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Shrek the Third (video game)
Encyclopedia
Shrek The Third is an action video game based on the 2007 DreamWorks Animation
animated film of the same name
, developed by 7 Studios
, Gameloft
, Amaze Entertainment
and Vicarious Visions
. The game was published by Activision
on May 14, 2007 for the Xbox 360
, PlayStation 2
, Wii
, PC
, Nintendo DS
, and Game Boy Advance
. A PSP
version was released in June.
The storyline of Shrek the Third is based on the film: Shrek has to find Arthur to have him serve as king of Far Far Away while Prince Charming attempts to storm the city and take the throne by force. Players can play as main characters from the film, including Shrek
, Donkey
, Puss in Boots
, Princess Fiona
, Fiona's cousin Arthur and Sleeping Beauty
. The game consists of 20 levels, some of which branch off from the main story of the movie, and features both single- and multi-player play. Reviews have been mixed, which Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and GBA version holds a score of under 60% on the critic aggregate reviews site GameRankings, while the PSP, DS and PC received a score of and over 60%.
There are 6 characters you can play as, all 5 of the movies' main characters, Shrek
, Donkey
, Puss in Boots
, Artie, Princess Fiona
, and one of the supporting characters, Sleeping Beauty. Puss in Boots is the only character that can double jump
.Gingy,King Harold and Pinocchio are voiced by their movie actors.
The Penguins of Madagascar make a special appearance in the pirate ship level in one of the corner crates. You find Kowalski and Skipper says, "We're going to the wide open spaces of Antarctica, to the wild.", just like in the first "Madagascar". There are 20 levels in Shrek the Third. The levels are highly linear, but with side paths containing goodies for the completion of the various mission-style quests. Each level has 3 or 5 quests in them. After completing a level, the player is awarded bonus Far Far Pounds, the game's currency used for purchasing items in the gift shop. The difficulty setting multiplies the bonuses obtained.
There are numerous boxes, barrels, and other smashables scattered around the levels. Most contain fairy dust for use in special attacks but a few contain coins and food. In addition, there are coins of gold and red colors (called Far Far Pounds), often just lying around, but sometimes in smashables or treasure chests. Under certain circumstances, enemies can also give coins. Gold coins are worth 3 pounds and red coins are worth 10 pounds. Shrek the Third has fighting with fists and swords against various enemies such as pirates, guards, jocks, and witches. After an enemy has sustained several hits, a finishing move can be used on him/her. Felled enemies will drop fairy dust that will fill up the three-part special attack meter. Bad guys are pirates, demons, evil knights, wicked witches, tennis players, as well as Prince Charming himself .
There are 6 minigames in Shrek the Third. Playing them does not affect the main game (that is, no bonus Far Far Pounds are awarded). By obtaining a high enough score after each game (the amount varies depending on the game), three different medals are awarded: bronze, silver and gold (in order from lowest to highest).
. Activision said they were "very excited to further expand its licensing agreement with DreamWorks on the third installment in the blockbuster animated series.". Ron Doornink, CEO of Activision Publishing, said "Shrek has proven to be one of the most popular children's video game properties worldwide and we expect to continue building on the success of the franchise with the release of our upcoming game Shrek SuperSlam and future games.".
At Microsoft's sixth annual European gamed show in 2006, running Wednesday and Thursday, September 27-28 in Barcelona, Spain
, the Washington-based console manufacturer revealed substantial news for both Xbox 360
and PC
. The news conference, held at the Theater National Catalunya in Barcelona, held approximately 400-500 people, and packed about 95% capacity. A video montage then showed off previous shown footage from this game during the conference.
In November 1, 2006, Activision announced the development studios who worked on the game. Shaba Games was set to handle the console versions, Vicarious Visions was taking on the DS
and GBA titles, Amaze Entertainment
was working on the PSP game and Beenox was developing for the PC.
The video game marriage between Activision and DreamWorks started going well; the companies announced later that month that their partnership extended into a "long-term, broad-based alliance" which gave Activision worldwide exclusive game rights to DreamWorks Animation films. Activision had a fruitful relationship with the film studio, resulting in tie-in games for Madagascar, Shrek, and Shark Tale. The agreement covered additional games based on these properties during non-film years, as well as games based on sequels to these films. The company looked forward to an even closer working collaboration with the production teams at DreamWorks Animation. Their relationship allowed them to deliver interactive entertainment experiences that remain true to the films while bringing the extraordinary stories to life through the visually immersive nature of interactive entertainment.
