Reviewed: November 17, 2008
Reviewed by: Jeff Gedgaud

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Aspyr

Released: November 4, 2008
Genre: Action
Players: 1-4

7
7
6
6
6.5

System Requirements

Of course those flightless birds know nothing about real flight and they only made it as far as Africa where the four must come to terms with others of their own kind with the “help” of King Julian. The story mode will put you through a series of fun games with the four animals of the movie as your characters.

There is also some other fun after the short story line based levels with some games using the characters of the movie. You have an Arcade mode where one to four players can duke it out in an easy rendition of chess, a quick soccer game with any characters, a rhythm reflex game called Volcano Rave, a memory matching game, and a few other games that are fun.

The main story mode uses each of the four main characters and their natural talents in a cute and very kid friendly story where King Julian is trying to promote Madagascar as a tourist attraction. How any animals would actually get from Africa to the island is beyond explanation but it gives the game a focus and helps to bring the levels together.

Throughout the story King Julian will either be helpful providing enough clues as to what you have to do or as in one level just tell you its so easy so just play. The games vary from a simple platforming type where you collect coins or a foot race with Marty the Zebra to an arcade type circus act with Melman the giraffe flying and hitting obstacles.

Each game is easy enough for kids and while a bit silly they are challenging enough for adults to at least get a chuckle out of if forced to play. The game is cute and has plenty of good looking graphics with plenty of effort spent on looks and sound.

They actually did a very good job of making a game that is good enough to actually buy if you’re into the Madagascar theme and kids will like the rather short mini-games that are the Story mode. The Arcade mode is a set of quick jump in games that are also fun with rules that are pretty easy to understand, even the Jungle Chess, which can actually be quite challenging.

There are ten different mini games already unlocked in the Arcade mode that can be played as just quick play games or as tournament style. The tournament will have mini games in an 8 round event for 2 to 4 players to compete in which is pretty fun if you have others to play with.

Escape 2 Africa may not be the best looking game but they did very good with what was probably a short time in development as these animated movie to game projects usually go. The 3D graphics and effects are good with plenty of cartoon looking scenery and well done effects that look quite good.

There are of course small errors and little things that are just not quite right but overall they did pretty good to produce a fairly good game overall. The voice acting is from sound alikes but they did a good job overall for the characters but if you’re looking for the originals you may be disappointed.

The graphics are in very colorful 3d animation with plenty of good looking scenes like the underwater swimming with Gloria and your general jungle scenery in many shots. The characters look almost as good as they do in the movie and all the general effects like dust and moving through leaves and branches in some areas look pretty good.

While not the best in any one area they did make a fun game from the sequel to the animated movie Madagascar and give kids a brief glimpse at the movie but better yet give them a fun time with each character. You also have just about every other character from the film in some part of the game but not those adorable yet clueless penguins.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa may not be the best and most action packed game but it can be fun for a brief sneak peek at the movie and the hijinks of those adorable penguins, I mean African stars. During your adventuring you collect coins and can spend them in the Duty Free shop on items and game parts to add to your fun.

The only real complaint I have is the controls for the PC version which I reviewed, they are not exactly the best for the game. While playable it worked much better using the Xbox controller which I have and used for the game some but the keyboard is usable, just not as easy.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa for the PC is a pretty good game for kids and even adults if you really like the movie and want just a little more fun and frolicking in the jungle. Escape 2 Africa is definitely a kids game but geared toward a variety of ages for some fun with Alex, Melman, Marty and Gloria while under the strict tutelage of King Julian.