Outright Games’ Ice Age Scrat's Nutty Adventure shows some passionate love for the film series and constructs a game that young gamers will eat up. Does it have a fair share of issues? Yes, the levels feel too big and there’s not enough to do at times, but young gamers won’t really need that intricate design and complication to enjoy it.
I know a lot of people who are huge fans of Scrat from the Ice Age films. I think they enjoy the sheer wackiness of the character and the situational insanity the poor prehistoric squirrel finds himself in from movie to movie. The creators of the character seem to know how to complicate things for the poor animal. His very being is entertainment and physical comedy, which makes for a good transition to a video game format with Ice Age Scrat’s Nutty Adventure.
Ice Age Scrat’s Nutty Adventure essentially tells the story of our favorite Ice Age squirrel and his obsessive need to collect nuts and crystal fragments that will eventually equal out to something big, maybe. The game just needs a reason to put this squirrel in motion, and it doesn’t disappoint with providing an off-the-wall reason that isn’t some deep Death Stranding-like web of complication.
Anyway, the crux of the gameplay is a large 3D world that is eerily similar to an earlier form of Crash Bandicoot (from PS1), minus the controls fighting you the entire way. Scrat runs around collecting fragments of crystals while fighting off simplistic baddies on a multi-tiered set of levels. Along the way, Scrat finds jars and boxes full of life and crystals that add to his total by the end. It’s a weird ‘high score’ sort of goal from level to level (very old school). Outright Games knew its audience and didn’t press putting anything incredibly sophisticated or complicated as a gaming goal. You can’t honestly ask too much of young gamers when it comes to this type of gameplay. When the levels end, the tally of goodies is gauged and it’s onto the next level! Again, this is made for young gamers in mind, probably around 5-9 years of age, so it’s a perfect blend of awesome and simplicity. I watched my six-year-old play this game for the better part of 30-minutes and she seemed to enjoy it, which is a miracle amount of time for her attention span. She doesn’t give Cookie Swirl C videos that much focused engagement on YouTube.
Young gamers aside, the game does seem a bit long in the tooth with level size versus variety. The levels are really huge for this type of adventure, so huge in fact that you could probably split them in two and find the game moves a lot smoother in shorter spurts. I’m unsure of the motivation to keep the level sizes in the game (we’re talking 10-15 minutes of collection per level), but they truly needed a bit of a break somewhere in the middle. Younger gamers have to have that small break to know that they’re doing well, it builds confidence for them, as well as a break to avoid detecting any stagnant/repetitive gameplay. The latter of the bunch is vital for kids to keep coming back to a game.
Shifting topics a bit, the most beautiful part of Scrat’s journey is how well-constructed the levels really are, even though the game is not populated with a heavy amount of characters or life. You’ll find this out with the first level in the game, which features mountainous regions that keep going up-up-UP. When you finally hit the peak of the land, the level ends, then it begins with more mountains! The girth of the levels is evident right from the get-go. The design is huge and gorgeous, but, as stated prior, a bit empty. Regardless, I do commend Outright Games for putting more effort into the level design in this game than most developers would have done for a movie IP. They seemed to really want to make this something special.
Some more positives about the game are the controls and the fact that Scrat doesn’t die, rather he just repeats. The controls consist of fighting and running, and doesn’t really go beyond asking gamers to do more than that during gameplay. The fighting animation is crisp/clear and very Ice Age in execution. Scrat’s movements are incredibly wacky, which will probably put a smile on some kid’s face. Fighting and moving around the gameplay isn’t a chore, rather it’s a thoughtless task, which is exactly where you want it to be with younger gamers.
On the dying side, and I realize this is odd to point out in a review, but Ice Age Scrat’s Nutty Adventure returns to old arcade/early 80s dying method, where when you die, you simply disappear and restart at a place that was right before you perished. For a normal gamer, this may not seem like a big thing, but if you’re going after a younger gaming audience, then you don’t have to worry about frustration setting in during gameplay. If you are a parent, then you understand the short fuse most kids have with gaming experiences. It’s nice for a game to say, “Hey, you died, but let’s try again super quick” when someone with limited logic capacity is trying to play. I don’t have to worry about the safety of my controllers.
Beyond gameplay, the presentation factor for this game is colorful and spot on what you would expect from an Ice Age experience. The animation is fun and wacky, the environments are big and cartoony, and even the enemies seem to be in the same fun flow of the Ice Age IP with outlandish movements and personalities. If the intention is to make a game that looks and feels like Ice Age, then mission accomplished.
Overall, Outright Games’ Ice Age Scrat’s Nutty Adventure shows some passionate love for the film series and constructs a game that young gamers will eat up. Does it have a fair share of issues? Yes, the levels feel too big and there’s not enough to do at times, but young gamers won’t really need that intricate design and complication to enjoy it.
Ultimately, this game wasn’t built for me, nor was it built for teenagers, rather it was built for young gamers just getting their feet wet with 3D action adventures.
