Game Review: Madagascar

Cute. Very cute. Beat out by We Love Katamari for the AIAS Children's game of the year, Madagascar (Activision PS2 ) sits as a solid finalist for its adorable graphics, gameplay and story. In this single player 3D platformer, you get to play as the lead characters from the movie which are featured on different levels of the game. They even added extra plot points to facilitate the game.

What I really like:

• 3D level map on the globe allowing you to see all of the missions pretty much at the start of the game


• Ramps character abilities after you have had time practice old moves by collecting cards placed within levels


• Minigames offered as unlockables between levels are addictive like Mini-golf and Shuffleboard


• Vintage arcade games on every level. You can play some old remake that reminds you of Galactica or Pac Man.


• Players feel like they have a different weight, walk and physics


• You can overhear absurd things people say


• Voice acting is good


• Levels have great variety in look and feel. Though levels are all constrained in rooms and boxes, it doesn't feel constrained

Things I don't like

• Camera control is taken away at points. They never give you a reason why using the story or some special interface cue. I believe they do this to change the difficulty for the player but it's really annoying if I can look around inside a tiny box I should be able to look around anywhere.


• Must restart levels to replay them. I'm kind of torn about this. You can replay levels to collect coins but you can't choose where you start. Sometimes you start from the very beginning


• Melman's controls were difficult at times. Maneuvering the giraffe is tricky.


• Auto-targeting hurts you 5% of the time. The characters will sometimes move in unintended directions if you hit the attack button near an object that you can attack. It's gotten me "Caught by the Man" a couple times.

Kids will really like this game because of cute clothing upgrades for characters and the low penalty for failure. Read other reviews on Gamespot