This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.
Bad games tend to have a lot in common: poor targeting,
repetitiveness, dull characters, flat storylines, some poor to mediocre
visuals, a lack of variety, a very big problem with pacing, clichés, and – very
often – they happen to be based on movies. Kids’ movies, more widely known as merchandizing
opportunities. A way to force parents into buying cute little mass-marketed
lunch boxes at Wal-Mart while they’re stocking up on groceries, cheap
t-shirts, and videogames based on film properties like Over the Hedge, Activision and Dreamworks’ gaming spin on the CG
movie of the same name. When gamers complain that almost any title based on a
movie, and especially a children’s movie, is going to bore you out of your
mind, they’re referring to games like Over the Hedge, which take a film
property and drive it into the ground in a desperate attempt to milk the sucker.
For the sake of your sanity, look elsewhere for your action/platforming needs.
Over the Hedge contains a simple plot: you’re initial task
is to steal food from humans in order to save up enough grub for the winter. To
this end, you’ll leap over lasers, avoid roving lights, flip switches, slay
hundreds of fuzzy foes, and dodge light traffic. There’s a slight twist at the
end, which has you rushing off to put a stop to the maniac controlling the
local wildlife (and saving a friend, while you’re at it), but for the most part
things are kept simple in Over the Hedge. The simplicity enables the title to
capitalize on its cast: RJ, the stupidly confident raccoon; Stella, the
opinionated skunk; Hammy, the insane squirrel; and Verne... the paranoid and
yet mostly average turtle. Other characters from the film are present,
including the fainting possums, the porcupine family, the giant bear, and one
very annoying blue jay. As you fight through the various sections of each
level, each primary character (along with his partner) lets fly numerous quips
and comments, which immerses the player into the film’s universe – to a degree.
The game’s greatest strength lies in its multiple enemies,
including nasty rats with tasers, large
gophers, moles lobbing grenades,
viscous badgers, maddened bear cubs, idiot humans, and rolling armadillos that
aim to crush everything in their path. For variety’s sake, each level features
several diversions, which can range from gathering delicacies for the food cart
and protecting the cart on its way back to the hedge to hitting all the targets
at the next shooting gallery. Many of the foes make use of technological
gadgets, like orange guns (these would be guns that shoot oranges), tennis ball
guns (again, guns that shoot tennis balls), bubble guns (sensing a pattern...),
ice guns, fire guns, plungers, baseball bats, rockets, and shovels. Each character
from the main cast boasts his own weapon of choice as well as a distance
attack; RJ, the golfer, rains golf balls on your head while Stella tosses
frisbees at an alarming rate. Regular attacks all boil down to a single,
sure-fire combo, accomplished via repeated mashing of the attack button. Each
character also sports a special energy attack, an energy/swing attack, and the
always-convenient ability to double-jump.
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