Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts! (PSP) (gamespy)

- gamespy -

Earlier this year, DreamWorks, the studio that brought us the storybook hijinks of Shrek, hit animated gold one more time with Over the Hedge. In the flick, a group of misfit woodland creatures invaded suburbia to take advantage of all the creature comforts of the human world. Now the critters are back for more, in Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts!, a new PSP platform game from Activision and Amaze Entertainment.

In Hammy Gores Nuts!, Hammy the Squirrel, the naïve and hyperactive sugar addict, is settling down to enjoy some R&R, courtesy of the cable TV he's pilfered. To his horror, the cable goes out, and he discovers that the Tool Guy he's been stealing from has decided to switch over to satellite. Teaming up with his friends RJ and Verne, Hammy sets out to get back his beloved cable at any cost. This sets up the plot for what ends up being a cookie-cutter platformer, following the same gameplay recipe that people have come to expect over the years. Each stage begins with Boris the Beaver (a new character introduced for the game) explaining part of his idea to destroy the neighborhood's satellite reception. For the player, this means taking one of the three main characters on a "heist" to recover some key item crucial to the success of Boris's master plan.

Each of the three characters has his own particular set of abilities to help him navigate through everything from water sprinklers and house cats to hamster balls and Chihuahua guard dogs. Hammy, for example, can overdose on cola and enter "Hammy Time," slowing time around himself thanks to a caffeine-fueled overdose of speed. RJ, on the other hand, arms himself with the tools at hand, wielding boomerangs, golf clubs, and even using a fishing pole as a makeshift grappling hook. Finally, there's Verne, the over-cautious and timid turtle, who can attack enemies with his shell, then immediately duck into the shell for cover. Unfortunately, players aren't allowed to pick and choose between the three before each heist, even though each level is generally generic enough to get through with any one of them. As a result, once you finish the single-player game, there's no real reason to go back and replay it.

Developers tried to balance out the weak single-player experience in Hammy Goes Nuts! with a surprisingly fun multiplayer option. The game allows up to four players to take part in any of five different multiplayer game types. Each of these games is a variation on capture the flag. In Heist, players just race against one another to grab items scattered around the map and return them to any nearby checkpoint. In Tag and Basket Tag, the goal is to collect as much as possible in one run without letting the player who is "it" tag you. And in Hedgeball and Hedgeball Faceoff, the goal is to collect food and get it safely back to your team's color-coded base. Despite (or maybe because of) the simple idea behind the multiplayer games, each one is a blast to play with friends. One thing I couldn't understand though is the game's mention of PSP headset compatibility. Since Ad Hoc is the only way to play with your friends, do you really need a microphone to talk to them from across the room?

It's like some golden rule of Hollywood that the success of a movie (particularly a family movie) is directly proportionate to the number of tie-ins you can cram down the audience's throat. Over the Hedge: Hammy Goes Nuts! is one of these, trying to cash in on the film's success. If you look past the movie license when playing the game, there's just no way to avoid feeling like this is the same basic platform game you've played time and time and time again. It's a shame too, considering that the movie itself, and even the comic strip on which it's based, is busting at the seams with creativity. Still, Hammy Goes Nuts! isn't a terrible game -- just terribly uninspired.