Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa plays through the movie's story in a slightly unusual manner as far as movie tie-in games are concerned. More times than not, these licensed games are generic and humdrum platformers. While
Escape 2 Africa has quite a few platformer aspects, the game actually has a variety of gameplay types. Basically, the game spans over a dozen locations, and at each location there are several objectives that will allow you to progress the story (sometimes in a non-linear fashion). These objectives are completed by various characters from the movie, and they typically have radically different gameplay styles.
Alex's objectives are typically platformers, while Marty usually has to take part in races or kick objects at targets. Melman will either have to fly around using his helicopter-like ability or roll around on giant balls, and Gloria typically has to swim around. Even the penguins have their own levels where Private will have to sneak his way through dangerous areas collecting pieces needed to fix the crashed plane.
Several of the mini-games presented in the game's story also show up in an Arcade Mode, but instead of forcing these games to be unlocked by reaching them in the Story Mode, they are all available from the start. These mini-games include a memory-matching game with monkeys, a rhythm game in a volcano and a hot potato-like game. There are 10 of these in all, and by purchasing items in the store, you can unlock more levels, locations and other enhancements to these arcade games. Also at the same shop, you can purchase decorations and clothes for the 100 monkeys that you collect across the different locations.
