Playstation 2 - Madagascar

Format
Playstation 2
Publisher
Activision
Developer
Toys for Bob
Country of origin
US
Genre
Platform

Madagascar

By David Rasmussen
26th Nov 05

There are some things that you are probably sick and tired of by now.
High gas prices, AIDS, continuing bad news about the H5N1 “Avian Bird Flu” virus, Michael Jackson, five more Grand Theft Auto clone games that are (bleep)y, (bleep)y movie based video games.
…alright so this is one of those things you are probably sick of, mainly a review of (bleep)y movie based games… sorry. Though there are worse things than movie based games, and that thing is movie based games based on not so universally loved animated movies -- which means your doubly screwed since this is one of those reviews! Sorry.

Anyway when you talk about animated movie based games that are more forgettable for anyone above the age of underaged you are talking about the juggernauts that is Dreamworks & Disney! Of course since this is a Dreamworks review we’ll stick to them like bad press sticks to FEMA… allegedly.
Yeah. You’ve been bombarded with quite a few Dreamworks animated movie related games lately haven’t you. Shark Tales (which doesn‘t seem to star Will Smith), Shrek 2 (which was a not so inspired platformer), Robots (which may or may not star Ewan (couldn’t make time for SW Episode III game tie in) McGregor and Robin (couldn’t make time for Kingdom Hearts) Williams), and now Madagascar. Yes, Madagascar, ‘cause somebody needs to make a knockoff of the recent Ben Stiller/Chris Rock movie about four friends who end up stuck on the island of Madagascar… if for no other reason then for said stars to ignore said movie tie in and force the gamemakers to cast people who sound like them (allegedly)… right? Right.

If you’ve seen the movie then you know the drill. If not then here it is, short and… short.
Marty the Zebra has hit the big 1-0 and has become disillusioned with zoo life. He is sick of his life in this rather sterile Zoo in New York City and he wants out, back to the “wild“ of “nature“ where he thinks he belongs. So, to this end, he is helped out by the leader of the “Great Escape” penguins who assist in coaching him out by helping him defeat guards and solve simple lock puzzles by utilizing stealth and platforming techniques to… huh? He just vanished? There was no long platforming/stealth sequence in the movie and his “vanishing act” took about 5 seconds of filmtime? Well that would be no fun if you skip what would be a great platforming/stealth moment! By the way, today’s word is “simple”, for it is both the operational word and the mantra behind this game (all in one no less). The game starts on the day of Marty’s birthday where he (who is not played by Chris Rock though I guess it’s OK voicing considering it could be worse) visits his friends, learns about collecting power cards and the value of coins, not to mention the vital lesson he learns about the hilarity of sniffing helium from balloons. Funny.
This is also where you’ll (and Marty) gets the chance to learn the controls for each of the four main characters during that day’s roaming about including platforming skills training for Alex the Lion (who is not played by Ben Stiller), racing for Gloria the Hippo (ditto), kicking for Marty and mindless flaying and spinning by the Giraffe… whatshisname… Melvin I think… played by that guy who used to be in Friends (David Schwimmer) except in this game where somebody else plays him… I guess.

Anyway then you do the Great Escape thing in a part platforming slash stealth based level as you sneak out of the zoo as Marty (with the help of the leader of the penguins), which sets up the next level where you (as the three remaining companions) have to hunt Marty down in a New York City level which is mostly to show off the characters platforming abilities (or in Gloria‘s case racing and “combat“ abilities).
After that you are captured by the authorities and taken to the decks of the cargo ship shipping the foursome to Kenya… oh, yeah, and wouldn’t you know that on the same ship just so happens to be those four escape minded penguins! This level you play as them, and help them go Under Siege against the crew to take the ship over so they can hijack it for a trip to Antarctica. After that you watch the foursome (the one in the boxes who can’t do anything in this level) get tossed off the deck of the ship only to land on Madagascar, which leads to you finishing the game with a few more levels (a few new ones along with movie based ones) and the game ends. Simple. But then again I did say the operative mantra of the day would be “simple”.

As you can see from the story of the game said game is not an exact clone of the movie, though it does follow the movie rather well and it’s also a straightforward game with little chance for variety or originality in your gameplay choices so that’s a minus. Another minus is that since the game doesn’t exactly go with the movie there is very little actual movie footage, another minus if you bought the game for it’s tie-in with the movie (hoping to get quite abit of movie footage in the gameplay).

And if that wasn‘t enough in yet another minus it seems that (sadly) the only voices that might actually be from the movie in question seems to be the secondary and tertiary characters in the movie… in other words if you were hoping to spend a little quality gaming time with the stars of the movie then you are going to be one highly disappointed gamer. None of the stars seemed to have found it in their hearts to be in this game, which is sad really… though if I didn’t know better I’d say some of the other people who played the smaller talents did show up for this game… well, at least THEY found the time to come in and do their own video game tie in roles! So kudos to whoever from the movie found it in their heart to report for voice acting duty… whoever you may be… even if you didn’t play a large role in said movie! I don’t know who amongst the talent did that, but again kudos to you. Yeah, the game isn’t going to be winning Game of the Year anytime soon but the big stars could have at least taken the 3 fricking hours that is sometimes associated with games like this to sit down and do the damn voiceover work! I mean really! Couldn’t even spare 3 hours on one game’s voiceover tracks! Wow! You four are sooooooo busy!!

