WHY DOES THIS GAME EXIST?
I mean that as “Why, in 2019, is an Ice Age game on store shelves?” There isn’t a movie coming out and there is only a rumored TV series. It’s a movie tie-in game with no movie. I was 10 years old when the first movie came out, and while I dropped off the series it did prove extremely successful.But I am still left asking, “Why now?”
But here I am, reviewing the game starring arguably the best character from the series, Scrat. He is basically a Looney Tunes type character who is the butt of a lot of slapstick jokes. The plot of Scrat’s Nutty Adventure is basically the unlucky Scrat is sent on a quest to collect some special nuts for a voice from an ancient temple. It’s a very basic plot and I will return to it later, but just know there is very little text to read and there is zero voice acting.
PLATFORMS: PS4, XB1, PC, SWITCH
MSRP: $39.99
PRICE I’D PAY: $19.99
The gameplay is fine. It is very reminiscent of B-tier, PS2-era platformers. It’s not an ugly game graphically, but sometimes the game looks fantastic and other times the game looks very plain. The levels are linear with small deviations for collectables with the occasional puzzle and enemies to break up the platforming. Scrat jumps, has a basic three hit melee combo, a spin jump, a ground pound, and can wall jump. He also can throw rocks (or snowballs in the snowy areas) at aerial enemies. After finishing three of the four paths Scrat gains new abilities.
The first is a very basic double jump. Next is a catapult ability that allows Scrat to throw himself through rings to reach further areas. Lastly is a telekinesis power that allows Scrat to move blocks. Because the early levels have collectables that are locked behind these skills, collecting them all requires going back through the levels after unlocking these abilities and that would be fine if the levels weren’t very basic in set up. Run, jump, fight a few enemies, etc. There are small moments of something different, but other than visuals, most levels just felt like the one before it.
There are purple gems that line the stages that serve no other purpose than to increase total health. A meter to the left of Scrat’s health fills up as gems are collected. and when it hits the top more maximum health is acquired. Eventually an achievement pops saying I’ve hit the maximum amount of health I can earn and now I no longer need to collect gems (gems also unlock concept art but I got all that too). Now levels are extremely short because I can ignore every set of gems I see and I avoid most enemies because combat is not fun.
Let’s talk about combat actually. Combat in platformers generally stink. They slow down the game to a crawl, and Ice Age is no exception. The standard combo is useless because it can only hit one enemy and just doesn’t feel like it has any impact, so if I needed to fight I would let enemies surround me and just ground pound them to death because it not only hurts all enemies, but it also knocks them down so they can’t attack. Flying enemies still have to be taken out with thrown rocks most of the time however. Speaking of enemies, there are a total of six enemy types with three bosses, and none of them outside of the bosses feel like Ice Age characters. They feel like they were made for the game and by that I mean they look cheap in comparison. Don’t worry though, mammoths can be seen in the background of one level.
Eventually I skipped combat altogether, meaning I skipped two aspects of gameplay leaving only platforming throughout the levels and it’s fine. The double jump makes everything too easy and while there are some neat moments in some levels I really just don’t know what this game was going for. I don’t skip combat in Sonic or Mario, and I definitely don’t skip their rings and coins. There’s very little plot. I just finished the game because I could, and there wasn’t any challenge in doing so. My reward was Scrat being beamed up to an acorn shaped spaceship where a clearly humanoid female Scrat alien comes out and Scrat looks at the screen nervously. Credits roll.
If that last part reads weird, I don’t know what to tell you because that’s what happened.
Oh I also forgot that I clipped through level geometry multiple times. In fact at one point I could reproduce the event continuously. There were also issues of the screen turning black or falling off an elevator and being stuck. A quick reload to last save usually fixed them and there was nothing lost by falling into the void of the world when clipping through geometry, but it feels odd in 2019 for things like that to happen. It really does feel like I’m back on PS2 playing a bargain bin game.
None of this game makes sense. It’s a licensed title that isn’t bad but is so plain that I can’t fathom why anyone would choose this over Super Lucky’s Tale, Concrete Genie, or one of the many platformers on Switch. There is not an Ice Age movie out right now, and I have to ask does anyone have nostalgia for the series? Are kids still interested in Ice Age? I asked for this game because it looked like a decent platformer and I guess I got that. Clearly someone cared enough to make this, and I did enjoy my time with it. It just feels half cooked in a lot of its design. I want to say it took me no more than 5 hours to collect most of the collectables and finish the game, and at $40 for something of this quality and length I can’t recommend it. It’s a mistimed, mispriced decent game, and right decent isn’t enough.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
