Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
Score: 85% ESRB: Everyone 10+ Publisher: Sierra Developer: Eurocom Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer (3D)
Graphics & Sound: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is almost a direct port of the game that came out with the release of the film. I say almost, because it is about as close of a port you can get to onto a system with a less than standard controller. The graphics are basically what I remember seeing on the PS2 version. Character models were a little rough and by no means had a huge polygon count, but there was more than enough detail to tell Manny from Ellie (the two mammoths). The movie's actors reprise their roles for the game; that list includes: Ray Romano (Manny), John Leguizamo (Sid), Denis Leary (Diego), Sean William Scott (Crash), Josh Peck (Eddie), and of course Queen Latifah (Ellie). But since the game doesn't really focus on this group of characters and is more of a side-tale showing what Scrat did during the movie, Chris Wedge's return as the half squirrel, half rat is the most noticeable voice. I just can't get enough of those little squeaks and grunts.
Gameplay: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is the second Ice Age movie from the point of view of Scrat. As the little acorn-hording squirrel-rat, you will run around gathering nuts, swimming, gathering nuts, attacking animals 10 times larger than you, and gathering nuts. In each level, you will run into many of the characters or species established in the films - some of these will be good and helpful, while others will attack you. Scrat isn't totally defenseless, though. Not only does Scrat have a few attacks, like spinning real fast and hitting enemies with his tail, but he can also throw pebbles to knock opponents out. But The Meltdown is more than just an action-platformer. Frequently scattered throughout levels are mini-games that Scrat or one of the other main characters will have to complete in order to progress in the level and/or story. For instance, in order to get out of a cave, Scrat must have some bats scare a large animal out from the exit. Scrat does this by watching which bat has one of his nuts and choosing that bat after they all fly around in circles (a la The Shell Game). Another mini-game has Sid sliding down a long ice-ramp collecting acorns, going through check-points and performing complex aerial acrobatics. Once you earn enough points in this mini-game, Scrat takes back over and you are running around beating up enemies and collecting nuts (again). As you progress through the game, you will also unlock six different interviews with the various cast and crew members of Ice Age 2 (the movie and the game). Interviews include Chris Wedge, Ray Romano , Denis Leary , John Leguizamo, Josh Peck and Alan Tudyk (Cholly, though you might also remember him as Wash from Firefly and Serenity). Though the gameplay hasn't really changed with this port, the differences in the game's controls really makes for a different feel. By relying more on gestures, The Meltdown gets you just a little more involved in the game, but more about that in the Game Mechanics section below.
Difficulty: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown was never a difficult game, but it seems like the parts of the game that I had trouble with the first time around are a bit easier. These are mainly the mini-games like Penguin Bowling, or guiding Sid down the ice slide or shooting down spider monkeys. When I played this game on the PS2, I had to bowl dozens of times to get the required score of 80 points. And Sid's slide wasn't really an issue for me until he went into the air and I had to press D-Pad buttons at certain times to perform tricks. I can't really tell if the developers tweaked these aspects of the game because a lot of people complained about them, or if the translation to the Wii's controller made the movements tighter and thus easier. All I can really say is that the controls used in the two mini-games where I had the most problems (again bowling and Sid's slide) were different from the last time I played the game and I was able to get past them both on my first try, as opposed to the dozen or so attempts it took my first time around on the PS2.
Game Mechanics: Like I said at the beginning, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is just like its last-gen versions, with the exception of the control changes. While most of the standard platformer controls are there (A and AA for jump or double jump), many of the standards have been moved to gesture based controls. For instance to do a ground-pound, you double jump, then flick the Wii-mote down. In order to attack, simply flick the controller left and/or right. Unleashing some of your more powerful attacks involve doing that with the A button pressed. Scrat's rock-projectiles can be unleashed by either tapping B, or holding down Z to go into first-person mode then aiming with the Wii-mote and clicking the B button when you want to fire. Meanwhile, other parts of the game's controls are very different. I mentioned Penguin Bowling in the last section. Before, this was done by releasing your ball at a certain time and then using the analog sticks to add spin. The same thing applies here, except instead of using your stick, you turn the remote (like a door knob) in the direction you want to it to curve. The more you turn it, the sharper the curve. After a few gutter balls, I was able to get spares or strikes in nearly every frame. So, even though Ice Age 2 is little more than a port from the previous generation, the differences in controls really helps to make the game's tougher parts easier. Long-time gamers who are wary of the Wii should think about using this game as a good training session to ease themselves into the world of gesture-based controls, since it is a good mix of standard movement controls and flicks of the remote.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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