The Fairly OddParents Shadow Showdown

As in their last foray into the videogame realm, the game plays out like an extended episode of the television show.  You begin the game with Timmy excitedly settling in for the season finale of his favorite television show, Crash Nebula, when suddenly his TV goes on the fritz.  Now for most of us, settling in to watch the finale of our favorite show only to have our TV go out, would be an absolutely loose your mind, call in the Marines, and scream bloody murder type of moment.  But not for Timmy.  No, he has fairy godparents, or more accurately, Fairly Odd Parents.  Calling on Cosmo and Wanda to grant his wish of restoring his TV, they quickly learn that things are much worse than they had originally feared; Cosmo and Wanda’s wands no longer work.  Having to rely on glass encased, “in case of emergency” wands, they must begin unraveling the mystery of just what is going on, but they only have twenty-four hours because that’s when Crash Nebula is going to be rebroadcast.  However, the emergency wands are nowhere near as strong as their usual wands and can only be used for minor wishes and nothing major like fixing the TV.

The gameplay is your standard, mascot driven platformer.  You run, jump, sprint, butt bounce, collect collectibles, solve puzzles, rinse, and repeat your way across various worlds straight from the television show as you try to solve the mysteries of the television and the loss of fairy magic.  Your main two collectibles are coins and stars.  The coins serve as currency in the shops for buying upgrades, radars, and the like, while the stars play a much more important role.  Throughout any given level, you are faced with finding sets of the three like colored stars.  Once a set of stars have been found, Cosmo and Wanda have enough magic to grant one wish, usually in the form of a piece of equipment that either helps Timmy gain entry into new sections of the level or helps Timmy solve the game’s puzzles.  The game’s puzzles are pretty straightforward and simple, no doubt created with the youthful gamer in mind.  The reason for collecting these wishes on each level is solely for getting to the level’s boss.  The boss battles are pretty cool in the sense that most of them require the use of the equipment Timmy has wished for in order to defeat them and the bosses feature various levels to their health and attacks.  They are not real challenging, but keep in mind who the game is intended for.  The boss battles are set up and presented in such a way that it will no doubt make young or novice gamers really feel like they’ve accomplished something.  In addition to the gameplay and the collectibles already mentioned, gamers can collect clips from the show and a “behind the scenes” feature is also included.

Graphically, the game captures the look and mood of the cartoon unlike any other cartoon to videogame before it.  When the Mini Bearer first entered the room while I was playing this game, he actually thought at first that I was watching the show.  The previous FOP game did an admirable job of this, but this one takes it to a new level.  While there aren’t any great technological feats accomplished here, there aren’t any in the television show either, unless you count the Jimmy Neutron/FOP crossover show they did not too long ago.  The aesthetics of the show are lovingly captured and rendered here, which is all that we fans of the show can hope for.  The characters are well animated, even mimicking the nuances of the characters in the show.  From Von Strangle’s constant preening and pumping to Timmy’s bizarre gait, it’s been captured here.  It should also be mentioned that the graphics this time around are much more vibrant, varied, and cartoony, which was one of my gripes with the last game.

Aurally, the game fairs just as well as the graphics.  Enlisting the voice actors from the television show perfectly completes the package and the illusion that you are actually controlling an episode on Nickelodeon.  All of the comedy prevalent in the show, including the purposely “lame” one-liners are all here for your enjoyment.  You are also treated to the same catchy music from the show.  There’s really not much more to say about it, other than it perfectly mimics the television show and if you’ve seen the show, the audio leaves no disappointment.

In closing, fans of the show and or fans of the last game, will find a lot to love here.  Everything that makes the show so charming and enjoyable is here in spades.  As a videogame that strives to create an interactive, compelling episode of the television it absolutely succeeds.  Purely as a videogame, it doesn’t offer a whole lot that isn’t already out there, but it is a solid game, with a much better story than what we usually get with platformers.   The graphics, the sound, the writing, and the control are all spot on.  What it really comes down to is if you’re a fan of the show or not.  If you are and enjoy your platforming romps, you can’t go wrong here.  If you’re the parent of a young child looking for a game that they’ll enjoy, but that you won’t have to worry about (things such as content and the bane of non-videogaming parents everywhere, having to help your child advance), you couldn’t do much better.

Gameplay: 7.5
Solid, but very standard.  There are a nice variety of contraptions to use through Timmy’s wishes that helps keep things interesting.  A big plus for the game is something that most games of this sort struggle mightily with, the camera.  The camera system never gets in the way and never becomes a liability.

Graphics: 8.0 
You’re not going to find all sorts of cutting edge effects to ooh and aah over, but what you will find is a loving recreation of a cartoon world that is spot on.

Sound: 8.5
Professional voice actors who voice these characters for a living, give this game voice acting well beyond the dreams of most platformers.  The voices, music, and sound effects are all straight from the show and seamlessly integrated.

Difficulty: Easy
There’s not too much here that should give novice gamers pause, although there are a couple of places that will require patience.  While it is easy because it was intended to be, more experienced gamers that are fans of the show should find enough fun in the gameplay and definitely in the story to keep them moving forward.   

Concept: 7
It’s a straight formula game, albeit a solidly constructed one.  But the developer gets props for not just cashing in on the license by preying on unsuspecting children, which as a parent, is greatly appreciated.

Multiplayer: 7.5

There are a handful of two player mini-games included.  All of them are simple in a Mario Party kind of way, but surprisingly fun.

Overall: 7.9
A quality license game that does justice to the license, creating an enjoyable experience for fans of the material.  This used to be such a rarity in gaming and while there are still some stinkers that get released, Shadow Showdown is definitely not one of those and rates as one of the better ones.  Truthfully, if all game makers that handle licenses intended for kids (both big and small) followed the model of this game, I think most of us would be pretty happy.  Yes, a little innovation scattered here and there would be great and maybe a few more difficult aspects thrown in for older fans of the show, would have been appreciated, but this game does so much right, that it’s hard to complain too much.  Fans of the show or parents of fans of the show will certainly enjoy this homage to the FOP.