Shrek SuperSlam [PS2]

Did you sit through the end credits of the Shrek 2 movie? Or maybe you left it on as the kids viewed the DVD for the umpteenth time? If you did, you saw a charming little bonus vignette showing why Donkey's scaly dragon paramour was missing from the movie. Donkey's a daddy, and his donkey/dragon progeny proved to be more than just a fire-belching handful. The new party fighter (basically a Shrek version of PowerStone) uses these cute little crossbreeds as a framing sequence storyline for what turns out to be a fun romp for the whole family.

In this corner, weighing a few ounces, delicious, and armed with a candy cane is Gingy the Gingerbread Man! And in the opposite corner is the champion of gross, Shrek! And then players make with the button mashing until one character falls, or certain conditions are met. Fun, lighthearted, and true to the films, the game is filled with clever puns, the same style and look, and more fractured fairy tales than you can shake a wand at.

Developer Shaba has done a terrific job translating the feel of Shrek to the game. Beginning with a wide range of arenas like Shrek's swamp or Fiona's family castle, these areas are introduced in a MTV Cribs-style flyover that's tailor-made for each character and location (this is very reminiscent of the hilarious COPS parody in Shrek 2). All the characters are here, and rendered beautifully, including Shrek, Fiona, Puss n' Boots, Donkey, The Fairy Godmother, and even minor league characters like Robin Hood, Pinnocchio, Quasimodo, and... say hello to Snow White's little friends.

Like PowerStone and more appropriately, Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Melee, Shrek SuperSlam's gameplay mainly consists of bashing your opponents in cartoony ways. Players can mix it up in co-op against the computer, or set up teams of computer-controlled and human characters in any combination -- with up to four characters on screen at once.

Each character has a quick, weak attack, a strong attack, and a wide-range of character appropriate throws. Throwing your enemy breaks open the scenery and sometimes rewards players with power-ups, while combinations are possible for quick-thumbed players. Characters have their own special abilities; Puss is lighting quick, Fiona does big jumps with lots of air, and Shrek is a muscle-bound wrestler. Additionally, each character has a "slam-meter" which, when full, lets you unleash the titular SuperSlam and finish off the opposition with style.

Controls are simple, easy to use, and even smaller children will pick up the combos fast enough to compete. The result is a lot of laughter and good-natured trash talk. What really makes the game shine is how much mayhem results from a typical match-up. These environments are more than just well-rendered; they're destructible to a very satisfying degree. Destroying the environment also gives characters weapons, like the pool table in Shrek 2's Poison Apple bar.

The game features a melee mode that's great for multiplayer and a story mode that pits you against one character at a time. It begins with Puss vs. Gingy and is book-ended with clever movie-style cutscenes that range from brilliant to, well, a little lame. There's also a training and mega challenge mode. The latter is basically just another word for "mini-games" that range from decent to great.

For example, there's a simple racing mode that encourages foul play, a challenge mode where players have to toss their opponent off a cliff or into lava to win. Doing well along this branching campaign rewards players with new characters, new portions of the map (read: new minigames), and slamageddom mode. Slamageddon is terrific -- imagine every attack is a slam attack. Watch the destructible environment hit apocalyptic levels! Multiplayer is admirably customizable. Mix it up with computer and human opponents and alter everything from venue to win conditions.

Offering 20 characters, 16 levels, and a ton of replay value, this title is great for kids and adults alike, and shouldn't be dismissed as a mere licensed game (or "merchandise") -- it's the real deal. Even if you didn't like the movies, Shrek SuperSlam is some major fractured fairy tale fun.