When my son goes to see a new movie, its not your average movie watching experience- it turns into a real life experience over the following weeks as he reenacts and recites his favorite lines over and over….. and over.

When Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs came out – I had FOOD TWISTERS running through my house  2-3 times a day- as my son turned  my daughters toy shopping cart into his own personal FLDSMDFR.…  aching from the clean up, I patiently waited for The Alvin & The Chipmunks Squeakqual to be released- after all, I was sure chipmunks wouldn’t wreak havoc the way the FLDSMDFR did.

And they didn’t- but unlike the FLDSMDFR, you know what the chipmunks did? ….. SING … in a pitch that sounded like someone just inhaled helium. The Complicated Boy dressed up like Alvin- red shirt & hat and sang “You spin me right round baby, right round” from the tops of his lungs- in his best chipmunk voice … for weeks… and then he taught our 18 month old Princess how to sing “All The Single Ladies”- yes this Alvin even had his own Chipette, Sure it was cute but- after 2 wks? … I was praying for another movie to come out.

In walks Shrek... like a breath of fresh air. I mean living- and breathing- all things Ogre can’t be as bad as tripping over plastic food debris from food twisters or listening to 2 singing chipmunks all day- right?

O No! Shrek lives in a swamp! …. How will he dream up a way of creating an -in-home -swamp?!?

Then, Mom Central contacted me to do a review for Activision‘s new Shrek Forever After video game

{{Hallelujah}}

While personally, I am not a huge fan of  video games, the potential to give him a chance to relive his latest favorite movie – through a video game sounded MESS FREE & HEADACHE FREE. I only had one concern- frustration.

You see, in all honesty- I limit the time my son (5 yrs old) spends playing Wii Games because of how frustrated he gets when he can’t figure out how to jump over something, or “beat the bad guy”… and Mama is not a gamer, so when this happens- I’m usually of zero help. It can become a nightmare… but for Shrek, (and my need for a swamp free house), I was willing to give it a shot.

The Arrival

The game arrived and I quickly hid it until later that night when we had friends coming over with a son who also loves video games… (Mama’s got to keep some tricks up her sleeve, and sometimes timing is everything).

When I finally broke out the game- little eyes instantly lit up- especially, my son who was dying to reenact the movie he had just seen that weekend.

Right away the chanting began,  ”I want to be Shrek–no, no, I want to be Donkey”, “No you be Donkey… I want to be Puss”….

As it turns out– they could be all of the above- BEAUTIFUL

The Game

The game allows 4-way multiplayers where all of the characters (and players) work together to defeat Rumpelstiltskin.

Depending on the task at hand, the player  can morph into different characters to get the task completed- Shrek (The Strong one), Puss In Boots (Who’s power according to my 5 yr old is to “climb, sword & be cute”), Donkey (The singer, master of distractions) and Fiona (The woman warrior with “Fire Power”).

When our friends went home, we continued to play the game- and dare I say- not only could my son play frustration free— but so could I! I loved the message of team work and the characters were just as adorable in the game as they are in the movie.  My husband , my son and I have spent 2 weeks playing this game, and  though we have yet to “beat the game” (and we are trying) the 3 things I love most about this game are:

1.) Frustration Free for babes and me

2.) Team Work messaging- and not having to restart a game just to play a different character (Moms, you know what I’m talking about!)

3.) My home has not become a swamp… not yet anyway…. Though if  I keep playing and putting off laundry- it may start to resemble one … though I suppose that would be my fault, now wouldn’t it?

The Sneak Peek:

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Activision and received the items necessary to facilitate my review.