Halloween special! Although I don't consider this a halloween game, it does feature spoopy forests and a moody soundtrack and atmosphere. Also, this game is terrifyingly mediocre. That must count for something, right?
Shrek 2: Beg for Mercy! mostly stars Puss in Boots as the main character, though there are a few levels where you play as Shrek and Donkey. The mechanics are similar to Shrek 2 for the same system, but The Lost Vikings style puzzle gameplay has been removed, putting focus on platforming and combat. Unfortunately the mechanics aren't solid enough to make this game good to play. Puss's moveset has been expanded with stuff such as blocking, rolling attack, downward attack and big cute eyes move (y'know, that from the movie) that can charm certain enemies, but for the most part these are worthless. I'd occasionally use the cutesy move, but for attacking I almost always used air attack, as it can penetrate enemy defense. The rolling attack is pretty worthless as I found myself taking damage most of the time trying to perform it, and it just doesn't feel very good to use. Downward attack is required to defeat a single enemy type and is needed to access a few areas for progression or secrets. There's some enemy variety, but overall the combat is still fairly generic. Shrek and Donkey act remain unchanged from how they behaved in the previous game, though all of them have the same health pool now. Shrek is strong, and Donkey is Donkey.
The platforming is pretty mediocre. It wasn't great in Shrek 2 and probably the worst aspect to put the focus on. The camera is painfully slow at scrolling vertically, I had to stop at many spots as Puss to see what's below because the game features some blind jumps, and some secrets are hidden that way. Not to mention, you can't even pan the camera as Donkey or Shrek, and I did miss secrets that way. The platforming is also pretty punishing, with instant death pits and water, and there's still that pesky knockback from taking damage. I mean, the levels aren't terribly long, but they can be pretty annoying since the controls aren't tight enough, especially if you go for 100% completion, which means collecting coins in the same spots you've been in. I don't think it's really worth going for 100% completion anyway. As a reward, you unlock mini-games, which do make interesting use of the game's mechanics, and at least they're not rehashed from the main game, because there aren't mini-games in the main game, unlike Shrek 2 GBA. But I wouldn't really call it a satisfying reward for the amount of frustration I had to go through.
About graphics, I think the game looks average. The cave levels in particular feature a background that mostly consists of black color, which is jarring to me, since I'm used to GBA games having a some detail in the background. It doesn't feel very GBA to me, as if I'm playing an unfinished game and the artists didn't fill the background yet. The pre-rendered sprites still look fine and are well animated, I think a few of them look kinda impressive, such as frog enemies. The music unfortunately is a miss for Shin'en this time. I think it goes for a more atmospheric tone, but it is a step down from a banger soundtrack of Shrek 2 GBA. There are a couple decent tracks still, but overall I don't like it that much.
Overall, this is an unsurprisingly mediocre licensed game. I think it stripped some of the more enjoyable aspects of the original Shrek 2 GBA, focusing on things that don't quite work, resulting in a frustrating experience. I don't really recommend playing this one.
Shrek 2: Beg for Mercy! mostly stars Puss in Boots as the main character, though there are a few levels where you play as Shrek and Donkey. The mechanics are similar to Shrek 2 for the same system, but The Lost Vikings style puzzle gameplay has been removed, putting focus on platforming and combat. Unfortunately the mechanics aren't solid enough to make this game good to play. Puss's moveset has been expanded with stuff such as blocking, rolling attack, downward attack and big cute eyes move (y'know, that from the movie) that can charm certain enemies, but for the most part these are worthless. I'd occasionally use the cutesy move, but for attacking I almost always used air attack, as it can penetrate enemy defense. The rolling attack is pretty worthless as I found myself taking damage most of the time trying to perform it, and it just doesn't feel very good to use. Downward attack is required to defeat a single enemy type and is needed to access a few areas for progression or secrets. There's some enemy variety, but overall the combat is still fairly generic. Shrek and Donkey act remain unchanged from how they behaved in the previous game, though all of them have the same health pool now. Shrek is strong, and Donkey is Donkey.
The platforming is pretty mediocre. It wasn't great in Shrek 2 and probably the worst aspect to put the focus on. The camera is painfully slow at scrolling vertically, I had to stop at many spots as Puss to see what's below because the game features some blind jumps, and some secrets are hidden that way. Not to mention, you can't even pan the camera as Donkey or Shrek, and I did miss secrets that way. The platforming is also pretty punishing, with instant death pits and water, and there's still that pesky knockback from taking damage. I mean, the levels aren't terribly long, but they can be pretty annoying since the controls aren't tight enough, especially if you go for 100% completion, which means collecting coins in the same spots you've been in. I don't think it's really worth going for 100% completion anyway. As a reward, you unlock mini-games, which do make interesting use of the game's mechanics, and at least they're not rehashed from the main game, because there aren't mini-games in the main game, unlike Shrek 2 GBA. But I wouldn't really call it a satisfying reward for the amount of frustration I had to go through.
About graphics, I think the game looks average. The cave levels in particular feature a background that mostly consists of black color, which is jarring to me, since I'm used to GBA games having a some detail in the background. It doesn't feel very GBA to me, as if I'm playing an unfinished game and the artists didn't fill the background yet. The pre-rendered sprites still look fine and are well animated, I think a few of them look kinda impressive, such as frog enemies. The music unfortunately is a miss for Shin'en this time. I think it goes for a more atmospheric tone, but it is a step down from a banger soundtrack of Shrek 2 GBA. There are a couple decent tracks still, but overall I don't like it that much.
Overall, this is an unsurprisingly mediocre licensed game. I think it stripped some of the more enjoyable aspects of the original Shrek 2 GBA, focusing on things that don't quite work, resulting in a frustrating experience. I don't really recommend playing this one.
Random_Hajile
1 year ago