Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

I wish it lasted as long as the film

On the whole 2008 produced some decent movie based games. Sure there were a few stinkers but we thought the tide was changing and finally developers were giving their all to the genre. Unfortunately not every game is getting the 5 star treatment. Madagascar 2 is one such game.

It's not a bad platform game but definitely not great. It's a shame as there some nice elements here. The graphics and the animation are actually pretty good but the gameplay and level design is a little too basic. The game roughly follows the plot of the film and is split across 8 levels. The levels are pretty similar throughout as you guide Alex and Marty to their African destinies.

The game is quite easy and even if you do fall from a log the restart point is usually just before the hardest point on the level. I hasten to call this a platform game as you don't have many options or platforms to jump onto. It's more a case of letting the game take you through the levels and pressing five when needed. You will face a number of challenges along the way but the game always gives you a little hint and a few careful presses on the keypad should see you through the trickier bits.

The main problem with the game is its difficulty, or lack thereof. The game can be completed in about 30 minutes and there's not much replay value unless you want to repeat to try and get the perfect A rating.