Battle your way through a variety of locations from the Shrek universe, solve challenging puzzles and engage exciting new enemies as they morph between Shrek’s normal world and his alternate reality... and ultimately conquer that crafty Rumpelstiltskin. The game offers a fun-filled social and collaborative experience with its co-operative multiplayer mode, allowing up to four players to work together through the single player story...

Shrek Forever After is a 4-player co-op game that is way above the usual standard of movie tie-in games. Like 2007's Shrek the Third, the developers have taken everyone's favourite characters and put them into a game that is designed to capture the essence of the Shrek franchise. In places, when playing with three other players, this felt like a modern version of that old arcade classic Gauntlet.

The game starts with a clever little tutorial that is designed so that it plays like part of the main game (which will stop children getting bored) so you actually feel like you're learning the controls without realising you're playing a tutorial.

When you get to the game proper, you'll soon discover that each of the four playable characters has their own strengths. They all have two attacks the first whips enemies into shape, whilst the second stuns them. Each character also has their own special puzzle solving abilities. Shrek is capable of lifting heavy things; Donkey can kick things that are in the way; Fiona can light fuses to set fire to trails of oil; and Puss in Boots can scale walls and jump to reach new areas.

You can play with three other players, or if you're playing on your own you can change to another character whenever you want to.

The background to the story is fairly straightforward. Longing for the days when he was a "real ogre", Shrek signs a deal with Rumpelstiltskin that throws the whole of the land of Far Far Away into a twisted alternative dimension. Now Shrek and his friends are being hunted and only true love (and some bad guy bashing) can save the day. You'll soon be battling across two different realities, as the clever dimension-shifting puzzles make the most of each character's growing set of new powers. You can upgrade their abilities even more as you play, until you're powerful enough to take on Rumpelstiltskin and his most dangerous allies.

As you progress through the game you can collect coins which can be traded in in order to unlock upgrades... in truth I found this to play a lot like a LEGO game - in particular LEGO Harry Potter. Both games allow you the ability to change characters in order to solve puzzles (or play in co-op modes), and collected coins/LEGO studs can be traded in for unlockables.

Fans of Shrek will instantly warm to this clever and fun packed adventure... and in all honesty non-Shrek fans will also find this to be an entertaining offering.

9

Nick Smithson