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Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 4 Ratings

  • Summary: In the murky depths of the ocean, the fate of Reef City lies in the fins of one little fish?at least that?s what he wants you think. Dive in to the urban, underwater metropolis of Shark Tale and play as Oscar, a fast-talking fish whose little fib gets him into big trouble. Based on the upcoming DreamWorks animated feature, Shark Tale features 25 funky fresh missions ripped straight from the film, the hottest hip-hop tracks from your favorite artists and more exhilarating gameplay variety than any other movie game in the reef. Groove through Reef City with Oscar and explore locations like the Whale Wash, the Sunken Liner and the underwater underworld hideout, Seahorse Race Track. Careen through the coral at break-fin speed on the back of a friendly taxi fish. Beat your opponent while dodging traffic and fending off menacing great white sharks! Bust some serious Fish Fu in challenging fighting sequences. Flex your fins, talk some smack and fillet your opponent with tail slaps, head butts and dazzling combo attacks. Get those fins up and boogie down. Win over Reef City residents and garner the affections of your favorite ladyfish with your stylin? hip-hop dance moves. Don?t just talk big?swim big. Get in the game and prove you got what it takes to out-fin the evil Great Whites and become Reef City?s greatest hero. [Activision] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 30
  2. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. It's not groundbreaking, but it doesn't have to be. Kids don't care about that. They care about having fun playing it, and I think that is where Activision has succeeded here.
  2. The game's soundtrack is awesome, but since many of the songs are old and/or obscure, some of the charm may be lost on the target audience.
  3. Everything works just fine. But it is so by the book that there is really nothing to write home about. [Jan. 05]
  4. Shark Tale isn't the colossal adventure it could have been, but it's got what it takes to please the kiddies. Think of it as a graduation from Mario Party. If that series has become too easy for your child, this game is the next step up.

See all 30 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. JosephS.
    7
    I picked the game up for my 6 year old nephew after seeing the movie, and what I thought would be just another load of bland, time-killing, kiddie drivel (see Finding Nemo) actually turned out to be a pretty cool game. The levels are varied and fun enough to play through several times without getting boring too quickly. There are four play styles: Adventure, Dance, Race, and Fight. The Adventure stuff is pretty standard side-scrolling game play, with 3 sub missions for each level. Some of the Adventure missions are pretty boring, but some are very cool. One mission has you sneaking into the shark lair on the sunken ship, and trying to avoid Lino's piranha, which is pretty neat. The dance mode is a lot like DDR, but the visuals are pretty funny to watch. Oscar's dance animations are totally wacky. They look really hilarious and you might get a kick out of just watching somebody else play this mode. The main problem with Dance is that the missions get WAY too hard at the end, and you might find yourself throwing your controller in frustration. The Fight levels remind me of Punch-Out! with fish, but not as fun, since the only strategy seems to be to wait until the shark stops chomping and then take your turn punching. Finally, the Race levels look really cool, but there isn't a lot of challenge to many of them. You mostly end up trying to beat the clock or collect items before you run out of time. One caveat for some if the missions if you have young children - some of the levels are just way too hard for kids, and may even give a serious challenge to some of the adults out there. It feels like they needed to put some more work into tuning the difficulty. Each game mission is linked to the other by cutscenes that show you what's happening in the movie, and if you've seen the film will actually add a little to what you know about the characters. All the VO and music is really very well done, and there are lots of unlock-able items like concept art from the movie. All in all, pretty good for a licensed game. If you or your kids liked the movie, then the game is a very good companion product to the film until the DVD comes out. Collapse
  2. Probably the first time the game was better than the movie, but that isn't saying much. The gameplay is fun sometimes, but most times it's very tedious. The fighting level controls seem broken and ruin what would have been the best levels. The racing levels are nightmares. The dancing levels are usually way out of sync. Adventure levels tend to last way longer than they should. Now looking to the better aspects: The soundtrack's good and there is a bunch of things to collect. The swimming controls are very good. Lastly, this game is creative and funny. Funnier than the movie itself, in my opinion. Expand
  3. YuraT.
    2
    No comment