Thankfully, Ice Age 2 is not one of these games.
Rather, development studio Eurocom has delivered a conventional if not sometimes-simple platformer whose intuitive controls, colorful style, and smart use of the movie license will suit young players just fine. And indeed, it may even satisfy some older players - we certainly found ourselves involved with some of the gameplay quests and laughing at some of the adventure's humorous situations.
Back to the Ice Age
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown follows the general storyline found in the movie of the same name, which means that players will go back to prehistoric times to meet such likeable characters as Manny the mammoth, Sid the sloth, and Diego the smilodon. Via a balanced blend of well-implemented movie snippets and real-time cut-scenes we learn that the ice age is at its end, but that melting snow threatens to drown the landscape in water if the unlikely gang of heroes can't first do something about it. Interestingly, gamers don't usually take control of these three main stars. Instead, the majority of the game is played as Scrat, which is the name of the squirrel-rat featured in so many Ice Age ads. The whimpering character is on a perpetual hunt for acorns and somehow always finds trouble instead.
Eurocom's platformer succeeds in a number of important areas. First and foremost, it's fun. Not only does Scrat control well, but he's got a number of smile-inducing moves at his disposal. He can hop, run, climb, jump, spin, kick, swim, and hurl objects at would-be enemies. He can swing from ropes, cling to walls, and execute a number of entertaining context-sensitive maneuvers. For instance, in one challenge, he must play dead when attempting to sneak past Diego, who will occasionally turn around and see if anybody or anything is behind him. This move only becomes available in this situation and it works well, both because it's intuitively performed and because it's pretty funny to watch unfold.
The title also perfectly captures the style and color of the movies, which is rare of a movie-to-game transition. Not only does the effort feature the aforementioned movie snippets, but it also employs the talents of actors Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary, who lend their voices to the characters Manny, Sid and Diego respectively. There are some genuinely funny lines and situations in the game, some of which are directly related to gameplay. For instance, in one downhill sequence, Sid the sloth races through a series of icy tunnels and then springs off a ramp directly into the air, at which point gameplay seamlessly switches to a rhythm-matching sequence right out of a DDR title. It's a natural progression that works very well, and it's bound to make some players giggle.
Scrat himself is a very engaging character simply because he's so pathetic. The videogame re-creation of the whimpering squirrel-rat is spot on thanks to convincing animation and appropriately agitated audio samples. When he walks, he grunts just as he does in the movies, and he's constantly on edge, as though someone or something dangerous is lurking just out of view. In this way, he's a very untraditional videogame hero. And he thrives in interesting situations. Maneuvering him through the belly of a giant fish and then watching as he squirms through the creature's backside in a real-time cut-scene is unexpectedly humorous, and slightly disgusting. It is during scenes such as this that Ice Age 2 reminds us of games like Banjo-Kazooie, which is a high compliment.
The biggest problem with Ice Age 2 is that it follows all of the basic platforming formulas and rarely strays from them. This may be ideal for younger players, but seasoned gamers could find themselves growing tired of collect-a-thons or solving standardized flip-switch puzzles in order to advance. Many of the game's objectives revolve around picking up acorns or simply finding a means to gain access to a seemingly unreachable area, and therefore skilled participants probably won't encounter many true obstacles as they endeavor to complete the game. That noted, the title does try and mix it up with interesting new twists on the dated formula. For example, in one scene Scrat finds himself standing behind a gassy beast whose flatulent bursts propel the squirrel-rat into the air and onto an otherwise unreachable ledge.
The game's character models look and animate fluidly. We found ourselves intentionally making Scrat walk slowly just to see how ridiculous he appeared. Simple pleasures, we suppose, but the process resulted in chuckles all the same. As good as the characters look, the worlds themselves tend to lack overall definition. That is to say, the levels are low polygon in design and textures relatively undefined as compared to the graphics in some cutting-edge current-generation titles. This is not to suggest that the visuals look poorly, though, because they don't. To its credit, Ice Age 2 features a commendable selection of different locales, from wide-open icy platforms to underwater caves, high-up treetops, muddy bogs and even the bloody insides of giant creatures. Plus, the game runs in both progressive scan and 16:9 widescreen modes on Wii. And to top everything off, the framerate is generally locked at a welcomed silky smooth fluidity.