I left Madagascar the movie impressed that DreamWorks had made yet another animated movie that appealed to my whole family. I'm happy to say that when Activision took the movie and turned it into a game, they kept that same appeal. The "E" rating should stand for fun for Everyone, not just appropriate for Everyone. The game play challenge itself probably isn't enough to make hard-core console gamers break into a sweat while playing through the levels, but just playing to hear the comments by the characters and relive the story from the movie (with most of the great one-liners included in the cut scenes) is enough to keep us playing through to the end. Add in the special mini-games that you can unlock and challenge other players in, and I think Activision has a real winner with Madagascar.
The best way to describe the gameplay is to say that you're playing the movie. You start out the game as Marty the Zebra on his birthday, just like in the movie. During the introductory chapter you learn the basics of what each character can do, unlocking the first of their special abilities by passing a particular goal. Marty, for example, learns how to kick his way out of the zoo and crouch down to sneak past guards. Each character has five special abilities, though some can only be used after eating a special plant. Learning to master these abilities early on is important, because you'll use them over and over again. After breaking out of the zoo and chasing Marty through the streets of Manhattan, the animals are captured and put on board a cargo ship headed toward Kenya.
After completing this level you unlock my favorite mini-game. There are three mini-games available. Tiki Mini-Golf, Shuffleboard and Lemur Rave. You have to unlock the map to the games before you can play, and then you must purchase the game from the Zoovenir Shop with the Monkey Money you earned while playing through the various levels. Tiki Mini-golf is too difficult to be much fun. You have to be very precise in your swings, and some of the holes are designed really strangely. You can play by yourself, or with up to six players, and just like in golf you are trying to get the lowest score possible, not the highest. If you enjoy mini-golf games in general, then you'll like the challenge of this one. But personally, I like Shuffleboard much. In Shuffleboard you challenge a friend, or just play two characters yourself, on one of four shuffleboards to see who can reach a certain number of points (9, 12 or 15) first. Your characters ride the shuffleboard puck along the board, and it's a lot of fun to watch them "surf" their way down. You set how hard they throw the puck and where they aim it, and can even bump your own (or your opponent's) pucks to change previous throws. This combines skill with strategy, especially if you can master how hard to throw a puck early on to score the most points per throw. My 9-year-old son and I have played over and over again using the same characters (so that we can track our overall wins and losses) and the novelty of the game hasn't worn off for either of us yet. The third mini-game, Lemur Rave, was best described by my son: "Its like Dance, Dance Revolution for your fingers." The controller becomes your feet, and you have to follow the on screen prompts in time to the music, with your accuracy being judged on each "step" until the song is over and your total score is displayed. You can play in one- or two-player mode, but if you play in two-player mode you have to connect a second controller. The music is fun and fits with the Lemur-jungle setting, and you can set the challenge level and style, so if you find it too easy you can switch to a harder setting on the fly. But really, the mini-games are just a fun diversion from the main storyline of the game.
When I talked to my son about how hard he found the game, he said it was "in the middle." It isn't as hard as some console games he's played. I don't think I've yet seen him walk away totally frustrated by the game the way I have seen him walk away from some games, but it isn't so easy that he's bored either. The hardest character for him to play tends to be Melman, especially when he has to helicopter from one spot to another. The easiest is Marty - all his special abilities seem to have a better layout than some of the other characters', and he's somehow more responsive than some of the others. I don't know how much replayability the game will have once he's played his way through it, but it has taken him more than a week of this being the only PS2 game he's wanted to play, and he still hasn't quite finished it. Even if he doesn't replay it, the time he spent playing through once has been enough to establish the value of the game. And, because we all liked the movie so much, his younger siblings enjoy just watching him play (offering words of advice along the way, of course) just to see the storyline unfold again. You have to repeatedly hit certain controls during the game too quickly for my 7-year-old daughter to play the game, but this is probably more because she's not used to console games than because the difficulty level is too high. The game rating does say it is for everyone 10 and up, but if you took your son or daughter to see Madagascar the movie and didn't have a problem with the humor, then the game will be just fine.
We all agree that if you liked the movie, then you'll love the game. Its hours of fun, not too difficult to master, and has mini-games that are a fun diversion from playing through the storyline. Madagascar the game is well worth it, especially if you need something to get you through until the movie comes out on DVD.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
