Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Movie tie-ins nowadays often fall flat when compared to their big screen counterparts. Some developers run the opposite way with the licenses, delivering prequels or sequels to the film franchise rather than an exact adaptation. Chronicles of Riddick proved that movie franchises can venture further than a direct video-game version. Thankfully Ice Age 2 doesn’t walk that thin line between canon and non-canon, but fleshes out one character’s role during the game. It expands the story rather than simplifying it, with adding intriguing tidbits that aren’t necessarily essential to the main plot outline. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a surprising experience that entails a lengthy discussion, so read on!

Ice Age 2 is aimed towards the younger audience – no surprises there. What is surprising is that Manfred the Mammoth is never playable throughout the journey. It revolves around the antics of Scrat for the majority of the game. Granted, Diego and Sid do make their appearances throughout the game – it’s just not in a large capacity. If you have watched the movie of Ice Age 2 or even the original for that matter, you’ll know that Manny, Diego and Sid are the main characters, no questions asked. To see Manny go without his own spotlight is disappointing for sure, though, it doesn’t drag it down one bit.

Manfred serves as the narrator, of sorts, for the story in Ice Age 2. His narrating helps fill that small void for fans of the series where he is left out as a playable character. He does show up in a few scenes just in case you are worried he was totally out of the loop. Fans of the film may be disappointed but … I wouldn’t fret for too long! Scrat is adorable as the lead character of the game and shines all the way through the game. Scrat isn’t the funniest character out of the quartet (Sid has that all down and patented) although he is a breath of fresh air.

The genre Ice Age 2 falls in is the typical platformer. You know the kind that has a furry character to lead the way. What isn’t typical is that the character, Scrat, is loveable, charming, cute, and a whole bunch of hilarity all rolled up into one. If you have seen the original film, his antics are a different type of comedy that puts a smile across the faces of millions of children at any instance. His role in Ice Age 2 is bigger than the original and you’ll have full control over this odd creature in the game. He can perform the standard double jump like any platform character can, he’ll use his tail to knock down characters, and even stomping on the characters is beneficial. Ice Age 2 avoids the unneeded violence with taking out the ability to kill enemies. Knocking them down is the only ability that serves as the most effective manner to eliminate them.

The action may sound a bit sour for many. The priority that is numero uno for Scrat is … collecting nuts. This is when the action portion is thrown out and puzzles are in full effect. Jump puzzles have you scavenging for nuts to collect. The difficulty of the puzzles isn’t hard at all; young players will find the controls easy to grasp a hold. Simplicity isn’t technically the factor that weighs in on the difficulty. It’s the fact that the controls are fluid. The controls are user-friendly to the point that anyone can pick up and play. Similar to when you pick up a controller in a store and find yourself immersed into that game for about fifteen minutes; this is where Ice Age 2 shines. You can easily play for fifteen minutes without even knowing it since it controls so nice.

What’s even better for the puzzles is that the levels are open to explore. No barriers, no large invisible walls – the levels are unrestrictive. I haven’t jumped around aimlessly in a long time in any video game just for the fun of it, but, Ice Age 2 allows for me to do that. Whether I was bored or not is a different a story. By the end of the game, you’ll look back and enjoy the time you put into jumping around. If the Scrat action isn’t your type of thing, there are mini-games that you’ll encounter along the way to play. Mini-games like a rhythm game with Sid and a Whack-A-Mole with Diego fill out a small portion of the gameplay beyond platforming. It’s nothing that should attract you to buy it for the mini-games alone.

Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, and Denis (to all those who spell his name wrong, only one ‘n’ is needed) Leary all lend their voices to the game. That’s a major selling point for any fanatic of Ice Age. Listening to the authentic voices is great news. No longer will you have to hear the likes of someone trying to copy Johnny Depp’s voice in games like Kingdom Hearts 2. The cast is all present and I love every minute of it. The technical side is all decent. The music choice isn’t my favorite and could have been touched up in a few rough spots.
 

Graphically speaking, Ice Age 2 delivers on all grounds. I only expected half the output in the graphics department so I must say; I am surprised on all grounds with the graphics. The character models stand out alone as the biggest contributing factor. All of them, especially Scrat, are excellent representations of their silver screen counterparts. Add on top of that the environments, the visuals are pleasing. The developers knew what they were doing because you can tell they had platforming on the top of their mind. Environments are colorful and expansive, enough to allow players to search for all those collectibles in the levels. Technically speaking, the frame-rates are almost perfect with only a few imperfections when it drops a tad – hardly anything to cry foul over.

The downside of Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is it only lasts four to six hours. This is enough time to beat it with one rental and I advise players to look at that option first. It’s at a decent price of $39.99; it’s not going to break your wallet if you venture out to buy it. If you buy it, I’d hope you have children in mind since you’ll come away disappointed in the end with the replay value. Your children, on the other hand, should find time to play this over and over again, with such cutesy characters that bring attention anywhere they go it's no wonder this is a hit in the box office again. If you haven’t seen the movie and worry the game will ruin the story – no worries, the game avoids any real plot spoilers. 

Gameplay: 7.4
Controls play a big part of why I liked the gameplay. Scrat is a heart-warming character that anyone would become attached to.

Graphics: 7.5
They aren’t next-generation graphics. They do serve their purpose and deliver a great representation of the movie.

Sound: 7.8
Denis Leary is incredible and one of the best stand-up comedians out there. It’s even better that he lent his voice to the video game along with Romano and Leguizamo to round out the main characters.

Difficulty: Easy
Smooth controls lead to players being able to grasp the difficulty of the game within the first 15 minutes. The puzzles aren’t death-defying hard.

Concept: 6.5
Games that are apart of movie franchises aren’t anything new. I do love that they featured Scrat as the lead of the game.

Overall: 7.4
This has rental written all over it. If you have children, this has MUST BUY written all over it.