It's hard to ignore Shrek's popularity. Heck, while standing in line at the post office this week, we were surrounded by large billboards featuring the green ogre trying to sell customers stamps. Therefore, it was only natural that there would be Shrek videogames, or rather, more Shrek videogames. The first batch that released a while ago were awful, but this crop are actually rather bearable. The Game Boy version is a miniature adventure that, while not perfect, is much more enjoyable than the Shrek games of yore.

The GBA Shrek 2 is based on the movie, with some mini games tossed in for good measure. The game's levels are represented as books, and each has chapters (Levels.) that must be completed, so when you start, your level map (A bookshelf.) only has one volume, but as you complete chapters, more open up. It all adds up to about 25 levels, but the number isn't indicative of the game's size. Unfortunately, it can be beaten rather quickly, and there's very little replay value so you probably won't revisit this fairy tale land more than a couple of times, but we're getting ahead of ourselves; more on that later.

Each chapter in the game has the player controlling a different set of characters, including Shrek, Donkey, Gingerbread Man, and Puss in Boots. Sometimes you'll go it alone, and it's here where the game's at its best. However, most times you have to work as a team. For example, at the outset, you have to solve puzzles as both Shrek and Donkey. You can switch characters on the fly using the L and R buttons, and each has his or her special abilities. Shrek can do a body slam that can break rocks so the team can access underground passages, and he can pick up stuff, which enables other characters to reach high areas. On the other hand, Donkey can jump higher, and while Shrek can jump on things to break them, he can't use his fist to punch through things, so you need Donkey to kick through walls. It's a fun system, but it winds up being flawed because when you're not using a particular character(s), they just stand around, meaning if you cross a level to the end, you need to character swap and bring the stationary character(s) to the end as well, a gameplay blunder that makes the experience rather tedious. It's not unbearable because the levels are fairly short, but we found traversing the same environments three times to be monotonous. It was more about helping Shrek because he's obese and can't jump very high. He comes off as dead weight, and we wished we could've left him to get eaten by evil pumpkins more than once. Worse, if you die with just one character, you restart at the beginning of the level! We would've much rather been on my own, meaning we were elated when we had beat levels just using Puss in Boots.

If there's one thing about Shrek 2 that isn't debatable, it's the game's graphics. Featuring very impressive animation, the characters appear very lifelike. The environments are also impressive, featuring locales from the movie fans will recognize, though some of the backgrounds aren't pretty to look at. For example, what you see past the forest, mountains and trees, was done to look decent if you aren't staring directly at it. Otherwise, it just looks like a washed out, green mess.

Sound wise, Shrek 2 is bearable, though the voices got on my nerves. Every time you swap to Shrek he says, "OH-KAYYY" and it's beyond annoying. We wound up lowering the volume. Parents be warned, as it will drive you crazy if you have to constantly listen to "OH-KAYYY" for prolonged periods. Invest in some GBA headphones.

Our last complaint about the game is that it's just too darn short. Sure, it's mildly entertaining. It's a good movie-based game, but each of those chapters are very short, and there isn't really anything particularly challenging about them. Shrek 2 can be blasted through in a weekend (less if you're a pro), and aside from collecting hidden coins, there really isn't a reason why it needs to be played again, making it a good collectible if you love the films.

Fans that want to carry a pint sized Shrek adventure on the road should find some enjoyment out of Shrek 2, but gamers searching for a challenging experience won't find it here. While the animation is pretty to look at, it doesn't save the game from becoming a repetitive. Still, if you must own everything, rest assured that what Activision's published is very solid.