Finding the golden acorn (Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (PS2))

Member Name: buzzard_cad

Product:	Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (PS2)
Date:	29/08/06 (531 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good graphics and controls

Disadvantages: Low replay value, no multiplayer mode

This game is based on the latest film of the same name from Dreamworks studio. In the game you take control of Scrat and move through various scenes to get your precious acorns and other goodies. The box gives you a few hints of what you will get in the game. 'Take control of Scrat and other characters..' reads the blurb on the back of the box. '..take part in side games including Sid's slippery sloth challenge' says another part. In this the game doesn't disappoint, however you get no choice when you play any particular character it just happens and you have to adapt your skills accordingly.

~The game~
You start as Scrat in an icy scene and start collecting acorns that are lying around. The game is very good in that it has little boards that will give you clues and pointers to help you along the way so you don't need to read the manual for too long. So as Scrat you can hop, jump, scratch, swim and set your tail on fire as you work your way through the various levels. The levels themselves are not particularly demanding to start with as the game does only have a U rating.

A good thing that I noticed after finishing the first set of levels was that the levels followed as close as possible to the film itself. So when you completed one level you were given a cut scene from the movie and you moved on to the next set of levels based around the film. Some of these cut scenes changed to storyboard sketches later on which sort of diluted the effect they first had, but it was still an idea I liked. The only time the following 'the film' item changed a bit was when there were a set of levels located within the belly of the prehistoric water beast that chased the main characters within the film and a few other mini levels with the buzzards. Talking of main characters you rarely get to play them at anytime and the only characters you actually got to control are Sid the sloth and Diego the sabre tooth tiger. There are other moments when you interact with some of the other characters and the possums Crash and Eddie make some appearances, but Manny and Elle the two mammoths are lacking in any form after the first few levels.

The later levels get harder with web spitting spiders, wild boars, polar bears and wolves to contend with. The difficulty and finesse required also increases to such a point that I felt frustrated at a couple of stages when I could not perfect a combination move. This occurred with annoying frequency in the mini-sloth's village levels, although it was not impossible. It just took a bit longer to figure out what I had to do to get the last elusive item to progress onto the next level.

As for the side games I felt a little cheated as these were normally part of the game and had to completed to move on. For instance the Sid's Slippery Sloth challenged I mentioned earlier was one of these and had to be completed to move on. It took me about five goes to get the hang of the different way this character moved. Once I had sorted it out though it was quite easy, but to start with it was a little annoying that I couldn't just skip it and move along. Another mini game that really stumped me was the 'short nose kids' game. Here you had to watch what the kids did and then point and select which kid flipped over in the right order within a certain time. It sounded simple, but it took me many goes to get it right and there was no margin of error. If you got it wrong once it was best to wait for the clock to finish before you could try again.

One point to make is that there is no multi-player mode or any online type of link up, which for some people might be a disadvantage, but I didn't mind as I prefer single player games anyway. Overall I felt the idea of the game was good with Scrat hunting acorns and other items to get through to the next level. I liked the parts where I had to defeat a character or win a competition against them. I thought some of the levels were cleverly thought out to link up with the film and I enjoyed some of the interactions between Scrat and the movie characters. The only down side was the ending which was rather abrupt and sudden. It seemed like the game had been finished before the film and the game designers just ended their game quickly rather than usurping the film.

~Controls~
Using the standard Xbox controller, the left thumb stick controls movement and the right thumb stick camera views. The four buttons control attack (X), throwing stones (B), actions (Y) and jump (A). The left trigger controls a special spin attack if you have the right amount of power and the right trigger allows you to go into first person view. Additionally the white button allows you to sniff out special goodies if you are nearby and the Start button will bring you to a paused screen where you can save, quit or gain hints if you are stuck. There are other combinations of controls that will let you do double jumps, roll attacks and stomps to break open into special areas, but I won't go into detail.

~Graphics~
The characters are well defined in the game and there are no really buggy scene moments our anything else that I saw when I played the game. Scrat is well detailed and his tail seems fluffier than in the film or it might be that you tend to view it about 90% of the time. The scenery is good and the little secret areas are not too secret so you tend to see most of them before you wander past them.

~Sound~
This part of the game is very good as the background music is soft and gentle and is very fitting for the overall fluffiness of the game. The sounds that Scrat makes were exactly the same as in the film with his squeaks, scratching, sniffing and screaming. All the other characters were voiced by the same actors as in the film and this all made the game mesh together perfectly.

~Conclusion~
As there are no links on the start page to the side games and no multi-player mode, or any way in which to change your character, the game has small replay value. I completed the game in about two weeks whilst playing a couple of hours here or there. So I guess an expert gamer would rush to the ending in an evening of gaming frenzy.

That isn't really the market that this game has aimed at, it is definitely one for children and in that it excels. There is just enough to keep a youngster interested and entertained without making it too difficult for them or a 32 year old. I'm not quite sure what age I would limit children to playing this game, but I would think that they would either need some help or have a bit of gaming experience already. There is also a lot of use of the vibration unit in the controller, which gives you that extra sensory dimension. This is particularly noticeable when Scrat smells some goodies and you get a pulse in the controller reminding you to press the sniff button. As this was my first incursion into the fluffy world of Xbox games for children I found it funny, entertaining, but occasional annoyingly fluffy. Overall I would recommend it to those with children and anyone who wants to play the Ice Age characters in a game. In the end I gave this a four star rating as it was good, but it didn't really shine and has little replay value.

Thanks for reading, rating and commenting. This is my first review on a console game and I would be grateful for some feedback (good or bad).

Martin

(This review can also be found on Epinions and is written by me under the same username.)

Summary: A nice fluffy game for all the family