Over The Hedge
Before it became a game and a movie Over the Hedge was actually a comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. The basic idea behind the series is that a group of woodland critters have had their home slowly taken over by humanity and the lovely thing known as suburbia. RJ the racoon, Verne the turtle, Hammy the squirrel and Ozzie the opossum team up to steal stuff from the unwitting humans. The movie obviously has a plot, but for some strange reason it is only loosely worked into the game. Events and missions seem to happen for almost no reason at all and things feel jumbled together.
Like most projects of this nature Over the Hedge is aimed towards the kid that really loved the movie. The one that has seen the film and loved all of the characters will get the most out of playing this title. To the uninitiated the "story" won't make much sense but the characters are loveable and the gameplay is easy to get into. I was pretty surprised in the end because I found myself having a good time with a game that I would normally be bored to tears with. That single achievement may be Over the Hedge's best selling point.
Gameplay:
In terms of game design Over the Hedge follows the fundamental formulas to the letter. Control in this game is about as simple as it can possible get and you will have an immediate impression of "been there, done that." The characters run around a 3D environment wielding a variety of weapons, double jump for no explicable reason, shoot projectiles, and collect trinkets to an insane degree. Yes, this is just about as generic and simple as a child's game can get in terms of gameplay. Some parents may want a game like this that's easily accessible for the younglings, but in the long run it's not going to keep them very entertained.
Because the game is so easy to control the difficulty is just not there. Sure there are a lot of enemies like rats with nerf guns, shrubbery with spinning sheers, flying BBQ grills, and brainwashed rabbits, but the combat is all the same. Because of that you can expect to constantly pound the same button over and over again. You can add a jump into the mix if you want or launch a ball of some sort to spruce things up but it does little to add variety. Special and team-based attacks don't help to break the monotony either. Things do get a little better when you take the co-op feature into consideration but it does little to change the gameplay dynamic.
Each stage in Over the Hedge tries to do something different by offering you a few objectives. Don't get too excited though. These basically range in difficulty from getting to the other side of the stage or carrying an object to a specified area. There are some "extra" objectives such as going through the level without setting off an alarm or whatnot, but those don't add any challenge or variety to the game. In fact the only thing that I found difficult in Over the Hedge was the overly cumbersome and uncontrollable camera.
Fortunately there are a few stages and mini-games that break up the repetitiveness of constantly pressing X. Every now and then there will be reaction timed sequences that correspond with events on the screen. For instance in one particular area your characters will run along through the hedge and you have to move them side to side and press jump to avoid taking damage. Again it's very simplistic in design and execution, but the kids may appreciate the change of pace.
In the end this game isn't unique no matter which way you look at it. It offers up a simple concept with easy to access gameplay and adds on a lot of repetitiveness. Anybody who hasn't cut their teeth on formulaic platform games will enjoy it more than the seasoned veterans and the younger target audience will definitely have some fun. The co-op was a nice touch too because it allows for parents to play the game with their kids, which is something that a lot of games of this nature lack.
Graphics:
In a project of this type it's important that the visual aspects match the original's to some degree. There's no point in the game if it doesn't look anything like the movie. Luckily the characters and animation in Over the Hedge is pretty spot on. I found that the main characters featured a lot of detail and some of the environments had a decent coat of paint slapped on them. Sadly most enemies, some environments, and the mini-games didn't get the same amount of treatment as the rest of the game. There's a certain lack of polish in some spots though I have a hard time believing that a young child would really care.
Audio:
The audio department fares much worse than the visual. The voice acting, music, sound effects, and even technical aspects are all fairly below par. The volume controls are a little wonky and I had a couple of instances where the audio completely shut off. Unlike the graphics in the game, the sound doesn't resemble the film in any way, shape or form.
Conclusion:
If you have a child that enjoyed the film you may want to consider picking this one up. The characters are cute and the gameplay is very accessible, which are key components in a kid's game. I wouldn't expect it to last them incredibly long because it does get tiring very quickly. Over the Hedge is definitely a better than average children's movie to game endeavor. It at least deserves a rental unless the gamer in question absolutely loved the flick.