Shark Tale

I hate you so much. I should've destroyed you when I had you in my possession and my dumbass sold you to another unsuspecting customer. Why did I have you in the first place? I don't remember buying you, but you just appeared to me. And I flung this piece of shit on someone else. Not again. Any copy I see of this game again, I will buy to pay for my past sin and destroy it in a grand fire. It will not survive. Fuck you Will Smith fish and fuck your stupid dancing game.

the over the hedge & madagascar games carry compared to this one, but this one isn't too horrible. i like the background, really similar to the movie. the designs are fugly, but they always were. i like the music, and i like how free it feels. over the hedge is kinda limiting for a kid, because you have to do everything just right. but shark tale has the open-world type of aspect. it's cute and fun. i play it for nostalgic purposes every now and then.

Shark Tale is a huge mess of gameplay genres. The first six stages each have a different style entirely, meaning any understanding of the game design gets flushed out immediately before you get kicked into the next part of the game. This constant whiplash will prove to be frustrating, especially if you're looking to complete all the challenges the game has to offer.

The 'main' gameplay style lets you control Oscar directly on a 2-dimensional plane, though the level design changes from section to section. Some levels require you to catch falling objects. Others will leave you navigating through a city searching for specific targets. Some will force you to navigate through a maze. While the controls are decent, the level design tends to be very frustrating.

Most of the interactive levels are designed to leave you feeling lost. They're filled with dead ends, with windows and pipes that lead to unpredictable locations. With no memorable landmarks to give you an idea of where you've been or where you are, you'll have no choice but to mindlessly teleport from area to area, hoping you'll run into the exit on accident.

The rest of the gameplay modes include chase sequences, fight sequences, racing sequences, and since this is a licensed game released in 2004, it has to have its own annoying DDR rhythm game sequences as well. These modes are all shaky at best, and in the rhythm game's case, complete jank at worst.
This game has stealth missions, too!

You will need much patience to finish this game without frying your brain. It's not as if it's lacking creativity or cleverness, but its high requirements of concentration and memory retention make this surprisingly demanding for a kids' game. I couldn't imagine a game based on Shark Tale ever being good to begin with, so I have to admit that this could have ended up being a lot worse. I'll be grateful that it's playable.