The action gameplay that Shrek dishes out comprises of repeatedly punching enemies until they are knocked out. You can then either perform enemy-specific finishing moves that eliminate the enemy for good and give you 'fairy dust'. This fairy dust is used to fill a special meter. This meter has three quadrants that, when filled, allow the five characters to perform Fairy Dust Attacks. These attacks are actually pretty interesting. They range from the Puss-n-Boots cute-face instant-knockout to the Fiona Super Kick. If the meter fills all three parts, some characters can enter a Super Ogre mode. This puts the game into slow motion and allows you to gain more points by performing long combos of attacks. These special attacks throw a wrench in the usually monotonous fighting bouts.

All levels included 5 bonus quests for you to complete. They usually included two or three collection missions, which required you to find items that were hidden throughout the level in destructable objects or on so-called harder to reach places. These actually get you exploring the levels looking for each and every item. If these hidden items weren't here, you could zoom through this game very fast. The other quests are usually easy to accomplish, and don't require much work. One quest available on every level is one that simply requires you to perform a certain amount of finishing moves. Another side quest that isn't one of the five has you find one coloring book page on each level. These quests are also about 80% of the achievements you can obtain. In fact, you can easily get all 1000 points in about 10-15 hours.