Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

1. Official Site
2. Platform: 360
3. Publisher: Activision Blizzard
4. Developer: Toys for Bob
5. Release Date: 11/04/08
6. Genre: Platform

by Mitch Youngblood

It was right about the time when I found myself playing musical chairs on the plains of the Serengeti that I checked right out of Madagascar 2. Abandoning all pretense of even the slightest farcical nature of the rather lame original movie, the video game of the sequel leaps right past silly and lands squarely in the land of the absurd. Put another way – one mini game involves your character pimp slapping adorable lion cubs at musical chairs while they whine, helpless to stop you.

Another mini-game involves clicking a button and hoping for a jackpot.

Another mini-game involves casting a reel for different kinds of fish, and even some monkeys.

Another mini-game involves surgery on giraffes without the use of surgical tools like power saws and nail guns, thereby automatically wasting my time.

And so on.

I should point out that this game is rated "E-10" for "Everyone can suck it because we’re not making a game anyone past the age of 10 will enjoy." Then again, that could also apply to every DreamWorks Animation feature ever released save for the brilliant Kung Fu Panda. Take note DreamWorks, and by that I mean you Mr. Spielberg – a series of fart and pop culture jokes animated with bright pretty colors lacks, shall we say, nuance which will allow other equally well animated films to endure for the next few centuries (i.e. the entire Pixar roster).

I bring up this point because if you’re wanting a closer look at the wildlife of Africa or really anything other than a run-of-the-mill platformer chock full of repetitive mini-games, then look elsewhere. Otherwise, journey with me across the plains where we will endeavor to keep Elton John at bay as the game tries oh so hard to be a canny send-up of “The Lion King”…. so many years removed the joke is utterly lost on kids not born when it was released.

Say what I will about the gameplay, and I intend to knock it quite a bit, the graphics are quite pretty. There is plenty of color and pop as players run across the plains of Africa, then dive off cliffs into pools below. There are several different areas surrounding a central hub from which most missions originate, and this one hub is where you’ll stumble across numerous sidequests and story events. It’s all very well laid out and easy enough to navigate, which is pretty much how the rest of the game goes as well.

It is difficult to get lost in the game considering the brightly colored arrows that usually point the way. Convenient how these are strategically placed throughout Africa. At the very least, you will not lose your way as you navigate cliffs, dangerous but easily dispatched vultures, boulder rolling, and even a car chase. This last is about the only time when the graphics really suffered and it was startling to go from vibrant to washed out. I understand that we’re driving along a backwoods road but it’s like the developers went out of their way to suck all the resolution out of this one sequence. It stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest, which remains easy on the eyes.

One of the first rules of writing dialog is to understand that what looks good on paper may not sound good once spoken aloud. Write a sentence of dialog. Doesn’t matter what the topic is. Then say it out loud as though you’re speaking to a friend. Does it work? Does it not work? Either way, you will have passed a test I wish had been administered to the developers of Madagascar 2 because the linguistic failures here border on epic. I’m not kidding when I point out an achievement is specifically aimed at tormenting older players.

The principle cast handed off their vocal work duty to a crew of backbenchers from Saturday morning cartoons. The delivery of the most stilted lines is just painful. But due to being a masochist (and a reviewer on deadline) I endured so you don’t have to.

The sound effects are agreeable enough, though not truly noteworthy. Jumps, roars, melon tossing, and rocks falling all sound as they probably should though just for grins I’m going to throw some melons at people at the office while roaring and jumping. All for the sake of comparison, mind you. This review will be amended with the results of this highly accurate and controlled test.

The controls are pretty basic overall. The A button is jump, the X button is attack, the Y button is to use a special move, and the B button is pretty much ignored for this particular outing. While those are easy enough to comprehend and learn on the fly, I take umbrage with developers who refuse to give me the option to invert the X or Y axis on the camera. It’s not that hard, geniuses. No, it’s really not. Stop arguing, and put it the hell into your games. Now!

