We English; we love a good portion of fish and chips! Greasy chips and oily fish wrapped in greaseproof paper and then for extra protection wrapped in yesterday's newspaper! Get them home, unwrap them like a little boy opens his Christmas presents, slap them on a plate, pour some vinegar on them and get plenty of salt on - maybe even splash some curry sauce on the side too. It's traditional, it's tasty and it's filling. What more could you want?

Other than fish and chips though, fish are pretty useless to me. Sure, I've had them as pets but what pleasure do they bring? You get to watch them swim pointlessly around a tank. Big deal! You probably bought them a little castle, as I did, but all they do is ignore it and swim in the same circle. And with a memory of seven seconds, who can blame them? "Ooh, haven't been here before," they think. Oh, but you have fishy, you have. And then you feed them fish flakes - their equivalent of corn flakes. They eat a few, leave a few and carry on with swimming. Furthermore, after a week's enjoyment you have to clean the tank out, add new water and make the water safe with expensive powder! So I'm not too keen on fish at the moment.

Shark Tale is a game about fishes and sharks, those biggest of fishes. It's the game inspired by the soon to be released film of the same name. Will Shark Tale make me drool like the traditional English takeaway of choice, or will I frown upon it like my old pet bronze-fish?

It all starts when Oscar, the main fish of the game, is chased by a shark. Without much explanation, Shark Tale chucks you in at the deep end! On the screen you see Oscar running towards you and a shark directly behind him, trying to get a decent meal. Before you start, you see a chapter screen, which is where you get a mission briefing. Each level reveals three objectives; the Mission, which must be completed in order to finish the level, the Bonus Mission that can be completed without much more effort - and will earn you extra points - and finally the Elite Mission, which takes a little bit more skill but rewards you with lots of points.

Anyway, back to that shark mission! The mission is to simply make it to the end and the bonus and elite missions are to make it to the end with lots of health - bonus being over 50% and elite over 80%. The level lasts for around 5 minutes and it's both fast and enjoyable. You must dodge the shark by pressing the corresponding arrows you see on screen, which is relatively easy, although the elite aim adds a little more challenge for the older gamer. The shark mission is broken up nicely with superbly animated FMVs and it all looks and plays very nicely. To your horror, when you've completed the mission a landlady fish wakes you up and now it's time to play the proper game.

The second level sees you saving objects that are falling from the windows above, because your landlady is throwing them out while hurling abuse at you! The game has now reverted to a beautifully animated 2D view. For a children's game, the graphics are spot on. You have to swim around the objects using a fast dash to save them. This level is very easy and simple but again the kids will love it.

There's plenty of variety in Shark Tale that's sure to keep kids busy for ages. There are race missions, adventure missions and dancing missions, with some extra side quests thrown in for good luck. All these games contribute to the story and for the most part you'll be playing the adventure. The adventures last the longest and there's a lot of interaction and a lot of places for kids to explore! The first real adventure game is in Reef City and it last a good half hour. You must chase down graffiti spraying rebel fish, because they are insulting your name. You must find the tags they have already sprayed and rub them out, then catch these rebels in the process of spraying a few times. However, it's quite hard to find these pests because the 2D levels split off into two paths when you get to a certain point. You will reach a signpost that points in two directions and you can take either path, giving the 2D levels a 3D feel to them and adding depth to the level design. There's even a little map in case you get lost!

Oscar wants fame and fortune. To get both of these you must complete the missions, preferably completing the bonus and even elite missions on the side. As you get more fame points, your fame ranking goes up and you'll be called different things. I won't spoil too much though! You also collect money and pearls that can be used to buy extra characters, movie footage, pictures and a whole host of other things. You need to be at a certain fame level to buy these extra characters, as well as having the right amount of money. This definitely adds a little replay value.

Another nice, if sometimes repetitive, feature is the dancing stages. At certain times Oscar feels like dancing, as we all do. You take to a stage, real music plays and you dance in a well-timed fashion. The first dancing stage encounter is on national TV and if you're successful it's bound to increase your fame. The track dance to is MC Hammer's You Can't Touch This, which really adds to the comic appeal! You must hit the right arrows on the screen, timing each arrow perfectly, coinciding it with the background beat. You are awarded stars depending on your timing and at the end of an exhausting five-minute song you receive a percentage. If it's not above 75% then you have to do it all again! It took me ten attempts to pull it off and if you do the math that's around 50 minutes! It drove me insane!

Graphically, I feel that this game is spot on. It has superb graphics to suite every occasion on both the 2D and 3D missions. Beautiful water effects, superbly animated fish with a high level of detail, right down to the scales; everything is colourful, bright and very child friendly. Although for the most part a 2D game, the backgrounds are fully 3D, which includes the buildings, shops, lampposts and absolutely everything else on display for you to look at.

The sound is spot on too; there's music running in the background of every level from old and new artists alike and all the songs from the film are remakes of originals classics. For example, Christina Aguilera does a cover of Car Wash and all these songs are apparent in all the levels, so your ears won't get bored. There are also old songs from people like MC Hammer that appear in the dancing stages. The voices are just as good, with some very polished voiceovers for all the characters. Although these are probably just sound-alikes, they do a very good job in making the experience a familiar and friendly one for the kids who have seen the film. And with the smooth talking main character, Oscar, the voice is bound to get kids and adults laughing.

Shark Tale is a good game. It has enjoyable missions, lovely graphics, great sound and is fantastic for kids. However, I think it lacks the depth needed to please the older gamer and it doesn't really offer a lot of challenge. That's not to say that kids won't love it, because they will;my younger sisters have really enjoyed playing Shark Tale and parents looking to spend their money on a game really can't go wrong. It has a little bit of replay value to come back and try the elite missions and earn more money, but I'd say twice through and you'll be flushing it! It is a lot of fun while it lasts though and as a simple action adventure game full of enjoyment I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Reviewed by Dexter Pearson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).