Over the Hedge is developer Vicarious Vision’s latest entry on the Nintendo DS platform. Published by Activision, this version of Over the Hedge is a completely different game than any of its console, or portable counterparts. They chose to create a game that takes full advantage of the DS hardware. Was the extra effort all for nothing, or is taking on suburbia with a raccoon, turtle, and squirrel proving to be too much fun to avoid?

The story of Over the Hedge doesn’t take place during the movie, but uses the setting as a backdrop to spin a new tale about these critters. Gladys Sharp, the evil villain from the film returns, and she isn’t alone. With her is an all-new threat to the neighborhood, the insidious Taxidermist. Together they have a dastardly plan to destroy all the woodland creatures and their home. Who will step up to save everyone? Everyone’s favorite characters from the film: RJ the raccoon, Verne the turtle, and Hammy the squirrel -- and yes, being a reviewer for Nintendo handheld games, I typed "Squirtle" instead of squirrel. I did this almost subconsciously. Darn it, Nintendo, why must there be so many Pokémon games that you are ruining the English language for me? As if I haven’t hurt the English language enough on my own!

Anyway, as you may have guessed, each character has certain abilities that must be exploited to complete the adventure. Verne the turtle, for example, can’t jump that high, but he does have his brute strength to rely on. He can push and lift various items. Also if someone spots Verne, he can retreat inside his turtle shell, and for some reason this causes animals and people alike to lose interest. Think of the cardboard box in Metal Gear and you get the general idea. RJ the raccoon is the best all around character, he can climb, pick up items, and even toss Verne when he is in his shell. But RJ lacks any specialized skills. Hammy on the other hand can maneuver much better around obstacles, and he seems far more suited at dodging security systems and the like.

The missions vary in objective, but all remain very similar. The first couple missions will have our gang retrieving food from different houses. Later on in the game you will have to find key items in an attempt to stop the evil suburbanites from destroying what is left of your home. These missions call for you to use team work to progress. Most levels you will find RJ and Verne working together. You will have to assume the role of both characters to complete these levels. When you are not controlling your partner, he will remain stationary and will not move. So be careful where you decide to change characters. Out in the middle of a hallway is nowhere for a raccoon to be. But don’t be overly concerned; the AI seems to be purposely dumbed down a bit when you are not controlling a character.

This brings me to another aspect about Over the Hedge: its difficulty curve. Over the Hedge is a little on the easy side, not that being an easy game is a bad thing. In fact, as far as I am concerned, it is a great thing. From the beginning of the game there are little “?” mark balloons where you can get little helpful hints as you go. The difficulty ramps up a little as you get closer to completing the game, but it never does feel frustrating.

Over the Hedge definitely looks nice. The top screen shows the entire game in 3D with nice visuals. The bottom screen is no slouch either, showing a 3D top down perspective. One of the most amazing things graphically about Over the Hedge is its level of detail. Each location is made with the idea of scale in mind. Since you are forest critters, a ordinary house becomes a adventure onto itself A generic pool table in a room becomes a platform to climb up to, and then try and jump to a strategically aligned roll top desk to retrieve a piece of junk food. This is the world you inhabit in Over the Hedge, and the game does a remarkable job of making everything appear as it should.

Where Over the Hedge runs into problems is in the usual areas that plague franchise games. The design has in effect a limitation built into its design. The forgiving sneaking play mechanic doesn’t reward strategy. This is really my main problem with Over the Hedge. Something that I believe could have been fixed easily. Another irritation is the extremely large size of certain playable characters. I am looking at you, RJ the raccoon! This makes jumping and maneuvering through levels way too difficult. Now to be fair, the bottom screen provided enough detail to get me through most of the tight spots in the game, but I still wish the developer chose to create smaller playable characters.

Over or Under?
Over the Hedge is ultimately a winner. Yeah, no need for needless banter here. What the games does is present a unique game that succeeds in pushing the Nintendo DS hardware to new plateaus. Everything runs at a smooth 30 frames per second, and the gameplay takes what we love about platform games and Metal Gear, and meshes them into one design, and best of all it works great. There are a few areas that I find fault with, but maybe the reason I am so adamant about them is because the game is so close to being one of the best non-Nintendo designed games released so far. Over the Hedge is a wonderful diversion, but I would suggest testing the hedge before you commit to a purchase.

-- Stephen Smith