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Dreamworks and Activision continue their highly lucrative partnership. The publisher has worked with Dreamworks extensively for the Shrek games, but they also worked with the movie house for Madagascar and Shark Tale. Does Over the Hedge carry the same magic that has made the previous games so successful? As always, the game is geared towards the younger crowd and movie fans, but the answer is yes.
The game stars the crowd from the movie. You’ll meet Verne, the fearless turtle leader of this little crew, as well as RJ, the devious raccoon who forces Verne to leave his safety zone. You’ll also meet Hammy, the squirrel, and Stella, the skunk. The story, in a nutshell, is about the crew exploring what’s over the hedge. They woke up from a long slumber and learned that their area was blocked off by a hedge from the newly developed Rancho Camelot Estates. Though Verne is perfectly comfortable where he is, RJ convinces him to explore.
Over The Hedge should seem familiar to fans of previous Activision licensed titles. The game allows you to control two of the four characters at any time. With these characters, you’ll have to explore the areas, earn unlockables, and fight your way through the game worlds. You’ll be doing this throughout the game’s 35 levels, though all in all you’ll be playing the game for over ten hours, which is impressive for a movie based game. The game throws in 135 objectives though they aren’t all required as some as secondary objectives.
As far as gameplay, the characters have the ability to attack, jump, and sneak. The controls are fairly intuitive and you’ll be able to pull off power and ranged attacks, aside from the regular ones. The different characters have somewhat different moves, but in practice they’re all pretty much the same. Your choice of characters will be directed more by which characters you like more as opposed to picking one for a special skill.
When you’re not fighting, you’ll be solving relatively simple puzzles. Otherwise, you’ll be playing minigames. The game includes three different ones. RC Car Racing has you racing tiny RC cars on sort of exciting courses, Golf Car Derby is rather self-explanatory, while Suburban Mini Golf has you playing mini golf on some courses.
The game includes two-player cooperative multiplayer. When playing the single-player mode, the AI will control the other character. As expected, the second character will be controlled by the second player.
The game’s visuals are solid. The characters are faithful to their movie counterparts. The overall style of the movie (from the trailers I’ve seen) seems to have been perfectly replicated here. One of the most impressive aspects of the character design is actually the animation. They move around very fluidly, complete with highly amusing idle animations. The level designs are a bit limited though this is probably due to the movie. Nonetheless, you’ll visit a number of interior and exterior locations. The Xbox version benefits from slightly better lighting and textures, the Gamecube version is smooth but slightly less detailed. The PS2 version looks good, too, though it has the most noticeable jaggies. The story is told through CG cutscenes which work well to advance the story.
The game’s audio is also impressive. The soundtrack fits the situation whether it is fast-paced for action-based objectives or slower for the stealthy bits. The sound effects are also solid, with a good bit of ambient sounds added. The voice acting in the game is very well done though the film’s characters didn’t lend their voice to the game. It’s incredibly hard to tell.
Over the Hedge shows that Activision has managed to make the perfect formula for licensed games. The mixture of action, stealth, and minigames will keep your attention for the game’s direction. The solid gameplay is made better because of the excellent presentation. The visuals are remarkably similar and the audio surprises you. Overall, this game is easily commendable. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- May 9, 2006
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