Madagascar (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

While Disney's partnership with PIXAR was seen as something of a passing phase all those years ago the success of the likes of Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles has guaranteed that the other big studios followed suit. The full-length CGI movie is now more common than the traditional hand drawn variety. We've already seen Robots (and played the rather weak game) and now it's the turn of DreamWorks with their latest offering Madagascar. Based around four New York City Zoo inhabitants who long for adventure only to discover that they aren't exactly equipped for the kind of situations that present themselves in the outside world. The trailers look truly hilarious so let's hope the game is even half as entertaining.

Gameplay

Roughly following the plot of the movie, Madagascar has you controlling any one of four different characters throughout your journey to this far off island. Firstly there's Alex the Lion who not only possesses tremendous jumping abilities but also a rather frightening roar to boot. There's Marty the Zebra who's fond of kicking anything that moves (and some things that don't) whilst also having the unbelievable ability to crawl through tiny spaces. Melman the Giraffe is able to disguise himself as a tree at a moment?s notice, while Gloria the Hippo is the only one who can swim. The levels themselves generally involve you getting from 'A' to 'B' whilst collecting as many coins as possible and while these aren't essential to completing the game they do open up timed bonus levels. In addition to collecting there are also a handful of stealth levels involving the penguins, which challenges you to reach certain areas of the ship without being seen by the crew. This isn't too challenging but it's certainly a welcome break from the platforming, which is really the bulk of the game.

Another break is provided by the mini games and it's here that the 'touch' or bottom screen comes into action. There are four of these all-together but the game really could have done with a few more, not to mention the fact that you'll be platforming for hours before you even get to them. The first of these has you controlling Melman's dance moves as he combats the Foosa who are approaching from every direction. Next up is Penguin Fishing, which challenges you to collect as many fish whist balancing on an incredibly unstable iceberg. A different control method entirely is adopted by Gloria's Roller Derby and as the name suggests you must trace your stylus in a circular movement whilst jumping and collecting coins on the top screen. The most challenging is the Foosa Arena which takes place over two screens as you attempt to save the Lemurs. Incidentally this is also available as a single cart Multiplayer and really is great fun.

Controls

Given that this is all aimed towards kids the control system is handled with a great deal of care and the opening levels are tutorials based on the four main animals. This only gives you half the capabilities of your Zoological foursome though and it's not until much later in the game that you're fully equipped to collect all the golden coins. This can be a little frustrating initially and in an early level, when playing as the Hippo, you can see the coin just below the surface, you even realize that simply diving will retrieve this golden bonus but 'can you do it?? not a chance.

Graphics

The visuals are very nice indeed and replicate the on screen happenings perfectly, while some of the mini-games hint at the fact that the DS version could easily have been a 3D experience. The highlight is definitely the generous amount of images taken directly from the movie although a bit of FMV would have been nice too. Instead there's a 'blink and you'll miss it' two or three seconds at the beginning but the quality is outstanding. Overall the whole package will delight fans of the movie even though there are signs that Madagascar could have been so much more.

Sound

Music wise Madagascar is wonderful with the various pieces perfectly complementing the on-screen action. The various samples which accompany the animals as they go about their business are also well above average but Vicarious Visions have always deemed the audio elements of a game just as essential as the visuals. Unusually there are also voice samples of the main characters but rather than employing the original stars the developers have done an incredible job of employing some remarkable sound-a-like actors. This is a nice touch as all too often this is simply left out of movie tie-ins because of budget constraints.

Dual screen

The main platforming sections have the touch screen use kept to a minimum with only the selection of a character use most of the time although this is generally much easier to do with the shoulder buttons. The remainder of your interaction is with the mini-games, which are generally very simple to control, and as with the main game there's so much help available it's almost impossible to get lost. Overall it's certainly not the greatest use we've seen of the touch screen but at least developers are now attempting to utilize this unique feature.

Final comments

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.

Pro: High Production Values
Con: A Little Repetitive
Final score: 7

Share on Twitter or Facebook

Comments