At first glance 'Ice Age 3' doesn't seem all that interesting.

It's little more than a standard platform game with most of the challenges being jumping over rocks, shooting moles with mud and collecting as many cherries as you can.

And sometimes your first impressions are right.

The fact is that 'Ice Age 3' isn't very interesting. And it's ridiculously easy... and there isn't much to it. But then again, this is not a game directed at hardcore gamers.

It's for kids and, frankly, it's great for that market. If it's fun they want 'Ice Age 3' delivers in spades.

Using scenes directly from the movie, you get to play as nearly all the 'Ice Age' characters, including Manny, Sid, Diego, Scrat and even Scratte.

You can't choose who you want, however, as each level starts with a predetermined character that you need to play based on who would be best for the job.

So Scrat will dash after the tastiest acorn in prehistory while Diego chases down an antelope and Sid collects crystals and baby proofs the playground in anticipation of the arrival of Manny's new rugrat. Manny himself will have to move rocks, stomp on hedgehogs or perform other tasks suited to a 7000 kg woolly mammoth.

As I said, it's very easy and once you are used to the controls (which are surprisingly sensitive and accurate) you'll probably hang your head in shame if you die (I know I did... but those aforementioned moles are particularly sly).

All the characters have some interesting manoeuvres such as Diego's power-sliding and Manny's tusk attack. But it's Sid the sloth's moves that will keep you in stitches, especially when he belly flops onto the ground or simply spins on the spot to destroy anything coming towards him. (I'm not sure if that was just sloppy animation or intentionally silly, but either way, it will keep you in stitches.)

Cherries and other fruits are the currency of choice in 'Ice Age 3' and you can use these tasty treats at shops scattered throughout the levels to buy various items, including something that makes the cherries bigger even though they are still worth the same amount.

The graphics are passable, although slightly cheap looking and not particularly inspired (often the case for games based on movies), but the voice acting isn't too bad (maybe because most of the time you can't actually see the characters when they talk). But then again these are not the elements that we are meant to concentrate on in this type of game.

Unfortunately 'Ice Age 3' is not going to appeal to people above the age of 10, but it isn't meant to. It's proudly and unashamedly for kids and despite its faults it works... and still manages to outdo 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' by miles as a movie to game adaption.

5.9/10

Buy this game: PS3 | Xbox 360 | Wii | PC | PS2 | DS

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