''Shrek 2'' (also known as ''Shrek 2: The Game'' and ported for the PC as ''Shrek 2: Team Action'') is a 2004

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

published by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

, based on the DreamWorks Animation film of the same name. The game was developed by

Luxoflux Luxoflux Corp. was an American video game developer founded by Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens in January 1997, and based in Santa Monica, California. History Luxoflux had a relatively small team size for its first few titles. The two founde ...

for the PlayStation 2,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

, and

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...

platforms, while a version for PC was developed by

KnowWonder Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game company based in Irvine, California. The company was formed in March 2005 through the merger of video game developers Backbone Entertainment and The Collective (company), The Collectiv ...

. The game received mixed to positive reception by critics.

Plot

''Shrek 2''s storyline follows a similar plot to that of the film.

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jen ...

and

Fiona Fiona is a feminine given name. The name is associated with the Gaelic traditions of Ireland and Scotland (through the poetry of James Macpherson), but has also become popular in England.. It can be considered either a Latinised form of the Gael ...

are on a journey to the Kingdom of Far Far Away to visit Fiona's parents. Shrek's in-laws are not happy that a crude ogre is married to their daughter Fiona and the battle for acceptance ensues. The game covers things not shown in the film. Plot elements are delivered primarily through a storybook interface (text and illustrations) shown before each level.

Gameplay

GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions: In this version of the game, the player is able to play as Shrek or his friends and travel through 11 levels. In each level, the player controls a team of four characters, and can switch between them at any point. Each character has a unique ability that aids them in fighting enemies or moving through the environment (for example, Donkey can destroy obstacles and Fiona can slow down time). The game is broken into different chapters, each with its own set of goals. One chapter requires the player to make sure three blind mice safely make their way to the witch's house. Other chapters have the player acting as a deputy in Far, Far Away Land—collecting bits of Humpty Dumpty, stealing treasure from a troll, helping the police clear out rioting hooligans from the streets, escorting Cinderella while she window-shops for a glass slipper, ridding the town of the Pied Piper's rat infestation, collecting chickens for a stew, or battling

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for ...

via timed button presses. Players play

mini-game A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

s when they are not traveling on hazardous paths from point A to point B. Challenges that require the player's entire party include having to punch chickens into cook pots or a pen, escorting characters through a stage (Billy Goat Gruff and the three blind mice), and collecting fairies, jewels, etc. The second type of mini-game, dubbed "Hero Time", gives one character a challenge to complete, usually emphasizing that character's particular skills displayed in the movie. Donkey at one point has to chase a fleeing onion wagon while riding on the back of Dragon. Fiona holds a private concert for a flock of black birds she is collecting for a pie (via exploding them by rhythm based button presses). Shrek has to throw a bunch of thugs into a paddy wagon. Game Boy Advance version: This version is a side-scroller with graphics resembling the ''

Donkey Kong Country ''Donkey Kong Country'' is a 1994 platform game developed by Rare (company), Rare and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is a Reboot (fiction), reboot of Nintendo's ''Donkey Kong'' franchise and foll ...

'' series, developed by

Vicarious Visions Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Albany, New York. The studio was acquired by Activision in January 2005. After releasing its last game as part of that company, '' Tony Hawk's Pro Sk ...

. The game is separated into five chapters with a bonus level if the player collects all of the coins in each level. The story of the game is a compressed version of the movie it is based on. The playable characters are Shrek, Donkey, Puss in Boots, Human Shrek and Gingerbread Man, each with their own unique set of skills.

Development

''Shrek 2'' was created by

and

and published by

in 2004. The game is based on the film ''

Shrek 2 ''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book ''Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek'' (2001) and the se ...

'' by DreamWorks.

TDK Mediactive TDK Mediactive was the brand name used by Japanese company TDK as a media subsidiary in Europe, and as a video game publishing subsidiary in North America. TDK Mediactive Europe TDK Mediactive Europe was a division of TDK Recording Media Europ ...

announced the game at E3 in May 2003. Later that same year, TDK was acquired by

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...

, resulting in losing the license to make ''Shrek'' games. Shortly after Activision announced in December that they would be working with DreamWorks to develop and publish video games based on the upcoming ''Shrek 2'' movie, before they released the first trailer for the game in Spring of 2004. Two versions of the game were released for the PC; one developed by

for younger audiences using

Unreal Engine 2 Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal (1998 video game), Unreal''. Initially developed for Personal computer, PC first-person shooters, i ...

, and the other a port of the original console release under the title ''Shrek 2: Team Action'' which was developed by

Beenox Beenox Inc. is a Canadian video game developer established in 2000 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The studio became a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision on May 25, 2005. History Between 2003 and 2006, the developer was essentially a porting ...

. The score for the game was composed by

Kevin Manthei Kevin Manthei (born 1970 in Maplewood, Minnesota) is an American composer for film, television, and video games. Biography Manthei grew up in Minnesota. He played the piano in his youth and played the trumpet in high school. He graduated from ...

and

Kevin Riepl Kevin Riepl is an American composer for video games, films and television shows. He is best known for his work on the '' Unreal'' series of games, '' Gears of War'' and '' Aliens: Colonial Marines''. Biography Riepl was born in Cliffwood Beac ...

. The soundtrack album consists of 58 tracks with over 65 minutes of score. It was released on May 6, 2004, by KMM Productions.

Reception

''Shrek 2'' received "mixed to positive" reviews from critics, except for the PC port, which received "generally unfavorable" reviews.

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

and

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave it a score of 72.56% and 72 out of 100 for the Game Boy Advance version; 72.27% and 70 out of 100 for the GameCube version; 71.92% and 71 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version; 71.29% and 72 out of 100 for the Xbox version; 62.90% and 55 out of 100 for the PC version; and 49% for the Mobile version. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...

'' reviewer Mary Jane Irwin called the GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 versions of ''Shrek 2'' "an amusing jaunt into the world of the movie," and Craig Harris, another reviewer of ''IGN'', called the GBA version "an absolute treat, especially for those who dig the artstyle of the film," though he stated it to be "nothing new". The game, along with fellow movie sequel based game published by

, ''Spider-Man 2'', shipped more than five million units combined and were the best-selling titles of May and June, respectively. In the United States, ''Shrek 2''s

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

version sold 700,000 copies and earned $18 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 35th highest-selling game launched for the

, Nintendo DS or

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

in that country. By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of ''Shrek 2'' had sold 850,000 copies and earned $26 million in the United States. '' Next Generation'' ranked it as the 70th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2,

between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined console sales of the ''Shrek'' series reached 2.5 million units in the United States by July 2006.

References

External links

* * * {{Shrek 2004 video games 3D beat 'em ups Cooperative video games Game Boy Advance games Mobile games GameCube games PlayStation 2 games Shrek video games 3D platform games Xbox games Unreal Engine games Windows games Video games about witchcraft Multiplayer and single-player video games Beenox games Luxoflux games Aspyr games Video games based on works by Andrew Adamson Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Kevin Manthei Video games set in castles Vicarious Visions games Amaze Entertainment games