It took me a long time to see the first Ice Age movie and when I finally got around to it I was really impressed. This movie had a good plot, plenty of comedy, and various other things that made me wonder why I waited so long. This past year Ice Age 2: The Meltdown hit theaters, and it was great movie that carried over the charm from its predecessor. It has been a couple of months since the DVD has been released and recently the developers of the game released a Nintendo Wii version of the game with the same name.

Even though the title of the game is self-explanatory here is a brief description of what it is about. The Ice Age is finally coming to a conclusion due to the warmer climate hitting the Earth, so that means that all of the ice is starting to melt. This means that the entire valley that houses all of the animals will be flooded really soon. It is up to you to help various animals get to safety or else they will be swept away in the pending flood.

Unlike the movie that focuses on Manfred the mammoth, Sid the sloth, and Diego the saber-toothed tiger, this game focuses on the lovable Scrat. This character has the ability to always get in various hilarious situations as he tries to get his precious acorn. While these main characters from the movie will be a part of this game, the majority of the time you will be helping Scrat gather acorns and getting into a variety of situations along the way.

To help Scrat gather acorns in the various levels, you will have to smash blocks of ice, jump, and climb cliffs to get to them. Many of the game’s puzzles revolve around trying to collect a certain amount of nuts in order to continue on to the next level, which is hardly innovative but works just fine.

The beauty of this game is that Scrat will find himself in hilarious situations just like in the movie - such as going through the belly of a fish, sneaking around gathering acorns avoiding getting eaten, and others that will have you laughing. Even though this game is on the easy side, players will enjoy this platform game because of the great animation that this character has and the game perfectly captures the “on edge” feel like in the movie.

If you are getting bored with the main game you will be happy to know that there are various mini games that are scattered around. One is where Scrat must sneak around Diego to gather acorns, and play dead if he spots you. Another is where Sid will slide down a water slide avoiding various obstacles along the way. There are even more scattered though the game that really help make this game even more fun to play.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown makes use of the Wii controller in a very natural sense. For instance, one of the gestures in a downward motion, you will make Scrat stomp on whatever is below him. Another one is to shake the controller from side to side, and this makes him kick at the various enemies. The controls here to not feel like they are added on in the last minute to take advantage of the unique controller like many other games do.

The graphics for this game are a mix bag; the biggest problem that this game has to overcome is that since it is an animated movie, many people expect to have the same level of detail that the movie has. The developers of this game did a great job with the character models and the animation, but the thing that they let slide is the detail in the game environment. The environments that you will go through during the course of the game have a nice polish, but they are bland and lack the detail that you will see in the movies.

One great thing about this game is that the developers got the voice actors of the three principal characters to reprise their roles in this game. That means you will hear Manfred the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Dennis Leary), all throughout the game. The lines that they deliver are funny and fit really well within the game. Since this game blends in clips from the movie as its cutscenes it is great that the developers got the actors to reprise their roles, as it will not have the cheesy imitation actors like some games have. The music and the sound effects fit really well with this game, and help create a really nice atmosphere that is reminiscent of the movie.

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is rated everyone 10+ and contains crude humor and mild cartoon violence.

Gameplay: 7.2
The developers did a good job adding motion-sensitive controls to this game as it makes it more interactive. The only sad part is that it is to easy and really short.

Graphics: 7.2
The graphics for this game are not outstanding yet they are not bad either. The character models and their animations are really top notch. What makes this game slide is the environments are sometimes lacking in details, and from time to time can seem pretty bland.

Sound: 8.1
The music fits this game perfectly. What really stands out is that the developers got the actors to voice their characters for this game so players will feel that much more in line with the game as they play it.

Difficulty: Easy
This game was definitely made for the younger gaming audience as you will have no trouble breezing through it.

Concept: 7.1
Ice Age 2 makes use of the Nintendo Wii unique controller scheme that allows more interactivity than the other versions of the game. For instance, if you want to pound into the ground you will jump up, then hurl your controller in a downward motion, and it feel really satisfying with the object is broken.

Overall: 7.6
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a really fun game, but it is held back by one major flaw: its length. It takes only a couple of hours to beat this game if you have any gameplay experience. However, the game is enjoyable and children looking for a new adventure will be enthralled by it.