Customer Reviews

Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked this up wanting a game that wasn't about killing and fighting and something that young kids (7-10) could both master and enjoy. I'm not disappointed.

The game is obviously platformed for kids. It's not too difficult and actually acts as an excellent tutorial on working the controller's many buttons and levers.

Aside from the actual game, there's also a mini-arcade, which consists of several stand-alone games which can be played one by one or on a tournament basis. Up to eight players can play at one time.

The game allows you to chose between several characters and pick your own musical selections and locations, keeping it from getting too boring. If you're looking for something the whole family can enjoy, this is a good bet.

My daughter and I played the first Madagascar and had a ball. It's nice to see that the second Activision movie tie-in is also lots of fun. Both movie games take the tack of not trying to walk you through the movie but instead focusing on the basic plot elements and wrapping them around fun things to do.

In Madagascar 2: Escape from Africa, you take the role of each of the main characters in the movie. You wander around the landscape fairly openly, switching from one to another at will. As you interact you can decide to help various other characters, and that's what drives the gameplay. For example, Alex the lion scares off a series of other lions by roaring at them, one at a time. Gloria the hippo tucks herself into a ball and "bowls a strike", trying to knock over all ten pins. The games get more complicated--you play the penguins driving a jeep, and have to ram each car in a convoy in succession, and each needs to be hit a number of times.

The biggest success of this game however, is that it plays to its audience. Escape from Africa brings something to the table for children small and not-so-small. Tough quests aren't necessary. Failing a game gives you the option of going and doing something else. As I watched my 10-year-old daughter play, I also noticed that if she had a bit of trouble with a game--but tried it again--the game made itself progressively easier. Imagine the difficulty being like a "Pitch til U Win" game at the carnival.

This might also be its downside: older children highly experienced with these games might say, "That was too easy"...but still get a giggle or two. Younger children will be happy to have something they can play that also surrepetitiously gives them a helping hand. Either way, I can say that the content is perfect for families not only because nothing's inappropriate, but also because nothing is boring. Highly recommended for fans of the movie.

My whole family loves this game. My daughter is 7 and it is easy enough for her to play, but me and my husband play it with her alot and there are challenging areas too. There are so many different levels to this game. We really got our money's worth!

As a fan of Joseph Chilton Pearce (author of The Magical Child) and various other doctors who feel that tv/fast moving images at an early age slow a child's brain development and permanently damages their cortices, I wouldn't recommend any video game for very young kids. But, if you're one of the majority of American parents who see your tv as a babysitter, this is a good game for your sadly neglected kids.

The action here is for 6-8 year olds, I'd guess, and is unlikely to keep the jaded 10 year-old crowd interested for long; these are kids who are killing thousands of people an hour in most other video games, or selling women on the street in Grand Theft Auto, and so on. It's a long way from Kansas these days, Toto. But for good wholesome brain-numbing politically correct gaming fun for kids, this one works fine.

Most of the tasks are very simple, easily learned, and pretty fun. The games in the extras section are very easy and might delight very small kids. Not that they might be better served reading a book or anything. Gee whiz, are my biases showing up here? Sorry to be so honest.

In any case, Mad 2 is a fabulous promotional tie-in to the movie which you already bought, and will keep your toddlers busy and probably help them encourage you to buy more Mad 2 toys and other endless Madagascar products. So hey, your kids are happy, you don't have to take much care of them, and the studios are making a mint.

Win/win/win. What a great era we live in!

Sigh. Tom Sawyer wouldn't find any one to whitewash the fence any more. They're all inside watching tv.

I'm loving the madagascar 2 game It's so fun I play it all day long.I even can't stop playing it.I can't live without it!.I would even want to say it's my favorite entertainment in the world.

OK. Let me get this out. the movie was good. i liked it a lot. this game is not, but i mean, what else would you expect from a game based on a movie.

Graphics: just like a PS2 game unfortunatly

Gameplay: just so darn repetitive. the whole game is just go get this, go tie that, go find it kind of stuff. also, when playing as Melvin, the camera is so horrible that you can't see where your going

Lasting Appeal: with only 94 objectives in the game and it takes only 10 minutes to do 14, it's not much fun

but overall this is just a game to play if you liked the movies alot.