Nintendo DS

Madagascar

Madagascar is a fun platformer. The presentation is stellar, and it makes good use of the NDS’s unique capabilities. That said it is just a tad too difficult at times.

As with many games, Madagascar is a mixture of good and bad. The graphics and sounds are very nice, as is the music until it gets to be a bit too much. The length of the gameplay and the replyability makes for an enjoyable game once you get past the sometimes frustrating difficulty and the slightly awkward controls. That being said, the game is a solid platformer although perhaps not well-aimed at its intended audience. Unless it's being purchased for a fan of the movie or for a diehard platformer who can handle the difficulty level, this game is better of purchased once the price lowers or at a sale price.

While Madagascar initially appears to deliver the goods you'll quickly discover that it's mostly the one variety and it suffers from repetition with only the mini-games and hiding levels breaking up the package. There's still a great deal of gameplay for your money though and even more replay value should you choose to go for the perfect score. This was an adult?s opinion but I have to say my younger niece absolutely loved this game and she's yet to even see the movie it's based on. With that in mind it would be foolish of me to ignore the intended audience and as I'm writing this my niece is still pounding the buttons of my DS after well over an hour on this game so in that respect alone Vicarious Visions have clearly done it yet again.

Madagascar is a great deal of fun and is gloriously cute to look at. If you're completely (animal) crackers about the movie, it's just the ticket.

Overall, even though it's ultimately unremarkable for a platformer, it's at least a solid effort...for the Game Boy Advance. On the Nintendo DS, however, the effort just doesn't match what's expected out of the system. It doesn't offer much more than the Game Boy Advance edition, and when you can already play the GBA game on the dual-screen handheld, the "native" version really needs to be something special. Madagascar's DS outing, however, doesn't have nearly enough to match that status for the system's more creative capabilities.

In the end, Madagascar is an enjoyable platformer that most younger gamers should like. It’s not too hard, so they’ll spend more time playing than complaining about how hard it is. Meanwhile, it doesn’t offer enough challenge to warrant the purchase for anyone over age ten (unless they are really a fan of the movie). As was the case with last month’s Revenge of the Sith, the decision on whether to purchase the DS or GBA version is strictly up to you. If the ability to quickly select characters and a few short mini-games is worth the extra money, go for the DS version. If not, you’ll get the same experience with the GBA.

Madagascar is not a bad game by any stretch but it really doesn't have an identity of its own as far as the gameplay is concerned. Young gamers enamoured with the characters may not even notice and as such will have what they consider a great game on their hands. As long as you like it, it doesn't matter what I think.

Dans un autre registre que la version de salon, ce Madagascar DS s'en sort finalement mieux sur une console où la concurrence n'est pas encore trop sévère. C'est vrai qu'on est un peu biaisé sur la durée de vie, mais passé outre ce détail, ceux qui se plaisent à nettoyer de fond en comble chaque niveau, devraient apprécier.

But isn’t there one highlight? One thing that makes this game special? There is a single cartridge multiplayer mode, isn’t there? That one sounds good? No, sorry I have to disappoint you, but playing the 2-player mode is really nothing to look forward to. It’s simply yet another boring mini-game. Hardly fun for one time to play, a barbarous punish to play it more often. So expect no high graphics standard, no special touch screen features, let alone other renewing stuff. Madagascar just brings you a standard platform game that follows the story of the movie. No more, no less.