Madagascar 3 – Review
Madagascar 3: Europe’s most wanted is the game that tells you about the story of the 3rd Madagascar movie. The game was released by Namco Bandai for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. Most games directed at the younger ones amongst us tend to be a little more sloppy when it comes to gameplay and less detailed than many other games. Will Madagascar 3: Europe’s most wanted take the same road?
Story:
The story of Madagascar 3: Europe’s most wanted is pretty much the storyline of the 3rd movie but a lot less detailed ofcourse. Which means Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still trying their best to get back to New York. To get home you need to host different circuses to earn money to travel. But then you need to collect items first (and you’re getting help from the Madagascar penguins) to actually host a circus or attract a decent crowd that wants to attend the circus.
We get treated to some story telling between the major cities which are done by none other than Mason and King Julien. Mason gives you the ‘details’ and King Julien just makes it attractive to look at because he tends to think everything revolves around him.
All in all the story parts that are actually brought to you are very amusing and enjoyable to watch, the sad part however is the lack of these moments. You only get treated to a real ‘storytelling’ part at the beginning of the game, between the major cities and at the end. Which mean only 6 short parts are given.
Graphics:
Seeing the game has been designed for the Wii aswell, companies tend to use an ‘updated’ version for the stronger counterparts. (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3) Don’t get me wrong a game of this type does not need the best graphics there are but the smoother the better. The game looks decent, colorful and the cities look attractive for the limited graphical quality the game has to offer. The characters however looks perfect as they are in my own personal opinion.
Overall the game looks nice for it’s genre, yet the 2 strongest consoles are capable of much more.
Sound:
The game offers us a decent soundtrack but it does not vary that much. Each town has it’s own theme song and that’s basically it and even then the music doesn’t stand out too much.
Madagascar 3: Europe’s most wanted offers us the original cast when it comes to the spoken voices. They are well done and it’s very amusing to play with the characters you got to know during the original movies.
To keep it short, the game did a decent job when it comes to the sfx and a little less effort was put in to the music.
Gameplay:
During the game you will have to collect enough resources to host 4 circuses. (actually 5 but the last one doesn’t require any missions before it) I know what you’re thinking: ‘that doesn’t sound like that much?’ Indeed, you will finish the game in roughly 5 hours which seems (and is) a bit short.
Collecting resources basically consists out of platforming action which is always done in teams of 2 to complete puzzles. Which means to get through a certain obstacle with one character you might need to clear the way with the other one. You can switch at any given time to continue with the character that you need (or feel most comfortable to play with). When you find the item that is required to finish your mission you just had back to the briefing point and complete the mission. You will have to do all of this while avoiding the nasty Animal control that wants to cage you.
Note: When getting caught by a leash you can still escape, when getting caught by a net you will have to re-do the entire level.
Of course not all of the missions are this type of mission. Sometimes you will simply have to run around putting posters on the wall (to promote your circus, duh!) and other times you have to run away from the animal control, send invitation, and so on. The end of a city means hosting a circus and this consists out of a series of minigames, which are fairly amusing. (And sometimes harder than you’d expect)
During the normal missions we control Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria, each having their own unique abilites. For example Alex can roar to scare away pidgeons and Gloria can swim or dive to open up certain areas, etc… The controls are kept quite simple and it’s pretty much kept at a jump, disguise and ability//action button. Everything pretty much works as it should. Pretty much meaning: You will encounter difficulties with collision detection when jumping, having to perfectly aim you character to do an action and so on.
The circus missions are (as stated earlier) minigames consisting out of having to push a certain button at the right time or some moving around, and so on. During these minigames we also get the chance to play with other characters like Phil, Mason, King Julien,… you won’t get to know them like the other 4 during the normal missions but it’s fun they get their turn in the game.
Madagascar 3: Europe’s most wanted can be played co-op on one console (yes, finally a game that allows us to actually invite real life friends again) and personally playing the game co-op makes the game a lot of fun. Getting through obstacles will go a lot faster and smoother because you don’t have to switch every few metres and it adds up a lot to the competitive factor. During the minigames and several other missions each of the players will get their own score and ofcourse you will try to be better than your friends. (At least I would)
The game offers us the chance to play a seperate mission mode or a circus mode, which quite clearly speak for themselves. You might want to try them out but it’s doubtful you’ll actually spend hours playing around with these modes.
Conclusion:
Madagascar 3: Europe’s most wanted was an enjoyable game even though it did not receive such a high score. It had a bit too much repetitive action to get a higher grade. My advice is to play the game with a friend to add some extra competitive fun to the equation
Madagascar 3 - Review,
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