Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa for Wii

Our family loved the first Madagascar movie so much when the second one, Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa came out, it was put on the must see list. I took the girls to see it yesterday and while it was cute and had many more story lines in it than the first did, I still like the first one better. The basic premise is that the animals finally get the airplane running so they can leave Madagascar, just to end up crashing in a game reserve in Africa. It just so happens it is the same one that Alex the Lion was from. He gets reunited with his parents and the rest of the story revolves around Alex proving his worthiness to his parents and the tribe. There are plenty of side stories going on – from Marty the Zebra coming to terms with his uniqueness not being about his outward appearance rather his inner self, Melman the neurotic Giraffe gets the courage to tell Gloria his true feelings, and others.

We were given the opportunity to review the Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa game for Wii and I will say, take what you would spend on going to the movie theater and buy this game instead! The game is already a family favorite. Kids as young as 4 or 5 all the way up to the grown ups will have fun with it. We took the game to our family Thanksgiving get together and it was a huge hit with everyone.

You can play with anywhere from one to four players. There is a story mode where you are working your playing through the story – traditional video game style (jumping over things, catching things for extra power, etc). But there are also a bunch of mini games that are entertaining.

One tournament mode allows you to play “hot potato” with a Durian (it looks like a glowing piece of fruit), play musical chairs, and do springboard diving with Gloria. I wish I would have taken a picture of my 5 year old nephew and my two thirty-something brothers playing this together – it was a hoot.

My 12 year old likes playing soccer against the Foosa and my girls like popping the balloons in one of the other mini games. There are other games like the dance, matching, racing, chess and more.

At $49.99, Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa is well worth it. It has something for everyone and high repeat play value. I highly recommend it!