Publisher: Activision
Developer: A2M
Genre: Platformer
Release Date: Available now

Like any children’s movie to come out in the last 20 years Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs has spawned a video game adaptation. The DS version attempts to capture the humor and fun of the film. It deviates from the main characters of the series and focuses on one of the new characters introduced in the film. While obvious that this game is made for children, can it be enjoyed by older gamers as well?

Buck is a swashbuckling weasel who is in short, insane. His humor and character come across in the film, but somehow do not translate as well into the game. The game attempts to tell the story through cut-scenes in between levels but falls just shy of this goal. The levels don’t convey the story either, as you are often just going from point A to point B collecting items. There is some dialogue thrown in there but nothing to truly push the story.

The game is essentially a 2D platformer that has you jumping, swinging, climbing, and rolling through levels. The characters and levels are rendered in 3D but the game is mainly side scrolling. There are moments where levels may open up a bit and have some depth but that is not too often. One problem with the game is that it often does not let you know that a level has opened up a bit. I found myself wondering where to go at times and this can get a little frustrating, but thankfully these instances were few and far between so this is not a major concern. One problem that comes up often is collision detection, especially when swinging and jumping. I often found myself frustrated while attempting to swing and jump through some of the game’s challenges. This is a major flaw in a game so focused on platforming.

The game has many items to collect, such as nuts, crystals, and heart orbs. The heart orbs obviously increase your health ala Zelda, and you actually need them. There are times when the collision detection gets frustrating with enemies. Buck is limited in his attacks with scratch and ground stomp being the main two. Some enemies must be stunned using the ground stomp and due to the poor collision detection it can take multiple attempts to take an enemy down. The crystals can be used to unlock certain mini-games and cheats. These mini-games involve Sid the sloth attempting to shoot rocks at incoming enemies to protect 3 baby dinosaurs. There are some hidden areas to be explored and the game does a good job of letting you know what items you missed on each level, which could lead to replayability for those who would like to complete 100% of each level.

One thing that the game does very well is capture the art style of the film. There are moments when the characters look very good (particularly for the DS). The environments are true to the movie and the dialogue is done by the same voice actors from the film. I just wish that the humor, so prevalent in the film, had made the transition to the game. This really would have complimented the decent graphics and immersiveness of the Ice Age world. The film series is filled with laughs and I didn’t find myself laughing at all during my play through of this game.

At the end of the day A2M’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs achieved what it set out to do, make a decent DS title that children who see the film would love. It takes the most memorable character from the film and puts him front and center in a somewhat fun game. I could easily see parents taking their kids to see this film and then stopping by the game store on the way home to continue the experience. I’m positive that kids will love this game because my son certainly does. I give it 3 stars for that reason alone, because for the market it was created for it does an average job at fulfilling its promise. As a true platformer, though, it loses some of its luster through somewhat repetitive gameplay and its issues with collision detection. It’s an average game based on a hit movie that will soon be forgotten.

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