Ice Age 2: The Meltdown Critic Reviews

A playable, enjoyable, at times downright fun game, spreading brand recognition of the movie, and all at once giving your little nephew something to play while he's visiting your house for the weekend.

The game delivers a fairly conventional adventure packed full of collect-a-thons and tried-and-true, been-here-and-done-that challenges. But it does them well. Control is tight, levels varied, and there are some genuinely funny moments.

Hardcores will probably turn their collective noses at the collecting element but the platform elements are challenging and fun. There's no way you won't get a laugh out of this game.

The presentation is fairly good and it's free from the poor technical design that most movie cash-ins fall victim to.

Essentially, this is a well-constructed game. It looks good. It plays well. It keeps you interested. But soon enough you’ll have finished it. It’s good at what it does, but you’ll wish it did more.

New ideas? Not really. Sparkling platform fun? The ice has it.

Controls play a big part of why I liked the gameplay. Scrat is a heart-warming character that anyone would become attached to.

A kid-friendly platformer with more heart than your average film-to-game marketing tie-in, Ice Age 2 can be quite fun--for as long as it lasts.

It’s also over rather quickly, with very little in the way of replay value. Still, it’s a great looking package with a solid game attached, which is more than can be said of most licensed titles.

Unfortunately the thought just hasn't gone into the gameplay itself and although I have to concede that children and fans of the film may enjoy it, there isn't enough here to keep this title from going extinct in a short period of time.

At times, Ice Age 2 feels a tad lacklustre and it isn't going to entertain you for weeks, but there's enough here to make this a decent enough present for the kids.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown ought to be called Scrat’s Adventure, since Manfred, Sid and Diego make only token appearances.

An enjoyable game for the children but also a title that adults can play. The only real disappointment from the game comes from the fact that it is a little too formulaic and the game is over in just under four hours.

The sporadic and rote boss battles don't ooze as much personality - sitting back and shooting rocks at eyes on stalks as they open isn't exactly epic - and none of the grunt henchman, from reptiles to rhinoceros beetles, provide any combat challenge against Scrat's surprisingly powerful kicks and frantic tail-smacks.

More enjoyable the younger you are and the more enamored you are with the cast, Ice Age 2 will nonetheless provide any gamer with a few hours of enjoyment, along with a couple of laughs along the way.

A huge yawn, even for the kids it is supposedly aimed at.

But it's also rather short, and with only the license setting it apart from every other generic platformer on the market, there's no reason to buy when a simple rental will suffice.

Serviceable entertainment for kids, but you'll have more fun watching the DVD.

Lovely-looking if unadventurous platform fare that does the bare minimum to keep its pre-school audience quiet.