There have been a lot of Shrek games, not all good but there’s been some fairly good moments in them. The Next, XBLA’s 100th game, Shrek N’ Roll is the next game to be based on the green ogre, and despite Shrek being firmly a kid orientated franchise, this game seems to be a bit on the challenging side for youngsters.

Gameplay:

What Shrek-n-Roll offers is a fairly challenging albeit short puzzler. You control any of two characters from the Shrek universe who are trying to feed ‘baby ogres. Sounds simple enough except the ogres are hiding in different windows on a wall, you can find the windows easy enough because they will be glowing green, but if your food or snack falls though any of the many other windows you’ll be placed at the bottom of the wall again. There are also pick ups that get gradually thrown into the mix that slightly change the formula, and in the later levels the holes get closer together thus providing a nicely sloped learning curve. You transport the snack around the level/wall by what looks like a window cleaner’s lift. This would be child’s play if the controls where easy (maybe they should have been) but the two characters, each one controlled by an analog stick, control their respective side. So if you move the one on the left up to the top, your lift will heavily slope because the one on the right will not move. You use this principle to control your ball that is moved left and right by in game physics. Although the controls are very simple in the later levels you need a lot of concentration to clear them. This is something your average 10 year old might not have.

Graphics:

The first thing you’ll notice about the game is that the menus look impressive for an arcade game. You can tell it’s a Shrek game and the interface looks well thought out. This is continued for the in game graphics which at times look like an average Xbox-Original game, and considering this is an Arcade release this is a good achievement in itself. Although that’s not surprising considering the 142MB file size the game clocks in at. I would have to mark it down due to the amount of light boom and some slight clipping errors when the ball goes through a hole. Other than these minor problems, the graphics are among some of the best amongst arcade titles.

Sound:

The sound isn’t a treat to the ears but it backs up the game fairly well. Its nothing exciting, but the odd quote from a character is a nice touch.

Longevity:

The core game is solid if you’ve got the patience, but once you’ve done one level the rest are kind of the same as it’s not really a challenge to see where you have to go. The next level is always just slightly harder than the last so you never really get stuck and the prospect of achievements every 4 or 5 levels does help you to keep going up until the end. The end might come a bit too quick as the single player mode only offers about an hour's worth of play. Once you’ve completed it once there are no varying difficulty levels and you will unlock every stage and character from one quick play through. It does have two player modes as well in the form of co-op and battle. Co-op is a good idea but considering the touchy controls of the game this means working as a team requires a lot of co-operation. Battle mode is good but there is only so long you can play this very simple game for.

Overall:

If you’re thinking of picking up Shrek N Roll you’ve got to take into consideration that you don’t get your 800 points worth. It’s the short single player, the flawed multiplayer, the challenging for the average child difficulty and the shallow game play that bring this game down. If or when this game gets a reduced price point, then it might be worth picking up.