Nine times out of ten, a mobile game based on a movie won't be a classic. There's something about blockbuster films that encourages mediocre mobile games – often the tight deadlines required to get the game out in time for the film's release, or a lack of imagination on the developers' part (which again is usually a result of the tight deadlines).
At least with animated films you know the characters will be tailor-made for a good game. After all, what makes a memorable CGI character is also a key ingredient for a decent game hero. And such is the case with Ice Age 2, where you play Scrat, a nippy little sabre-toothed squirrel.
Okay, so you can probably hear the cogs in the brains of Glu's development team whirring from here. Cuddly animated squirrel? He'd be ripe for a game a bit like Sonic The Hedgehog then, except with fewer rings and more acorns. And so it is with Arctic Slide. It won't win any Oscars for originality, but the result is at least polished and playable.
As Scrat, then, you have to slide your way through a host of suitably icy platform levels. And sliding is definitely the key to the game as the levels take the form of undulating landscapes where getting a grip simply isn't possible.
Instead, you whizz along grabbing as many acorns as you can, while jumping over boulders and chasms, and outrunning the odd avalanche. It's fairly simple stuff, and each level isn't vastly different.
That said, there are alternative routes through some stages – which you'll need to discover to snag the most acorns – adding replayability. That's something not too common amongst movie games.
However, the real fun in Ice Age 2 comes first and foremost from the game's sheer speed (the scenery whips past at a fair old pace), which combined with the suitably simple controls make it an enjoyable time killer.
The graphics are 2D, but more than do the original film justice – they're bold, colourful and well animated. The sound? Well, it's a bit… meh. Nothing special, really.
That isn't how you'd describe the game as a whole, though. We certainly won't pretend that you'll still be playing Ice Age 2 in six months' time but, as a slice of accessible platform fun for fans of the film, it's jolly ice all round.
Ice Age 2: Arctic Slide
It's hardly original, but this speedy platformer is fun and polished
Stuart Dredge
Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)