Game Clash: Animation Wars

While both the Shrek and Toy Story franchises are set to battle it out for Top Animation Flick in cinemas this Summer, two film tie-ins have been released as video games for home consoles and handhelds, and it's time to see whether either or both of them are worth buying. Shrek Forever After: The Game follows closely the same plot as the titular film, seeing the loveable ogre enter an alternate reality to return to his roots and fight Rumpelstiltskin, but in general is just a repetitive fighter with a few dumb platforming sections. As usual, the combat is pretty easy to master as it revolves around button-bashing, but that doesn't make it the least bit fun to engage in, and basically only detracts from an already too short game. Meanwhile, as I said in my review Toy Story 3: The Video Game is a very loose companion to the film, featuring a few worthy setpieces from both the second and third films such as the Buzz Lightyear Video Game and Woody's attempt to rescue orphans from a runaway train in the desert. Once again, its combat is not at all intelligent, which is why the game tries to introduce new mechanics each level so that the other areas of the game are varied and little combat is involved. Sadly, this does give Toy Story 3 an uneven feeling at times, as it can feel then like a mini-game compliation. Ah well, the graphics are excellently true to the Pixar series even on the Wii, DS and PSP, and its story, while short and strange, does maintain my interest. Both games would probably tie were it not for the Toy Box mode of TS3, which extends its life-span by a good 5-10-even 20 hours. Bottom line: Forever After is decent but nothing better than that, while Toy Story 3 will provide a lengthy and interesting continuation of the film for fans and newcomers, and is well worth it if you're looking for something to buy in this summer of few releases!