Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Every summer, major production companies strive to launch their animated and adventure films to ensure a massive influx of audiences and arouse the interest of the youngest members of the family. Almost every year, there is fierce competition to capture the attention of these children (and not so young, since we adults also get our share of movies in 3D format), and this plan of attraction includes, as usual, video games. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is a game based on the movie by the exact same name, and they didn't even add a subtitle for this one.

Now, as we mentioned before, we’ve seen countless adaptations of movies turned into video games, and they do have a tendency to be similar. So, what is this game all about? Let’s see.

About the game

The plot in Ice Age: Origin of the Dinosaurs, is just a pretext to offer us an adventure quite the house. Through simple video sequences, the story will be revealed to us in a concise and uncomplicated manner.

The story is presented, first, as a small tutorial that will teach us the basic controls and tells us where the shots go. From the first time, we pick up the controller we see that the control is simple and easy, suitable for all members of the family. As we move forward the plot takes us to a land full of dinosaurs and carnivorous plants and the difficulty increases significantly.

Each character is played differently. Sid, for example, transports us to the most classic platformers: jumping, exploring and hitting enemies... while others, like Diego, have more "speed" phases in which we have to chase targets that are launched on the run. All in perfect 3D except the cool Scrat phases, hilarious, in a kind of 2D that give fresh air to the overall dynamics.

Just like the movie?

Surprisingly enough, some of the video games made based on animated movies aren't always the same basic game. Some of these games were once among the best on the platform, Titles like Aladdin and The Lion King for the Snes were incredibly good platformers. Solid gameplay and nice visuals in a game that was challenging and fun to play. And maybe it was because they really loosely followed the story of the films instead.

The case with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is that it falls in a gray area, as it tries to follow the same story of the film. But at the same time, it takes a lot of creative liberties, and this doesn’t always work. But when it comes to the minigames and the add-ons the game includes such as the multiplayer and gameplay differences when it comes to the different characters, it still stays afloat.

Review: 6.5/10

Activision has brought us a fun and accessible title for the kids at home. Simple and well-adapted controls, good levels, and juicy and addictive mini-games for one and several players. We can not criticize it beyond its rather simple graphics and its little variety of scenarios or levels.

Pros:

• Good controls
• Lots of minigames
• Fun for the kids

Cons:

• Not much content
• Story is pretty much filler