode, but I can’t because chances are you’ll never find someone to play it with -- unlike a lot of other multiplayer DS games, Shrek Superslam requires each player to have their own cartridge. Even if it’s because of technical limitations, not including some kind of single-cartridge multiplayer aspect is not acceptable. If the multiplayer is fun, even if it’s just one stage with no weapons, people might buy the game for it. However, if they’re forced to make a conclusion that the multiplayer mode plays like the single-player offering, I don‘t think they‘ll take a chance on it.
"Even the most hardcore Shrek fan would be hard-pressed to find something outstanding, or even simply worthwhile in Shrek Superslam."
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The audio-visual aspect of Shrek Superslam won’t help this game to fly off the shelves either. Graphically, it’s a muddled mess of polygons that looks somewhere between a PlayStation game and a Nintendo 64 game. The animation is wonky, and there isn’t much detail at all-- it’s clearly an over-ambitious project, and one that didn‘t meet with much success. The audio is equally as poor. Pinocchio sounds a lot like Mickey Mouse, and the rest of the characters don’t fare much better.
Even the most hardcore Shrek fan would be hard-pressed to find something outstanding, or even simply worthwhile in Shrek Superslam. Fans of the series would be better off looking to the console version while passing right by this stinky green ogre fart.
