I could say I did not expect Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure to turn out as good as it did, except that would be a bold-faced lie. Upon seeing screenshots of the game, and finding out Allister Brimble would be composing, I had reasoned that the game could be a hidden gem in the extremely busy 2019 holiday season. I realized I was probably the one guy who cared, so might as well make the most of it; I asked for a review code, and to my total shock...I got it. It was initially a slow process, but after an initial confirmation, some waiting, and some exchanges approaching the code release date, I got it. Many, many thanks to Outright Games to believing in me, and Michael Power of Outright Games PR for swiftly responding to my questions. I can only hope publishers I potentially reach out to in the future are as smooth to work with.
But as you could tell from the opener, Scrat's Nutty Adventure is quite good! Not a masterpiece, but Just Add Water's (Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty) 3D platformer made for a breezy, enjoyable few hours, even for someone who is well above the demographic for the game. In a way, it very much reminded me of the PS2 era of gaming, where platformers based off of kids properties were common, and they COULD be of great quality (Battle for Bikini Bottom remains one of my favorite games). How funny that it hearkens back to prehistory both in-game and out.
The game sees Scrat catapulted into the task of retrieving four crystal nuts by the Scratazons (an advanced, unseen, presumably alien civilization that resembles his likeness), after losing his acorn to a trap door. That's about it, and that's really all you need. There are cutscenes, but they mainly serve to introduce bosses, locations, and other set pieces. The only plot development is the ending. I will get to that ending much later, and it will be marked as a spoiler. I highly recommend you watch it for yourself, game or no game, on your own. But, I will discuss it. Later.
Scrat controls wonderfully through and through. His speed and jumping match his scampering animations and his perceived weight to a tee, and his double jump you gain after the first world feels so satisfying. Combined with an aerial spin that slows your descent and can attack enemies too, and Scrat's airtime can seriously break the game. However, I expect that to be an advantage taken by more seasoned gamers, as once again, this is a game for children and I've seen kids play Mario without really getting a grasp on his moveset. If you ever see a string a platforms you can pass with the one-two-spin combo of jumping, please understand it's compensating for that younger audience.
Combat feels like combat. It's definitely in the game, and it's neither poor nor exceptionally good. It serves to defeat enemies for crystals, and that's all. You only get a three-hit combo, and a ground pound. Luckily, the game doesn't force combat on you like quite a few PS2 platformers did, and enemies barely pose a threat if you keep hammering the buttons. Even instakill enemies that you're supposed to sneak past can be easily outran. At one point, I snuck too close to a wolf and they woke up; even STILL sneaking, the wolf had a hard time pouncing on me in particular and missed until I was right as the exit of the room.
Graphics are definitely going to be a mixed bag for many. Indeed, they are a bit low-res, and the lighting isn't all too advanced. Scrat's fur looks off, and sometimes there'd be models popping in as I progressed. However, I cannot stress enough that the game's environments were modeled with the utmost care. Colors are vibrant, caverns are glistening with moisture and bumps. Glaciers and snow look lie you want to make angels in them, water looks so swimmable. Everything is to scale for a little sabre-toothed squirrel, it sheds the average stereotypes associated with cartoonier games taking place in prehistory in favor of a living, luscious world unknown to man or their ancestors. Granted, that's just because the franchise just forgot humans existed in its universe and time frame in favor of Flinstones-flavored history, but whatever. It does feel odd that this game is probably the closest to the first movie in atmosphere, even with the ancient squirrel civilization and even the dinosaurs from the third movie making a return.
To that end, Allister Brimble's score. As usual for the monarch of European video game music, it does not disappoint. Considering the movies like their pop songs, as per usual with children's films, hearing a fully-featured orchestra accompany Scrat was refreshing. They don't ring in my head like a good Chrono Trigger or Tropical Freeze does, but it was very pleasant and sweeping. I especially liked the tracks in any given stage that teleports you back to the hub world, they were bombastic and energetic, easily the highlights of the soundtrack.
The levels themselves are fun enough. They're all mostly linear, start out easy, and end pretty easy too, but especially towards the end there is some timing and thinking needed to not die. Granted, you have unlimited tries, so you'll proceed just fine. Your main concern will be pits, and locked doors. Sometimes, you'll see switches that require you burrow a metal acorn into it to unlock the door. You'll usually have to go on a branching path to get one, and these are honestly well-done. Later, you'll have to keep switching acorns between their holes so that some mechanisms can activate, allowing you to get another one. They're also easy, but even I had to get a few tries before successfully pulling off one or two of them, especially if they were above pits.