Ok, yes so maybe that’s not entirely fair to them since, yeah, Ben Stiller and Chris Rock are probably majorly busy and didn’t have time to do the voice acting. Still I don’t think anyone is going to be telling me that the David Schwimmer dude is too busy for his own animated movie tie-in game, especially since he doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything these days except for movies like Madagascar. What the hell is he doing these days that takes up his valuable time?! What!

So who amongst you will be taking this game home as a purchase instead of a rental? I guess if you are a little kid (in the highly popular pre-pubescent gaming category that a lot of games are actually geared towards) then you should find lots to love about this game. If you are (as I suspect) a post-pubescent adult then… you might like the mini games. Really, they are actually well crafted and fun to play.
Hidden throughout the game are arcade machines (look hard for some of them) which provide you with the most original part of this game, a small tasty batch of highly playable mini games that entertain like nobody’s business. There are even unlockable games like mini golf and shuffleboard which are also interesting. HOWEVER there is a downside. In order to reach the mini games you have a way too easy and uninspired platformer to wade through to find all the good stuff, not to mention the fact that I wish there was more of these delightful mini games to sink my teeth into.

Of course it also doesn’t help the game that story mode is way too easy to beat, and if you had one good long sitdown with this game odds are you’ll beat this game in only a few hours time. I don’t know about you but I don’t think that’s any good.

So really, if you are considering buying this it’s not for the storymode game (which is abit of the disappointing), it’s for the mini games. Games like the classic “Combat” inspired tank shooter, or the WWI aerial shooter where you escort a dirigible (a Zeppelin… you know, like the Hiddenburg) through enemy airspace. These are hot and something you will have fun sinking your teeth into. And let’s not forget the mini golf, which is yet another reason to consider this game… well, consider the mini games for their own release with more games and so forth people who made this game since that would be so nice. I think it would be nice. Ok. I guess the breakdown will wrap this up since I can’t think of much more.

Madagascar Breakdown
What’s Hot?
Hmmm…. Well the platforming is not the best, it’s not hard (you’ll finish the storymode in one sitting), and it’s not deep… but it’s not that bad. I guess the length of time to complete and the lack of any real challenge is the only thing keeping me from recommending this all out. I guess if I had to say there are good things about this game is that the platforming is a least somewhat passable and the voice acting is OK, so it’s not horrible. But the way this game excels is in the mini games. These stylishly crafted little distractions are quite fun, and worth diverting from the not so inspired game to play these over and over again.

What’s Not?
I wish there was a difficulty setting for this game… if there is I didn’t find it. I wish the game had abit more depth and challenge. I wish it wasn’t a movie based game (which usually dooms it from the start) and followed in the path of The Punisher & Incredible Hulk : Ultimate Destruction which set the stories in non movie related settings (Punisher was based on the Garth Ennis run in the Punisher comics while Hulk was an original work). And while I’m wishing (which I know won’t amount to much but I do it anyway) I wish Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and whoever played Gloria the Hippo could have actually found time in their oh-so busy schedules to do their own voice acting. And I wish they made a Mario Party style game instead of this since it seems the most fun I had with this is with the mini games. And while I’m at it I wish there was more mini games in this game, they were the best part of this game. There. Nuff said’.

Moments to Remember?
Let’s stick to the mini games, they’re memorable.

What to Ignore?
Hmmm… I don’t know. Again I guess this will be a fair hit for the young’uns but I’d rather you bought them fun games like We Love Katamari, or the Sly Cooper franchise trilogy, or the first and second Ratchet & Clank games… anything that is more fun than this.

Overall?
While I won’t recommend this right now I do want you to check this out when it’s price drops and come to under $20, then you might find enough reason (after a rental) to buy this. Still I wish Dreamworks would release a party game with all these mini games (and new ones) collected into one bundle of gaming joy that gives you the highs of this game (the mini games) and forgets the lows (the so-so platforming of the story mode) for one memorable purchase. Of course that’d be asking for too much, right?

Anyway what with Disney rolling out their newest animated movie based game (and I don’t mean the Chicken Little tie-in game or the “new“ Incredibles game, I mean the original Tim Burton Nightmare Before Christmas platformer, which makes sense since Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride is now doing well in theaters), I guess we’ll never see the end of animated movie based games, or movie based games in general.

And just so you know… Charlie & the Chocolate Factory is a godawful nightmare of a game! Don‘t buy it! Don‘t rent it! Don‘t trip over the thing in a dark alley! The game takes too many liberties with the original work and churns out (bleep) that doesn’t even respect the Johnny Depp version of the classic, let alone respects the novel or the original Gene Wilder version! Pass on this frightfest! You want to buy a game that’ll scare you forever go play Fatal Frame II : Crimson Butterflies, at least the scarring will be for all the right reasons… really.

Next time I defy all common sense and logic by reviewing another movie based game based on an animated movie I will be taking a look at the title where we’ll be talkin’ rabbits. And no I’m not reviewing Iron Chef the Video Game, I’m reviewing a title that I’m pretty certain only my UK/Region 2 viewing readers will have any real deep knowledge of… aka we’re reviewing Wallace & Grommit : Curse of the Were Rabbit.
Yes, the game where rabbits multiply, you play as a man who likes to invent and a dog who can knit, rampant mad scientist style genetic engineering is shown to be both fun and profitable, and where football (soccer) is a mini-game and “humane pest control” equals sucking a rabbit into a vacuum cleaner and chucking it (or just plain chasing it) into a pocket vortex that makes it vanish… which makes more sense than the time they traveled to the moon ‘cause they ran out of cheese for their crackers. Yeah, right.

-- David Rasmussen 26th Nov 05

Playstation 2 Madagascar Images