Shark Tale Preview

The latest CGI animated feature to be released by Dreamworks, Shark Tale, is hitting movie screens this fall, as is Activision’s cross-platform game based on the film.  Featuring the voices of Will Smith, Jack Black, Robert De Niro and Angelina Jolie, Shark Tale revolves around Oscar, a self-professed shark slayer who basically stages his battles against sharks in order to impress crowds of other fish.  The game will tell the story of the movie through a variety of different gameplay modes, ranging from stealth stages to rhythm games to all-out boss battles.  We at GameZone sat down for a while with the latest build of the game, and found that it provided a wide range of gameplay that should appeal to the younger crowd once both the film and the game are released.

Shark Tale puts you in the shoes, uh, fins, of Oscar, the hero of the film.  The game starts with a high-speed chase through the ocean, with a shark hot on your heels.  In this section, you have to follow the arrows and move to the edges of the screen in order to keep from getting chomped. This was easy enough, but as the level progressed, the shark bit a little faster, causing the player to up the ante a bit in terms of focus.

The next stage was a rhythm game where you have to press a direction on the D-Pad when the arrows lined up on the screen.  This felt like DDR (although it felt a little strange being forced to use a controller and not being able to stomp and sweat all over a Dance Mat), and like the chase mode, grew increasingly complex as the stage wore on.  The song, MC Hammer’s “You Can’t Touch This”, brought a nostalgic tear to my old, wrinkly eye.  Following this was a taxi chase level, which has you follow someone through the well-rendered fish city.

The next level began to feel more like the meat and potatoes of the game, where you have to guide Oscar through a dark area while hiding from a guard fish with a light.  This mode was a cross between 2D and 3D gameplay, as you are limited to a 2D plane of movement, but the graphics are presented in 3D and you can move left, right, up and down.  There was also another level in the preview build that contained this same type of gameplay, requiring you to now find a bunch of objects throughout the stage while hiding behind bushes in order to avoid a cagey photographer.

The final gameplay type showcased in the preview build had Oscar squaring off against a hammerhead shark.  This played a bit like the shark chase, although now you can actually get some punches in.  By timing your hits and dodges just right, you could build up your combo meter and get some serious hits.

Even in incomplete stages, the graphics are great and easily rival the characters in the film.  The character models are animated with all of the skill of those in the movie, and the backgrounds are very well done.  All of the action trucks along at a very smooth framerate as well.

With several different forms of gameplay, Shark Tale should contain something for everyone when it’s released along side the film, but the game’s subject matter will definitely appeal to the younger crowd or fans of the movie.