's Bozon gave the game a 6/10, stating it was "Three-dimensional in look, one-dimensional in gameplay.". Bozon also stated "Shrek the Third isn’t a bad game; it’s an unpolished one.". Hilary Goldstein commented on the review that "Games based on movies are often bad. Shrek the Third manages to avoid being complete trash, but continues the trend of mediocre movie-licensed games. The core idea of creating a God of War-style game suitable for kids could have worked if not for some technical hiccups and boring enemies. At first, Shrek is mildly entertaining and might even hold the interest of some casual gamers, but after an hour things becoming horribly repetitive. The regular slowdown doesn't help and some of the stand-in voice actors are abysmal. Shrek the Third should mock videogames in the same way the movie mocks pop culture. Instead, it falls into an all-too-familiar pattern of button-mashing redundancy.". In exception, Jack DeVries, another member of IGN, did gave the DS version a 7/10, stating "Shrek the Third may not be the prince of the Nintendo DS, but thankfully it's not a smelly green monster either.".
DreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
animated film of the same name
Shrek the Third
Shrek the Third is a 2007 American animated film, and the third film in the Shrek series. It was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks Animation, and is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released in U.S. theaters on May 18, 2007...
, developed by 7 Studios
7 Studios
7 Studios was a video game developer in West Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1999 by Lewis Peterson, 7 Studios created console video games based on the Fantastic Four and Shrek the Third movies....
, Gameloft
Gameloft
Gameloft SA is a major French computer and video game developer and publisher headquartered in Paris, France. The company also has subsidiaries in 31 countries around the world....
, Amaze Entertainment
Amaze Entertainment
Amaze Entertainment was a video game developer from the United States that sold over 100 games in its ten-year history , for several video game platforms, with headquarters located in Kirkland, Washington. Amaze’s primary focus was licensed games based on movie franchises, comic series, and...
and Vicarious Visions
Vicarious Visions
Vicarious Visions is an American video game developer founded by the high school brothers Karthik and Guha Bala in 1990, which developed some PC and Game Boy Color games in late 90's and 2000. They later developed Terminus, which won two Independent Games Festival Awards in 1999...
. The game was published by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
on May 14, 2007 for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, and Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
. A PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
version was released in June.
The storyline of Shrek the Third is based on the film: Shrek has to find Arthur to have him serve as king of Far Far Away while Prince Charming attempts to storm the city and take the throne by force. Players can play as main characters from the film, including Shrek
Shrek (character)
Shrek is a fictional character from the children's book Shrek! and the Shrek films. He is the main protagonist of both the book and the films...
, Donkey
Donkey (Shrek)
Donkey is a fictional talking donkey from the Shrek series of films and he serves as the deuteragonist of the films, voiced by Eddie Murphy. The character has also featured in the original story Shrek!...
, Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots (Shrek)
Puss in Boots is a fictional cat and a supporting character in the Shrek film series, as well as the primary protagonist of the 2011 spin-off prequel Puss in Boots. He is voiced in English and both Spanish versions by Antonio Banderas...
, Princess Fiona
Princess Fiona
Princess Fiona is the princess and the tritagonist in the films Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. Actress Cameron Diaz provides her voice to the character, and Fiona's singing is provided by Renee Sands of Kids Incorporated and Wild Orchid.-Shrek:In Shrek, Lord Farquaad sends...
, Fiona's cousin Arthur and Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...
. The game consists of 20 levels, some of which branch off from the main story of the movie, and features both single- and multi-player play. Reviews have been mixed, which Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and GBA version holds a score of under 60% on the critic aggregate reviews site GameRankings, while the PSP, DS and PC received a score of and over 60%.
Story mode
Shrek (character)
Shrek is a fictional character from the children's book Shrek! and the Shrek films. He is the main protagonist of both the book and the films...
, Donkey
Donkey (Shrek)
Donkey is a fictional talking donkey from the Shrek series of films and he serves as the deuteragonist of the films, voiced by Eddie Murphy. The character has also featured in the original story Shrek!...
, Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots (Shrek)
Puss in Boots is a fictional cat and a supporting character in the Shrek film series, as well as the primary protagonist of the 2011 spin-off prequel Puss in Boots. He is voiced in English and both Spanish versions by Antonio Banderas...
, Artie, Princess Fiona
Princess Fiona
Princess Fiona is the princess and the tritagonist in the films Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After. Actress Cameron Diaz provides her voice to the character, and Fiona's singing is provided by Renee Sands of Kids Incorporated and Wild Orchid.-Shrek:In Shrek, Lord Farquaad sends...
, and one of the supporting characters, Sleeping Beauty. Puss in Boots is the only character that can double jump
Double jump
Double jump may refer to:* Double jump , performing the same jump twice in a row in cheerleading* Double jump , Two revolutions in a figure skating jumps* Double jump...
.Gingy,King Harold and Pinocchio are voiced by their movie actors.
