Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway

Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway
Developer(s)	Prolific Publishing
Publisher(s)	TDK Mediactive
Designer(s)	Dave W. Frost
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release	March 19th, 2002
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway is a kart racing game published by TDK Mediactive released in March 2002 for the Game Boy Advance. The game is based on the Shrek franchise. Players have the option of playing one of twelve Shrek characters, using their racing skills to defeat other racers.

Gameplay

The player can pick from twelve total characters, all of which have different stats that are shown to the user on the selection screen. These three stats are handling, speed and recovery. There are a total of 16 tracks in the game, increasing in difficulty as the game progresses. There can be a total of 8 racers on track at one time and all non-player controlled karts are controlled by the computer.

The race begins with a traffic light system and if the player tries to start too early their kart will be slower off the start. On track there is enchanted books that give the user advantages, such as a temporary speed boost and the ability to shrink other users. In all tracks there is also permanent speed boosts on the ground, and some tracks also have alternative routes that are faster. However, the enchanted books can occasionally change to being cursed and instead put the user at a disadvantage, some curses include inverting the steering controls or putting the user's character to sleep leaving them with no control over the kart. Some tracks also have zones where players can fall off the map or fall into water, which requires the character to reset to get back onto the track and loses a substantial amount of time. Some tracks also have patches or dirt or snow, depending on the biome, which if driven over spin the user out.

Once the race is over a leaderboard is shown of the top three, and shows the time it took for each user to complete the race. If the user finished in the top three they then can move onto the next track.

Characters

• A dwarf
• Big Bad Wolf
• Donkey
• Gingerbread Man
• Goldilocks
• Lord Farquaad
• Monsieur Hood
• Princess Fiona
• Shrek
• Thelonius
• Three Blind Mice
• Three Little Pigs

Tracks and Stages

Swamp Rally

• Shrek's Boggin' Bayou
• Swamp Fever
• Deadwood Dash
• Donkey's Giant Log Morass

Forest Run

• Three Pigs a Squealin'
• Little Red's Raceway
• Gingerbread Village Dash
• Monsieur's Tree Top Hood

Country Hustle

• Sunflower Lane
• Windmill Alley
• Goldilocks' Way
• Big Bad Wolf's Autobahn

Dragon Strip

• Badlands
• Off-Road Suspension Bridge
• Courtyard Lariat
• Parapet Peril

Reception

Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway received generally “below average” reviews. Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway received a 27% from Metacritic. Furthermore, it received a 3/10 from IGN's Craig Harris who called the game a “awful Game Boy Advance fairytale” and goes onto to further say that the game was underdeveloped and just another Mario Kart clone.