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Platform: Playstation
2
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Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Score: 7.0 / 10 |
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Pros: - Great looking graphics - Authentic voices and music - Tight controls
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Cons: - Typical “collect a bunch of items” gameplay - Pretty short and easy
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Related Links: Review: Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (PS2)
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"Undoubtedly, Ice Age 2 was made for the younger crowd..." |
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When the Playstation 2 was first announced, Sony was quick to proclaim that it could produce “Toy Story” caliber graphics. Naturally, given the first generation of PS2 software, this was a huge joke, but we’ve come a long way. The video game rendition of Ice Age 2: The Meltdown still doesn’t quite meet the high water mark of looking exactly like its big screen cousin but at times, it comes close.
I’m not sure how closely software developer Eurocom worked with animation studio Blue Sky to create this game, but they did a damn fine job. All of the main characters look pretty decent, even if their animations aren’t nearly as detailed. But the most important character is Scrat, the squirrel/rat thing that you control most of the game. He runs, flips, and scurries up cliffs with the same charisma that made him the mascot of the movie. His cute and weird little sound effects add to the authenticity, as do the voice talents of John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Ray Romano, all reprising their roles specifically for the game. The landscapes aren’t particularly varied – there are some snowy mountains, some less snowy mountains, some caves and some swamps, but they look great, and the framerate runs at a steady clip. Plenty of effort was put into making the game look and feel great, but they didn’t skimp on the gameplay either, even if it’s not particularly imaginative. Ice Age 2 borrows generously from N64-era platformers like Banjo Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. The whole landscape is littered with acorns, the delicious treasures which Scrat is famously seen chasing in the best moments of the movies. While collecting these are optional, finding enough in a given area will unlock an interview with voice cast members. They seem to talk more about their work on the movie rather than the game, but this should hold over fans until the special edition DVD comes out.
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In each level, there’s usually some kind of task to complete. In a few regions, all you need to do is to find the exit. In others, you’ll need to find a certain number of walnuts before you can move on. At various points, Scrat will run into fellow animals who usually need his assistance for some reason, which usually triggers one of several mini-games. These include games of penguin bowling, hide and seek, and whack-a-mole, as well as several shooting gallery challenges. While these are fairly brainless, the most amusing is one is Sid the sloth’s slide down a huge, icy mountain – not only do you need to dodge obstacles like a slalom event, |
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but you’ll run into several ramps which launch you straight into the air. The action slows down, the music turns classical, and a series of Dance Dance Revolution-like arrows appear at the bottom of the screen. Hit the arrows right, and you’ll perform some acrobatics before you hit the ground again. It’s amusingly clever, if nothing else.
However, the pitfalls of platforming genre tend to rear their ugly head. There are times where it can feel like too much of a collect-a-thon, especially since there’s very little in the way of guidance, and some of the areas can get a bit large. It doesn’t help that the landscapes aren’t varied, as it’s too easy to run in circles in certain areas. Although it’s not the primary focus of the game, combat can also get a bit awkward. Scrat’s tail is too short to use effectively, it’s difficult to jump on top of bad guys, and hitting foes with your limited supply of pebbles is more of a matter of luck than anything else. Thankfully, scenes that require fighting are pretty rare, so you can run past most battles. Scrat has a lot of health, and even if the few cases where you meet instant death, the checkpoints are plentiful. In fact, the whole game is just a bit too easy. Undoubtedly, Ice Age 2 was made for the younger crowd, so older gamers will probably find it to be rather unengaging, and it certainly treads on well-worn territory. It’s also over rather quickly, with very little in the way of replay value. Still, it’s a great looking package with a solid game attached, which is more than can be said of most licensed titles.
- Kurt Kalata (April 27, 2006)
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