The Penguins of Madagascar make a special appearance in the pirate ship level in one of the corner crates. You find Kowalski and Skipper says, "We're going to the wide open spaces of Antarctica, to the wild.", just like in the first "Madagascar". There are 20 levels in Shrek the Third. The levels are highly linear, but with side paths containing goodies for the completion of the various mission-style quests. Each level has 3 or 5 quests in them. After completing a level, the player is awarded bonus Far Far Pounds, the game's currency used for purchasing items in the gift shop. The difficulty setting multiplies the bonuses obtained.
There are numerous boxes, barrels, and other smashables scattered around the levels. Most contain fairy dust for use in special attacks but a few contain coins and food. In addition, there are coins of gold and red colors (called Far Far Pounds), often just lying around, but sometimes in smashables or treasure chests. Under certain circumstances, enemies can also give coins. Gold coins are worth 3 pounds and red coins are worth 10 pounds. Shrek the Third has fighting with fists and swords against various enemies such as pirates, guards, jocks, and witches. After an enemy has sustained several hits, a finishing move can be used on him/her. Felled enemies will drop fairy dust that will fill up the three-part special attack meter. Bad guys are pirates, demons, evil knights, wicked witches, tennis players, as well as Prince Charming himself .
Minigames
Development
In 2005, Activision signed a deal with DreamWorks to handle licensed video game titles, extending a partnership which began with the Shrek 2 console gamesShrek 2 (video game)
Shrek 2 is a 2004 cross-platform video game created by Luxoflux and Original PC version of Shrek 2 created by KnowWonder and published by Activision in 2004...
. Activision said they were "very excited to further expand its licensing agreement with DreamWorks on the third installment in the blockbuster animated series.". Ron Doornink, CEO of Activision Publishing, said "Shrek has proven to be one of the most popular children's video game properties worldwide and we expect to continue building on the success of the franchise with the release of our upcoming game Shrek SuperSlam and future games.".
At Microsoft's sixth annual European gamed show in 2006, running Wednesday and Thursday, September 27-28 in Barcelona, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, the Washington-based console manufacturer revealed substantial news for both Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. The news conference, held at the Theater National Catalunya in Barcelona, held approximately 400-500 people, and packed about 95% capacity. A video montage then showed off previous shown footage from this game during the conference.
In November 1, 2006, Activision announced the development studios who worked on the game. Shaba Games was set to handle the console versions, Vicarious Visions was taking on the DS
DS
-Entertainment:* Dead Space, third person horror video game.* Deca Sports, sports video game for the Nintendo Wii developed by Hudson Soft* Nintendo DS, a hand held gaming device made by Nintendo-Geography:...
and GBA titles, Amaze Entertainment
Amaze Entertainment
Amaze Entertainment was a video game developer from the United States that sold over 100 games in its ten-year history , for several video game platforms, with headquarters located in Kirkland, Washington. Amaze’s primary focus was licensed games based on movie franchises, comic series, and...
was working on the PSP game and Beenox was developing for the PC.
The video game marriage between Activision and DreamWorks started going well; the companies announced later that month that their partnership extended into a "long-term, broad-based alliance" which gave Activision worldwide exclusive game rights to DreamWorks Animation films. Activision had a fruitful relationship with the film studio, resulting in tie-in games for Madagascar, Shrek, and Shark Tale. The agreement covered additional games based on these properties during non-film years, as well as games based on sequels to these films. The company looked forward to an even closer working collaboration with the production teams at DreamWorks Animation. Their relationship allowed them to deliver interactive entertainment experiences that remain true to the films while bringing the extraordinary stories to life through the visually immersive nature of interactive entertainment.
Reception
Upon it's release, Shrek the Third received mixed reviews from critics. The Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, and GBA version holds a score of under 60% on the critic aggregate reviews site GameRankings, while the PSP, DS and PC received a score of and over 60%. IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Bozon gave the game a 6/10, stating it was "Three-dimensional in look, one-dimensional in gameplay.". Bozon also stated "Shrek the Third isn’t a bad game; it’s an unpolished one.". Hilary Goldstein commented on the review that "Games based on movies are often bad. Shrek the Third manages to avoid being complete trash, but continues the trend of mediocre movie-licensed games. The core idea of creating a God of War-style game suitable for kids could have worked if not for some technical hiccups and boring enemies. At first, Shrek is mildly entertaining and might even hold the interest of some casual gamers, but after an hour things becoming horribly repetitive. The regular slowdown doesn't help and some of the stand-in voice actors are abysmal. Shrek the Third should mock videogames in the same way the movie mocks pop culture. Instead, it falls into an all-too-familiar pattern of button-mashing redundancy.". In exception, Jack DeVries, another member of IGN, did gave the DS version a 7/10, stating "Shrek the Third may not be the prince of the Nintendo DS, but thankfully it's not a smelly green monster either.".