Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is a mobile platformer made after the animated film of the same name, in which the player alternately takes control of the mammoth Manny, the sloth Sid, and the saber-toothed tiger Diego as they flee a melting glacial valley threatening to flood the entire prehistoric community with water. The individual characters have slightly different abilities, which lightens the game up from stereotypical platform-to-platform jumping — Sid can crawl through narrow passages, while Manny is stronger in fights against obstacles and can push aside boulders that block other characters' paths. The levels mirror key scenes from the film and are interspersed with short minigames in which the player collects fruit, nuts, or other resources for extra points later.

On phones of the time, this was a standard 2D platformer with simple but legible graphics and cheerful music evoking the family atmosphere of the film it was based on, complemented by short sound effects when collecting items and jumping between platforms. Controls were adapted to the numeric keypad, and jumping and attacking were manageable even for younger or casual players, which matched the target audience of a film license aimed primarily at families with children. Difficulty was deliberately mild, as the game relied more on atmosphere and recognizing scenes from the film than on challenge, so finishing it wasn't a major problem for most players.

Film licenses made up a large part of the offering on Java and Symbian at the time, and Gameloft was among the studios that handled them most often and most skillfully, releasing games at a steady pace to accompany nearly every summer animated blockbuster. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown didn't aim to redefine the genre, but as a companion product to the film it worked reliably, and it still recalls the time when nearly every animated blockbuster had its own mobile platformer version available even on an ordinary phone without a touchscreen.

Why play it: For families and fans of the film looking for an undemanding platformer that let them extend the experience of an animated blockbuster even on an ordinary phone.