Penguins of Madagascar
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Operation Penguin is a Go!
Its finally good to see a game based on these guys again. Their last adventure was back in 2005 "Madagascar: Operation Penguin" for the gameboy advance. Now, comes Penguins of Madagascar, thanks to the help of their new TV show on Nick. In this game, instead of playing as Private all by himself, Skipper, Rico, and Kowalski join him and you can play as all 4.
You dont play as all 4 at once at first, but on an overhead view you swap between penguins. This is very reminiscent of Madagascar Escape 2 Africa, the Nintendo DS version, as there was 4 levels with these penguins in a platforming like manner, but still has this same concept of swapping between penguins for the right ability to solve the puzzle. In that game Penguins were limited to one ability, and Skipper the leader had none in that game, which was disappointing. In this game, there is problem solving, and each Penguin has more than one ability now, making it more elaborate. You choose between penguins, use them whenever they are needed around the levels, as each penguin provides a different ability for each situation.
This concept is a nice way of using all 4 penguins as a group, or individually while others are on stand by.
The game gets really interesting when it adds twists, like Security Cameras, and Alice the Zookeeper, so you have to watch your Penguins so they dont get caught...this also means the penguins that are on stand by, so it keeps you on your toes.
This game consists of 3 episodes, each with about 10 sections and 3-5 levels within those sections, so you are looking at about 100-150 levels, with the bonus levels, and thats alot of levels. This game can probably be completed in 4-5 hours. Though that may sound short, Madagascar: Operation Penguin on GBA could be completed within 1 hour or 1 hour and a 1/2, so this is an improvement.
Penguins of Madagascar is a great game that polished a Problem solving action formula from Madagascar 2 for the DS, and it definetely shows.
There are some parts in levels where you do mini-games do build things or activate something. Some of these, especially using the Flashflight to find things, can get annoying and repititive, but thankfully most of them include a "Auto-complete" option so you dont have to dig up your Stylus all the time. Sometimes the "Stack-up" and "Group up" action is buggy, as sometimes they dont stack up, or your penguins dont follow skipper, as they are fighting each other since there is always a specific order they have to make a line.
Penguins of Madagascar for the DS is a great game, and I look forward to more games featuring these action Penguins.
11/6/10