Bosses are decent. I wish they didn't have button-masher quick-time events, but they're easy; I'm just concerned for those who can press the same button successively and quickly. I could also say I wish QTEs weren't there at all, but honestly, there are probably 3 of them that require a single button press and they give you so much time to do it that it's inconsequential. Otherwise, you have 3 very simple behemoths to contend with, throwing acorns shaves off health in the first two if they're moving, normal attacks if they're down.
I forgot to mention the acorn-throwing, did I? Well, it's mostly for puzzles, and puzzles that unlock side items such as shards. It can be used as an attack but you'll be up-close and personal with the vast majority of enemies, so you'll use it for dispatching maybe three lemurs in the last few levels. Also, I have to point out what crystals are for: they unlock some truly stunning concept art in the main menu, and increase your health bar up to three times (not that you really need it, but still).
If you don't want to get spoiled, just know that Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure is well above par, in terms of the standards licensed games present. It controls like a dream, the graphics and music are of high production value, and it provides an afternoon's worth of relaxation. Sometimes, you just need a few hours to settle down and have an enjoyable time in fantastical prehistoric settings even if they lack muscular cavegirls comparable to Noi from Dorohedoro in sheer strength and size where was I? Right, as much as I enjoyed it, I would recommend giving it a rental first or wait for a sale, as I do find the $40 price tag steep for a game I finished in 4 hours. Of course, that is only the main campaign...
SPOILERS AHEAD (YES REALLY)
As you progress, you'll notice weird golden blocks with tall purple crystals inside them. First of all, the choice of metallic colors mixed with purple as a motif for the Scratazon aspects of the world is brilliant. Metals and purples are not colors associated with much of the nature seen in prehistory, instead being associated with the surreal yet beautiful caverns and canyons formed only by time, unseen by most life; it feels alien, and sticks out enough for the player to notice, yet it feels integrated into the lost history of the world.
That seems like a random digression, but hold up. You want to know how you pass them by? Telekinesis. Scrat from the Ice Age franchise gains telekinesis as a power. Now you feel pretty bad for not seeing it actually happen first-hand, huh? You can also catapult yourself from rings that float in the air, which are also metallic and purple. Yeah, any time you see an object like that, such the acorn blocks and floating rings, it's something related to powers you gain as you progress. Brilliant. You don't gain telekinesis until right before the final world, or the catapult until halfway through, so it's expected that you go back and 100% the game after you've finished the last levels and see the credits.
I'll be honest, after a run through most of the first world again, I had a hard time finding the remaining items: shards and statues. I found a few, but I found most still pretty hard to find, and that'd be cool if the levels weren't made to be exclusively linear. There is a quick warp system, but it only takes you to the very beginning of a level, so you have to travel through the whole level again just to find an item you've missed. As much as I know there's a reward for getting shards, I didn't feel compelled enough to repeat the levels so I could go down a few beaten paths to find some more collectables. I have a hard time thinking most kids would have the patience to pull it off, even if I'm just dumb and didn't look hard enough for them. And no, you're given no assistance in finding items. Banjo-Kazooie would give you hints for what tasks to do, Spyro games had Sparx point towards gems, but you got nothing here.
I guess I have to talk about that ending now. So, uh.
Maybe I'm just worn from what can be seen on the internet, but the brisk pacing of that scene combined with the out-of-nowhere reveal mixed with nothing really being SOLVED made me burst out in a mix between laughter and shock. Just the hard cut to credits killed me. I couldn't even be disappointed, I was reveling in the audacity to take the game into that direction. It's so brief, yet anyone with a modicum of experience online, especially in art communities, will just have the same reaction I did. (No he doesn't DIE. This ending isn't dark. Just very, very surprising.)
Overall? Props to Just Add Water for making a lovely little game for younger gamers, and even something an adult could sit back and play around with to de-stress. If you find that you'll want to 100% the game all on your own to find out what lies ahead, maybe $40 doesn't sound so bad. For everyone else, parents and skeptics alike, I'd at least get it for a lowered price, or take the trip to Redbox. Either way, bravo for a solid 3D platformer based off a movie franchise in an era where they're much less common.