Ice Age 2 the meltdown
SCORE: 78
The original Ice Age movie thrilled a lot of people with its unique brand of sarcastic humor. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown continues the story. Sierra and VU Games completely understands that the star of these movies is Scrat (the little squirrel like creature). Some of the best humor comes because this poor little animal can't ever seem to get the nut he worked so hard to attain. Getting to play Scrat in the game is quite a treat, and having him collect nuts is very satisfying. This is one very solid action adventure game on the Nintendo Gamecube, Sony Playstation 2, and Microsoft Xbox. This game is rated E10+ (meaning everyone of the age of 10 or older) for crude humor, and mild cartoon violence
The graphics in Ice Age 2 exhibit the changing of winter into spring; from the frozen tundra to lush forests. The character models for all the characters look good, although not at the level of the movies animation. This reviewer is really into the art style used. The range of graphics from swampy mud flats to a fire volcano was surprising with a name like Ice Age, but then it was the Meltdown. Enemies can be stomped on by Scrat, and usually are stunned. Certain enemies later like the spiders can be done away with once and for all.
The crisp and clear sounds work well in this game. Acquiring nuts (fruits, etc.) is easily identifiable via the sounds. The cheerful music is done at what seems like orchestra quality. The game loses some points for its crude humor, which includes flagellation jokes. Some of the characters are down right mean, nasty and/or rude to the player in what they have to say. Thankfully this is a small part of the game, but worth mentioning.
There are a lot of different nuts, and fruits hidden throughout each of the levels. Acquiring a thousand nuts in a given world (usually five levels in a world) will earn the player a bonus feature. These bonus features are cast (people behind the voices) from the movie talking a little bit about the movie. These actors also talk a little bit about video games, which usually is they know nothing about them. On a lot of levels this unlockable bonus was not worth the price of admission. This is a game that this reviewer can be worth a rental, but not a full purchase. The length of this game is about average, but it starts to feel really repetitive after awhile.
The controls are quick, responsive, and layed out well. It is a blast running around open areas with Scrat. The level design shows a veteran hand was behind this game. This was a very fun game to play for the short time it was being played. The skills that the player learns are all utilized in just the right parts to make this game a lot of fun.
In a lot of ways this game is tame, especially in the violence area.
The crude humor has been mentioned, and that is certainly something to
be very mindful of. Another facet of this game that troubled this
reviewer deeply, was one of the characters (the sloth) being worshiped
by other characters. There was a totem pole, and the mini sloths
worshiped a fire god. In a weird twist after worshiping the bigger
sloth, they tried to sacrifice him to the volcano. That was only one
level, however it is definitely something to be mindful of.
- Paul
Graphics: 83%
Sound: 78%
Replay/Extras: 72%
Gameplay: 93%
Family Friendly Factor: 64%
System: Playstation 2/Gamecube/Xbox
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Rating: 'E10+' for Everyone 10+
{Crude Humor, Mild Cartoon Violence}
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