Over the Hedge Demo

If movies are to be trusted, then the lives of animals are about as complicated and full of intrigue as they can be, complete with intricate power struggles and deep love stories. On the other hand, they choose to tackle their problems by going on wild adventures all over the world and coming up with crazy schemes to bring everything back to normal, which usually involve singing and dancing.

Over the Hedge is a classic action-adventure title with a third-person point of view, in which you get to play as the characters from the popular animated movie released a few years ago. Although the locations are almost the same and the events revolve around the same group of wacky animals, the story is different and it takes place after the one featured in the motion picture, which is a good thing to see, given that it provides you with a new experience.

Hence, the four lovable critters that can be controlled are RJ the raccoon, Stella the skunk, Verne the turtle and Hammy the squirrel. Naturally, they all have different abilities and they can tackle certain puzzles much easier, not to mention the fact that you can switch between them at any point. Moreover, since the game works in co-op as well, it is possible for a second player to join the fun and help you go through the more difficult sections.

In order to get past the enemies spread throughout the levels, you must make use of the various weapons that are available, most of which can be picked up as you go along. Thus, whether you are throwing boomerangs at them, or using a devastating lava blaster, there are plenty of ways to dispose with your enemies and have a ton of fun in the progress, without witnessing too much graphical violence in the meantime.

The other half of the game is spent solving puzzles, since there are a lot of them and they must be unraveled in order to advance. While they are not very complicated per se, they can sometimes require a bit of tinkering before you are able to understand how to solve them and how to use the environment to your advantage. Naturally, things are way more entertaining and fun in co-op, since you can combine your forces with a friend and quickly get to the bottom of every mystery.

Despite some camera issues and a slightly weird control scheme, Over the Hedge is still a pretty entertaining game, especially if you happen to be a fan of the animated movie. However, the biggest advantage is that you can enjoy it with someone else, thanks to the built-in co-op support.