Madagascar

Madagascar (featuring the voice talents of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and several other big-name actors) is the latest film to face the transition from celluloid to videogame. As the film is a CGI-animated feature, the transition looks fairly seamless, as the game looks and feels a lot like its movie counterpart. The characters (while unfortunately not voiced by the movie actors) have all of the personality as their screen versions, and the gameplay, while not terribly deep or challenging, should appeal to young children who enjoyed the film.

Madagascar puts you in control of various characters from the film, like Marty the Zebra, Alex the Lion, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, as they leave their cushy positions at a zoo in New York to journey to their homeland in Africa. Along the way, they break out of the zoo and hop a boat, getting into all kinds of trouble on the way home.

Each of the characters comes into play at different portions of the game, and as such, each of them has their own abilities and specialties. For example, Marty can double jump, which comes in handy when it comes to getting coins that are high in the air, and Alex’s roar is very effective against all kinds of enemies. As you progress through the game, you gain more and more abilities for your characters, enabling them to perform new moves to help complete the game’s missions and jumping puzzles. Each time you learn a new move, the game will give the player a tutorial on how to use the move in the game. The game basically holds your hand as you play, making it very easy for youngsters to pick up and play, but it makes it a bit too easy if you are a seasoned gamer.

While the game is very much on the simplistic side, there are tons of minigames to play as you go through the game. As you progress, you can guide Gloria the Giraffe through a Frogger-style game, play mini-golf, and several other diversions that keep the game interesting.

The game falls prey to many camera issues as the player’s vision will become impaired frequently through the game. While these issues do straighten themselves out after a while, it still removes you from the game and might be a problem to the players towards whom the game is geared, the kiddies.

Graphically, Madagascar looks really good, as the characters and the colorful environments are good representations of their onscreen counterparts. The framerate is fairly constant, and the animations are goofy (in a good way) and give the characters a lot of personality. The only problem with the game’s aesthetic is the awkward camera.

The sound department is also pretty impressive. The cartoony sound effects are quite nice, and add a lot of personality to the game. Even though the actual film cast doesn’t do the voice work, the actors do a good job of impersonating the style of the movie’s actors. The soundtrack is also quite nice, and gives the game its lighthearted feel.

Madagascar is a fun game, albeit a pretty simplistic one. Aside from the camera issues and low difficulty level, fans of the film and young children should have a good time playing through the storyline of the film.

Gameplay: 7.2
The game is very assorted in terms of gameplay, as there are tons of minigames to keep players entertained for a while. Unfortunately, the low challenge level and overall simplicity of the game will likely turn away more experienced gamers.

Graphics: 7.5
The characters and the environments look good and have the animated style as the film on which they’re based. Unfortunately, there are some nasty camera problems that can be quite frustrating.

Sound: 8.0
The voice acting (while not the actual film actors) is great, and the musical score keeps well with the overall lighthearted mood of the game.

Difficulty:  Easy

Concept: 7.5 
While the experience is short and simple, the game has a diverse collection of minigames that should keep younger fans interested for a while.

Overall: 7.5
Madagascar certainly won’t dazzle you if you’re an experienced gamer, as the gameplay is geared towards the younger crowd. However, if you fall into the latter category, then you should give Madagascar’s fun gameplay and addicting minigames a whirl.