Party games are a bit of a burgeoning genre on Xbox, with Fuzion Frenzy, Loons: The Fight For Fame, and more recently Whacked! all competing with traditional party pursuits like Spin The Bottle and T Strip Twister. Being something of a party animal (are ogres animals?), Shrek's getting in on the act, and having a few party games with his mates: Donkey, Lord Farquaad, Princess Fiona and the like. There are only six characters, though, so if you ask us, Shrek's a bit too much of a Billy no-mates to even bother throwing a party.

And our favourite character from the film, The Gingerbread Man, is nowhere to be seen. It's a real shame. Given that one of the best things about the movie is the number of amusing peripheral characters, the game would have benefited from a bigger cast.

But there's a bigger problem, and it's to do with the party games themselves. They're really, really bad, with only a couple of exceptions. There are 30 different games to try. Some have you throwing various items at targets, or your opponents; others have you working together in pairs; some are simple races. In theory, there's a fair amount of variety on offer. But things are somewhat different in practice, thanks to the sheer lack of sophistication in any of the games. Control rarely requires more than the Left thumbstick plus the A button; and there's no subtlety or nuance of control that encourages replay. There's every chance that a lot of these games won't get played more than once.

Much of what's on offer here is no more sophisticated to play than the kind of freebie Shockwave games that are available on the internet. Even with a full complement of four players, the action is never engaging or addictive.

On the plus side, the Shrek theme is captured rather well, and the graphics have a nicely detailed, solid look about them. Leaving a few Shrek-obsessed young children with the game would keep them entertained for a while, but for anyone with any experience of games, there's really nothing to see here. Move along please...

Power
All the games load up very quickly, but there's nothing technically impressive on show.

Style
Visually, it's authentic enough to satisfy ardent Shrekkies - but the games are offensively simple.

Immersion
You'll go through each game to see what it's like, but you'll be disappointed by most of them...

Lifespan
...and then it'll be consigned to the bottom of your multiplayer pile. Below Fuzion Frenzy, even.

Summary
Shrek's ugly gurning face offers little consolation for the selection of woefully simple mini-games you'll find here.

1. Gets the Shrek look just right!
2. One or two of the games are alright

1. Too simple to play
2. No fun at all for a lone player
3. No Gingerbread man