The lovable green ogre, Shrek, whom Mike Myers first portrayed in movies approximately two decades ago, was a pop culture icon from day one. I still remember when the first movie came out, watching it, and then ending up with it on VHS after a Christmas party. Following that, I know that I had a collector’s edition box set of the first two movies, if not more, on DVD. That is, even though I was never as big of a fan as most people seem to have been. I thought that the movies were good (at least at first), and was kind of a fan, but didn’t become obsessed with them or watch them enough to justify the purchase.
I never expected Shrek to get as big as it did, but it’s understandable why it happened. They struck gold with the idea.
Back in those days, almost every major blockbuster movie (especially kids’ movies) seemed to get a tie-in video game, many of which were rushed. Fans bought them, and made them successful, both as games and as a practice, but they were usually far from great. In fact, most weren’t very good, due to being rushed and treated more like money grabs than anything. Still, I’ve played through many of them.
When the second movie released in the spring of 2004, Shrek 2 (the video game) did as well. It launched for every platform under the sun, including PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. Luxoflux developed those versions. Now, that game is back, and available on modern platforms, as Shrek 2 Remastered. It’s been brought back by Aspyr, who recently released a remaster of The Lord of the Rings: The War in the North.
I know that I shared that I’ve played many licensed tie-in games over the decades. That’s true, including to this day, even though they’re a lot less common. However, Shrek 2 was not one of them. There was a game based on Shrek: The Third, though, which I did play, along with a Puss n’ Boots game for Kinect, if I’m not mistaken. I believe that the former was my first time controlling the big, green, ogre with a Scottish accent.
Shrek 2 and Shrek 2 Remastered follow the movie, but present some things that were not part of the theatrical experience. It tells the story of Shrek preparing to meet Fiona’s rich family, travelling to do so, finding out that they don’t like his being an ogre and everything involved in that. As such, it features characters like Prince Charming, The Fairy Godmother, Cinderella, and more.
Over the course of an approximately five hour-long campaign, players will travel from the swamp to Far, Far, Away with a detour through a spooky forest. Then, they’ll travel on from there, with stops at the Fairy Godmother’s, a mine, a jail and more. A number of these stages present different objectives, like leading the Three Blind Mice through the forest, helping the Three (Not-So-Little) Pigs restore their farm and completing different tasks in the city, like protecting Cinderella while she shops or finding pieces of Humpty Dumpty’s broken, white, shell. There is some creativity and variety to be found, but there’s also a lot of annoyance with regards to hitting chickens into a pot or over a fence, and similar things.
Oddly enough, Shrek 2 Remastered (and the game it is based on) has a reliance on timed button presses. There’s a boss battle that requires players to press the face buttons on their controller (meaning A, B, X and Y here) in order as they fall from the sky. That’s how the combat is handled! On top of this, each hero has one hero time segment, where it’s up to them to use their abilities to save the day. Fiona’s is the first one, and she must interact with a bunch of black birds by pressing the right buttons as their icons fall from the sky. This all surprised me.
As one might imagine, this is a platformer, but it’s not your typical one. It’s more like an action/arena platformer in some ways, if that makes any sense. The player(s) (there is co-op) are dropped into an environment and must get through it, while battling enemies in hand-to-hand combat, or by using abilities like belly slams, throwing apples, tossing peppermint candy cane boomerangs, and throwing cookies to lure enemies to them. This results in a lot of mashing the X button.
As such, you shouldn’t expect a precision platformer. In fact, that’s where it struggles. This game wants more precision than its mechanics deliver, which led to me sliding off of platforms, missing jumps, falling and dying. It really hasn’t aged well, folks.
In more traditional 3D platformers, the player will control one or two characters, and will do so one at a time. In Shrek 2 Remastered, there are four characters available at all times, and players can use the triggers to swap between them. At least, that’s the case when you play solo, as I did. However, the available characters tend to change. Sure, Shrek, Fiona and Donkey are generally mainstays, but the first level presents Gingerbread Man (who can throw candy canes at targets and jump higher) as a fourth. Not long afterwards, Lil’ Red (Riding Hood) takes that spot, with her melee weapon being a basket and her throwing regular apples as projectiles. Others also join the swappable roster over time, including The Big Bad Wolf and a fairy.
As I’ve hinted at, each character has his or her own special ability. For example, Lil’ Red can toss poisonous apples that damage enemies, but often miss. Fiona, meanwhile, can slow down time, while Gingerbread Man tosses those cookie lures. Donkey can use his strong hind legs to do a powerful kick that breaks locked gates or downs giant trees (which the Three Blind Mice must use as bridges). These are sometimes limited, though, and require pick-ups, such as hourglasses.
All of that is why I refer to this game as an arena/brawler with platforming elements.
Of course, the player must jump to different platforms, in order to get from point A to point B, or to reach things like switches or magical beans (which act as each stage’s collectibles). It’s floaty, imprecise and can be frustrating, but it’s definitely a part of the experience, and not a small one. There’s also a good amount of switch pressing to open doors or raise characters up on platforms, but the AI isn’t very good, meaning you’ll need to manually move two characters in order to step on two necessary switches, at times. Sometimes, the AI characters will move when you don’t want them to, making it feel like herding chickens.
