Quantum of Solace and Madagascar 2: videogames allegedly based on a movie

Our last two videogame reviews at Variety were both Activision-published movie adaptations and they  had one specific quality in common: they didn't remotely capture the film on which they're allegedly based.

One is a mini-game collection and the other's a virtual copy of a hugely popular title with a new skin. I bet you can already guess which is which. But here's some more details anyway:

-"There’s little sense of the source’s plot," in the videogame version of "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa," according to Variety critic Leigh Alexander, " save for a short intro scene that summarily reintroduces the characters before plunking them down amid a series of disjointed minigames."

Particularly in the story mode, the mini-game progression is "ardous" and at times, surprisingly difficult, Leigh notes. Older players will find the lack of context and the repetition tedious, while the kids at which this game is aimed will find it flat out hard, not to mention lacking in fun. It's especially surprising that the "arcade" mode, where players can pick whatever mini-games they want, doesn't contain many of the best ones from the story mode.

That kind of relates back to my main complaint about "Rock Band 2": Why do developers make us unlock all the good stuff in casual games? We paid you money, just let us have our fun!

Full review: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

-If James Bond were Rambo, then the videogame version of "Quantum of Solace" would be perfect, says I. Unfortunately for developer Treyarch, he's not, so dropping him into what's essentially a re-skinned version of "Call of Duty 4" in which he shoots dozens of bad guys until the level arbitrarily ends, then starting again in the next scene from the movie (or a flashback from "Casino Royale") just doesn't cut it.

James Bond is supposed to be a spy. So how about letting him do some spying? Or get into a cool car chase? Or re-live the poker showdown from "Casino Royale?" Those are all gameplay types that have been done before, so I'm mystified and annoyed that Treyarch didn't even try to include them.

Instead, it just used the "Call of Duty 4" engine to make a decent shooter. Which is fine for what it is, but a failure when it comes to actually makes a James Bond videogame. It is interesting that there's online multi-player, since that's so rare for movie-based videogame, but once you realize the multi-player is even more a rip-off of "CoD4" that the campaign, you won't be so impressed.

One thought that occurred to me as I finished this review is that, of course, the universally loved "Goldeneye" is more a shooter than a spy game. Which is true. But, to borrow a phrase, I know "Goldeneye," and "Quantum of Solace" is no "Goldeneye." If "Quantum of Solace" pushed the boundaries of action videogames as much as "Goldeneye" did, I'd be far more forgiving of how much it strays from the source material.

Full review: Quantum of Solace