Nintendo DS

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Escape 2 Africa was a delightful surprise. King Julien’s witty commentary -- along with some pleasurable mini-games and a story that actually made sense -- all came together to make this title one of the few licensed games worth recommending. The game’s only flaws lie in its artificial difficulty curve and repetitive game mechanics throughout the main adventure. Nevertheless, these shortcomings are forgivable given its target audience and overall quality.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’s lighthearted feel and basic gameplay should appeal to younger audiences and fans of the film, but the repetitive nature and lack of challenge will likely turn everyone else off.

Madagascar Escape 2 Africa is a generic and rather boring affair. It looks good and sounds great, but the gameplay doesn't do anything original. The stuff that is in there is basic and the game offers no challenge. It does have a variety of things to do and the play time is decent for a movie based game, but the entire experience just feels bland. With so many games aimed at kids out there today developers need to bring a lot more than this to stand out.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is filled with a lot of unnecessary elements - like touch screen mini-games - that attempt to extend the life of a short game. It is perfectly suited to children who enjoyed the movies and can overlook the game's more glaring flaws. Most everyone else should skip what is simply a mediocre platformer that brings nothing new to the genre.

Overall, I was unimpressed with Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. It failed to do anything new with the licensed game model and was instead content to just churn out the same basic game we get with most movies these days. The more licensed games I play, the more I really want to see a developer take a movie and turn it into a high quality title. After all, there’s enough creativity to make a good movie, so why not use some of those juices to make a good game?, Escape 2 Africa is not worth a purchase. It’s a bland, boring side-scrolling game full of repetitive combat, bad level design, and lacks any real challenge.

All in all, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is not a game that I would recommend for the hardcore gamers. The gameplay is mediocre at best and the camera is far from acceptable. The graphics are choppy and the animation lags. Although the Escape 2 Africa lacks quality it can provided a minor distraction while on a lunch break or between classes.