Running across Africa is no big deal. With everything as simple to pick up and play as it is, even Little Timmy will quickly become a master of the game play. Which is good news when it extends to the numerous mini-games because those are either simple point and click exercises or slightly more involved duties such as repairing sick giraffes. The controls do become fairly cumbersome during the chase sequence, but that's due to having penguins driving a jeep and the developers thinking they needed to accurately portray how the vehicle would handle. It handles poorly to say the least. Fortunately, the rest of the game does not have these issues.

Imagine this: You sit down after a long day at the office and want to relax by blowing off some steam. Not exactly outside the realm of possibility for most of us. You throw on Madagascar 2 imagining that it should provide a solid hour or two worth of diversion from the harsh realities of paying off that credit card you so recently wracked up to astronomical levels. You then find yourself submerged in a sea of poorly written cutscenes (so poorly written the designers added an endurance Achievement daring you to sit through 25 cutscenes without skipping any) while sometimes running around the African plains with nary a native in sight.

This begs the question "Who exactly was this game made for?"

I ask this because on the surface level it is entirely kiddie fare, and I can fully understand that. I would also point to the LEGO series as a textbook case on how to make family fare accessible and fun for the entire family and not just Little Timmy.

While going through the various sequences from the film (I can only imagine as I have not seen it yet) players take control of the four main characters as well as the commando penguins, aka the sole funny part of the first movie. Players use the various abilities of the lion, the giraffe, the hippo, and the zebra to complete tasks, open up new areas, compete in races, and rip off Katarmari Damacy whole hog. I’m serious. Every single time you take control of the giraffe you somehow wind up on a boulder and have to roll it around crushing things in order to use them.

So how is the game for people whose feet don’t touch the floor? Okay, I suppose. Maybe it is fatherhood knocking on my door but I kept thinking how a lack of dexterity brought on by decades (yes, decades) of video gaming would fare while playing this particular title. Not well, was the final assessment. Among the mini-games are ones where you have to target moving objects and either shoot them with a Mort gun (that makes sense in context), a fishing reel, or soda cans. This combined with the thumb skills necessary for the boulder rolling and the result for those less skilled among us is a continuing series of reloads.

I remember those days well. They usually ended with "this sucks!" and me going outside to play with the dog.

The platforming aspects fare a bit better though they require players to slog through an unholy amount of mini-games beforehand. Jumps have to be particularly timed and players need nimble thumbs to ensure they stay on the balancing beams. Were this the first platformer for the Junior Gamer in the house, you could always tell them games improve the older they get.

Then make sure they never see that copy of Turok on your bookself.

The value of this game rests squarely on two factors: 1. Do you have kids? and 2. Do you hate them? If the answer to #1 is no then there is no need to play this ever. If the answer to #2 is yes, then first of all I feel sorry for you and secondly this is the perfect gift for the little brats. Meanwhile, my wife is busy smacking me on the back of the head claiming that our firstborn should have the chance to play it.

In short, the value of a game is directly proportional to how much fun you have with it. In this case, you have to ask yourself just how much you enjoy musical chairs of the Serengeti and if you honestly want to fish or play rudimentary animal soccer (and really is there any other kind?).

Madagascar 2 is not the most fun one could have in the gaming world right now. Dumbing myself down for a moment to the level of a child, I still didn’t find much to enjoy about the game. It aims for witty but misses so widely I think the game actually hit my neighbor. It’s surprisingly claustrophobic despite giving the impression of being set outdoors. It also lacks a great deal of fun, a key ingredient which the developers ignored while opting to add in a host of monotonous mini-games instead.

So while this may not make a whole lot of sense, let me summarize by pointing out that neither does Madagascar 2. For a very linear game, it’s awfully confusing in the sense that if there is a story involved, it is clearly lost in the Sahara which is roughly a zillion miles away from where the story is set. Not unlike the developers’ attention spans when they were making this game.

Gaming Trend Score

69

1. Graphics: 88
2. Audio: 70
3. Controls: 85
4. Gameplay: 55
5. Value/Replay: 60
6. OVERALL:69