by:	July 11, 2006

One of the biggest problems with the videogame industry nowadays is the reliance on unoriginal properties, as top dogs Activision and Electronic Arts has proved, can be very profitable, and popular for a bit, but not popular in a positive sense, whereas you can see yourself playing the game a few months or even years from now, but rather popular like Paris Hilton, in a “shallow but nice to look at for five minutes” type of way. Over the Hedge, while will probably keep the kids at bay, and is a great alternative to junior playing dad’s Ninja Gaiden, still fits the bill of games that will fall from graces, even with kids.
If you don’t already know the story, Over the Hedge deals with a bunch of crazy critters that have to deal with their forest land being overrun by pesky ole humans. In the game you play as the movie’s various protagonist creatures, going through homes and making sure you do everything to run the humans out of their houses. You collect a bunch of items along the way, in classic platformer “collect everything” fashion, and if you have every played the game “Sneakers” for Xbox, then some of the stranger, random collecting will be reminiscent of that. Of course, the developers took some freedoms with the gameplay to make it more fun, since as much fun as Over the Hedge movie is; you have to give people something more for platform action. You will see strange enemies, and even stranger obstacles along the way, but through all this you also have mini-game like moments which help to put some variety in the game. The game itself is pretty easy to get used to, using mostly one button and an analog the entire time as you go through it. You also have a buddy with you at all times, which a human player can control as well, but the feature is mostly just to give you, or your child, the assurance that even if they don’t make it past with one character, they always have a easy second try.
The sound of the game isn’t all that bad—while you aren’t going to get the star-studded cast of the movies, Activision usually does a fantastic job of finding sound-a-likes, and because this game is directed towards children, I don’t think to many children will be mad that Steve Carell’s voice is missing. Other than that the sound is very bouncy, playful, and fits right in with the demographic it is trying to sell to.

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“Over the Hedge” for Xbox is an average title, for an above average movie; which should come as no surprise. Parents who haven’t already bought the game, that are thinking of giving their kids something to tide them over until the DVD release may find this to be a great selection, especially since it can probably be found at bargain prices, but for the rest of you, I suggest you pass.

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