Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

"Unless your are age 6 or under, avoid this at all cost"

Let me start out by saying that this game has gotten some alarmingly positive reviews. Now, if you are age 6 or under, give this game a seven, otherwise stay very far away from it. I am not the world's best player, and if a game is supposed to be 20 hours, it could take me well over 40, but I do like to make my games last. Keep this in mind while you read on, and also realize that I do not think this game was solely aimed for kids under 6 or 7, but for a much higher demographic.

GRAPHICS: 8/10 This they got right; in fact, they got all the production values right. The game looks just like the movie; in fact, it is surprising just how good it looks considering how bad of a game it is.

MUSIC/SOUND: 7/10 The music is not much but the sound effects are good, and the voice acting is perfect, after all, the stars of the movie are doing them. Most of the time, though, it is very hard to understand what someone is saying, even with the sound option turned way down.

CAMERA/CONTROL: 8/10 Again, something they got right. You can control the camera, and jumping is extremely easy to do, even over large gaps.

GAME PLAY: 1/10 Borrowing entirely from other, much better games, there is not one single thing new in here. That, in itself might not be so bad, but there is zero challenge. The game holds you by the hand and never lets go. A good part of the game are mini games, again, zero challenge, and no option to replay them, not that you would want to. The game only has 6 levels, and on all but one you must get 1000 acorn points to unlock bonus content, on that other one, it is 200 points. The thing is, there are close to 1500 on every one, so it is almost impossible not to get them. The only thing you unlock are star interviews. You also will not see a whole lot of the movie in this game either. There are zero bosses, and the game just sputters to an end. As short as this whole experience may be, it becomes extremely boring after an hour. The first level is mostly tutorial, but do not be fooled into thinking it will get better, every level is just as easy and pretty much exactly the same.

VALUE: 1/10 Even if you are the world's worst game player, and do not know it yet because you have never played a game before this one, it will take you less, probably a lot less, than 7 hours to finish everything, including watching the bonus content. This game is the first I have ever seen that has absolute zero replay value.

FINAL COMMENTS: One on-line site compared this game to Banjo Kazooie. Rare should sue, lest they expect to sell far fewer copies of Banjo Kazooie Three, if it ever surfaces. Unless your are 6 or under, and then there are words in the dialogue which you won't understand, do not say you weren't warned.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 03/27/06