There's no 'i' in team. Two ogres, a donkey and a gingerbread man, yes...

You may have noticed that the media quite likes to depict this nation's primary school kids as a bunch of junior psychopaths with a fatty boom batty in the SpongeBob lunchbox next to the Sunny D. Give 'em a PS2 and a game that doesn't feature urinating on nuns in shallow graves and the little angels are liable to stove your head in with it and give you a Colombian necktie. Y'know, for kicks.

Assuming that's true, it's not looking too rosy for sales of Shrek 2, is it? In fact, we're not sure why Activision bothered. They should've just spliced snuff footage into True Crime and re-released that. No, wait. This just in. It turns out the youngest of PS2 gamers aren't actually that cynical. Hell, they aren't even that sophisticated (have you seen SpongeBob Squarepants?). And while the idea of a cutesy Shrek 2 platformer may make a lot of us cringe, for the average seven-year-old, this kind of 'jump, back, collect, repeat' experience is gaming catnip.

It's even better than that, to be fair. From the decision to give gamers control of four characters (Shrek, Princess Fiona and Donkey, plus one) each with their own special skills and attacks, to the polished production values and the inspired 'hero time' sub-games, Shrek 2 is perfectly pitched at the very ankle-biters who'll be first in the queue when the film hits the multiplexes. That's if their parents can get them out on bail, of course...

Graphics 70%
Bright, shiny and surprisingly solid.

Sound 60%
Most of the film's cast voices are in place.

Gameplay 60%
Simple, but imaginative too.

Lifespan 60%
The kids won't feel short-changed.

Overall 60%
As a title for young gamers, Shrek 2 is well pitched and fun. For anyone else, it's too simple. But you knew that already, right?