Nintendo Okie

I’m just going to be honest right from the start, I have never seen a Madagascar film.  I didn’t even know there were three of them until Tony sent me this game, Madagascar 3. As far as I know, it’s supposed to be the video game tie-in to the film of the same name that came out on June 8th, 2012.

What You Need To Know

In Madagascar 3, you play as one of the four main caricatures (a lion, hippo, zebra or giraffe) as you try to escape Europe and make it back to New York. The gameplay is a lot like some of the earlier Lego franchise games in that you start each level with a mission, do some jumping to get there and hit the action button to complete it. You have a total of four playable caricatures, each with their own special moves or actions that will help you reach a certain spot or knock something down for another caricature to use. When you complete a set number of missions, you have to play a dumb mini-game and start the cycle over again.

Zebras Don’t Swim And Hippo’s Can’t Jump!

You will spend A LOT of time switching between the caricatures just to complete each mission. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if you didn’t have to take each path twice. Let me explain. I have to get across the river so I switch to the hippo and swim. Crap, now I can’t jump to the roof so I switch to the zebra. WAIT! WHY IS THE ZEBRA ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER?! Oh yeah, now I have to swim back and bust open a gate for the cannon so I can shoot the zebra on the other side and let him jump to the roof. I did that. Now I have to swim back and assist from the street and switch back and forth to get a garden hose. This switching thing made the game WAY too frustrating and felt like things were made too difficult because of it.

It’s Like Living In 2001 Again!

The graphics in this game are pretty terrible. Madagascar 3 looks a lot like an old PS2 game, and not a good one. I know I shouldn’t expect much from a multi-platform game based on a movie but the results are obviously rushed and budget constrained. Another major problem, this is a game based majorly around 3D platforming right? Ok, well than why do I keep falling through things that should be solid? Some jumps required to progress are almost impossible due to the game not realizing I actually did land on some objects. Add to this mix a terrible camera system and you can imagine how frustrating this whole experience has been for me.

Conclusion

As you can guess, I really didn’t enjoy this game at all. It felt more like a chore to review it and in the end, I had no fun at all. I play games to unwind and relax after a hard day at work and Madagascar 3 felt more like a second job than a game. Bad mechanics, bad graphics, and almost no story to speak of made this just another bad movie tie-in game. Unless you’re a MAJOR fan of the Madagascar films, don’t bother.

Final Score:
Played thru story mode
Review copy provided by D3 Publishing