Madagascar the game takes the latest Dreamworks CGI characters, locations and plot and brings them to the interactive entertainment market as a solid and fun platformer.

Though the in-game models aren't quite at the level of detail as those seen in the feature film, each character comes off full of enough life and personality to make them stand apart (even the similar-looking penguins). The game's locations aren't all that bad either. From the quiet after-hours Central Park Zoo, to the hustle and bustle of downtown New York all the way to the thick jungles of Africa -- each level has a unique enough feel to it that lets you know exactly where your characters are sneaking, dodging or hovering around.

Though the game doesn't boast the big names from the movie like Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Cedric the Entertainer -- the complementing voice actors do a fairly good job of impersonating the big screen vocals. As for the other sounds of Madagascar, each location has it's own feel that was not only brought out by the visuals, but the combination of music and sound effects that were constantly going on. New York's high energy music was coupled with the honking and traffic sounds to make you feel like you really were Melman the Giraffe trying to make your way down the Big Apple's busy streets.

Marty the Zebra is celebrating his tenth birthday in the Central Park Zoo. But he feels out of sorts and when he learns that a group of military-like flightless foul are planning on making their way to the South Pole, he asks the tuxedo-clad team for assistance. Madagascar follows Marty's escape and attempt to get to the African jungles, as well as his friends' journey to hunt down the missing zebra.

You will be able to play as each of the main characters: Marty, Melman, Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo and, of course, Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Rico (the penguins). Each level follows a small part of a character's journey across the ocean and all over the world. You can also buy several mini-games like Tiki Mini-Golf or a full-sized Shuffleboard that has your characters building up power and jumping on inner tubes to try and get the highest score without falling off the play-area. An odd thing to note is that even though the game is marked as 1 player, certain mini-games like Shuffleboard are two player. In the case of Shuffleboard, the two people will pass the controller back and forth between turns.

Madagascar has a fairly steady pace to it. There are times when you might have to repeat levels, but all-in-all, the game isn't so difficult that you ever feel like you aren't getting anywhere. There were very few (if any) occasions when the game got frustrating and I had to get away from it.

To put it simply, Madagascar's difficulty is that of the average platformer. If you fail in a level, it is typically because you mistimed your jump or some other little error. It's because of this that you feel like the game isn't holding you back, because most of the time the problem that keeps you from advancing is human error not overly powerful bosses or impossible to solve puzzles.

Madagascar has five playable characters, each one with basically the same control scheme -- but different enough abilities to keep you from feeling like they are the same character with different skins.

Each character jumps with the X, while the Square is typically used for your most common attack (Alex's roar, Marty's kick, Melman's spin, and so on). The Triangle button is used to perform the character's special ability such as Gloria the Hippo's Hip Check or Melman's Head Bash and Marty's ability to sneak around.

All in all, Madagascar is just a fun and solid platformer that will keep you and your little fans entertained for hours. The game's difficulty is simple enough to keep the younger gamer's intrigued while not so easy that it makes us older players bored.