Shrek-N-Roll - Xbox Live Arcade review

Nov 16, 2007

Let's face it: Everyone's favorite green ogre hasn't fared overly well in the video game space. One crappy action game after another - with some kart racing the the middle - has pretty much destroyed any credibility he and his four-legged cohorts may have had. Not surprisingly, Shrek-N-Roll does little to change the fortunes of the green one and friends. On the bright side, this actually is a pretty solid game. It just feels like it's a single bonus level from a real game, rather than a standalone product.

Two characters from the Shrek universe line up behind a winch on either side of a plank. On the plank is a melon. Behind the plank is a wall filled with coins, holes, and some of Shrek's ogre babies. The idea is that both characters cooperate to move up and down the wall, avoiding the holes and feeding the hungry babies.

And that's it. That's the entire game. The walls get a bit more convolute as you move through the various levels, but the basic mechanics never change. To add a bit of challenge, you can compete with another player for score, or you can play cooperatively with a friend.