by Robert Workman on Tuesday, May 31, 2005
When a new animated movie usually hits theatres, it's more than likely not long before we see a video game based on the antics of the characters from the film. Well, leave it to Activision to follow up last year's successful Shrek 2 game with Madagascar, a somewhat predictable yet still fun platforming adventure from the folks at Toys For Bob. It follows the same path as the film and delivers some good fun throughout a series of level, following the misadventures of four unique zoo animals as they work to find their way home.
The game follows the misadventures of Alex the lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo as they start out their day relaxing and enjoying the good life as the main attractions at the Central Park Zoo. But soon, Marty finds he wants to discover more of the world and escapes, and his friends follow after him. Soon, they wind up on a boat headed for the outer shores, which is soon hijacked by a group of mischievous penguins. This results in the quartet getting dropped off in Madagascar, where they quickly meet up with both the friendly and not-so-friendly locals.
The game lets you control each of the four characters in a team effort, as each of them brings an ability that comes in handy for accessing new areas. For instance, Gloria can snowball her way through solid rocks to reach otherwise unreachable areas, while Melman can fling lemurs into higher areas to access new places to go. The game also lets you control the evil penguins as they take over the vessel, knocking out humans and trapping enemies in cages. The diversity of this helps mix up the gameplay nicely.
It's not exactly a memorable quest, but Madagascar is still a good time, especially to fans of the movie who can't get enough of its main characters. The game contains some cartoonish violence but nothing really harmful past that, so it's a good time for the young ones. Pick it up and see if it...ahem...zoo-ts you.
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