You’ re a lot more likely to be aware of Dreamworks Animation’s Madagascar franchise if you have kids, and unless you’re a dedicated fan of the 'movie tie-in platform adventure collect & race ‘em up' genre you’d best go read something else. A colourful series of mini games linked by a bit of travelling around a central world, you get to play as Alex the lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, the crafty penguins, the wacky King Julien and a new hippo character Moto Moto as you try and save the African savannah before heading back to their home in the New York zoo.

All of the characters and the African settings look just like the movie and it all plays reasonably well, despite some camera problems, the odd dodgy animation and some driving levels that border on tedium. The adventure spans 12 or so levels and has 10 mini-games set around the plot of the movie, the simple controls and a non-existent difficulty curve mean that even the littlest gamer shouldn’t have any trouble, and there’s a nice selection of skills required to complete the story and the various games; platform jumping, exploring, driving, taking photos of animals, collecting tokens, rhythm action, musical chairs etcetera. There are also plenty of multiplayer games to keep the family involved. Each section is displayed on the in-game map, and once unlocked you can return to any game and replay it at any time. The problem is that few of the mini games are good enough to make you come back for a second go, they’re simply diversions along the way to seeing the end of the story, and that might be harder than you think...