The platforming is maybe most prevalent in bonus stages, including one where the player must jump from one disappearing platform to another in order to get to the exit, picking things up along the way. These unlock as one progresses through the relatively short story campaign, but not all will be available after beating the main game. I think certain ones are tied to collecting all beans and unlocking every snapshot, the latter of which happens when you complete every goal in each stage, including finding the beans. I unlocked and found most of each, but not all, and didn’t want to replay most of the game in order to get 100%.
As mentioned above, I didn’t come into this Remaster with nostalgia for its original form. Although I played a lot of similar games, Shrek 2 wasn’t one. That said, I was always someone who enjoyed these tie-ins for what they were, despite a lot of them being rough, rushed and not so great. If I had played this one back then, I probably would have enjoyed the Remaster more than I did. That’s generally a part of how things work when it comes to these. At least, if I’d enjoyed the original while playing it. As such, I think that those who grew up liking this game, and playing it with friends or family, will get more out of its return. This will be especially true for Shrek super-fans.
I was looking forward to checking out Shrek 2 Remastered, but did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I’d read that it’s a ‘cult classic,’ and that it used to be really well liked. I’m also nostalgic for better days, such as 2004. However, my experience with this game was rocky. It does feel very dated, doesn’t control super well, has some really cumbersome and frustrating combat, and the problematic platforming leads to unnecessary deaths. The biggest issue, perhaps, is how punishing the checkpoints can be. Dying can send you back to a previous section you’ve already completed. On top of that, the camera isn’t very good, like the AI. Sure, they’ll help you in combat, but they’ll often lag behind or get stuck behind the group. If one character isn’t moving, the rest need to regroup with them or they can’t progress forward. This was more of an issue when I’d have to manually move all four characters through timed saw traps, or when I’d lure bees away (for a short time), and move past them, just to have one character not follow.
I feel like these problems come to a head during the abhorrent final battle, which has multiple stages. While contained within a circle, the group of heroes must defeat enemies who enclose them in a small area, punch bombs back at trolls (with physics that rarely work as intended), and then battle two different bosses. Dying at any point sends you back to the start.
Playing solo made this frustrating, because the AI is so bad. Since you’re contained in a circular arena, there isn’t much room. The Fairy Godmother boss emits multiple waves of lightning or energy bolts that take up large parts of the arena, and need to be avoided. However, the computer-controlled characters have a hard time moving out of the way, and usually end up dying quickly, leaving one character alive. That almost makes it easier to manage though. Furthermore, when I beat it, Prince Charming got lost off-screen for a while. It’s simply an abhorrent final battle.
The timed button presses mentioned above are also oddly fast and involved, for what is essentially a kids’ or family game. If you care about achievements or trophies, like I know some other gamers do, this may frustrate you since the game wants perfection. It even wants people to be perfect through four straight hero times, while always fighting these mechanics.
Shrek 2 Remastered’s developers and publisher promised rebuilt visuals with better textures, an improved UI and technically updated cutscenes. They also added a photo mode (for some reason), as well as four player co-op over couch play, online or both, mixed. We were offered more than one code but I only asked for one, because I didn’t have anyone to play with. Know that it is an option, though, and one that may make the game more fun.
During gameplay, the camera is generally far away, and the environments can look a bit muddy. You aren’t seeing a lot of detail in the characters. However, when there are close-ups, they’re obviously a product of their time, with shiny and waxy 3D faces and models. However, Lil’ Red’s face was seemingly redesigned, and she looks frightening up-close.
While things were surely improved, it does still (understandably) look dated, and kind of muddy. There were some textures that really impressed me, like the tiled floor I saw while protecting Cinderella as she shopped, but I wouldn’t say this game looks that good.
The most jarring thing about Shrek 2 Remastered is its cutscenes. They might have been updated, but they do not take up the full screen or look very good. I wasn’t prepared for them to play in a contained window in the middle of the screen. It was a very dated looking and feeling experience, and a jarring one that I wish they had addressed.
A lot of the story, though, is told through text and narration. There’s a storybook that shows before each stage, and it presents the proceedings and sets each level up as if it’s a kids’ book or a book of fairytales.
The game sounds alright, and does feature voice acting. I don’t think the characters are voiced by actors Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz or Antonio Banderas, and my research suggests that’s true. However, the sound-alikes do a pretty good job and sound like them.
At the end of the day, Shrek 2 Remastered is a surprise release that almost came out of nowhere. Nobody thought it would return until it was spotted on a Microsoft listing. Then, it was officially unveiled at an Xbox showcase days later. I can say that I never expected it to return, or to play it; not that I ever thought about it, or even remembered it.
This may have been a relatively enjoyable game in 2004 — at least, for fans of the movie and those who were obsessed with Shrek. However, it has aged poorly, and honestly isn’t very good, especially with today’s standards. While I never hold remasters to the same level or requirements as newer games, I feel like more could have been done to update this game and lessen its clunkiness and the frustration that results from that. I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed playing through Shrek 2 Remastered, despite hoping it would be a fun romp through the iconic film, as it’s very dated, frustrating, unforgiving and flawed. I respect the nostalgia some have for it, though, and truly wanted to like it more.
This review is based on the XBOX Series X version of the game, which we were provided with.