Ice Age Scrats Nutty Adventure Review

We love the Ice Age franchise in this house so when I told the boys that they had been asked to try Ice Age Scrats Nutty Adventure game on their Xbox to say they were excited would be a total understatement. (PLEASE NOTE WE WERE GIFTED A COPY OF THE GAME FOR XBOX ONE FOR THE PURPOSES OF REVIEW) I won’t lie I was excited too as although I love all the films, I must admit that Scrat is my favourite character.

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In case you don’t know who Scrat is…. He is the Sabre Tooth Squirrel with a determination to get those nuts and a remarkable ability to get himself into trouble.  In our house we are always looking out for what he is up to next; what disaster will befall him this time?  This character never fails to make us laugh so it is not surprising that he has top billing here in Ice age Scrats Nutty Adventure.  Keep reading to find out what my 8- and 6-year olds thought and what I thought too…

What is the game all about?

Ice Age Scrats Nutty Adventure is a platforming adventure quest suitable for children so is really family focused.  In the game Scrat is on a quest to retrieve his prized possession which is locked in an ancient temple.  He can only get it back by finding the legendary crystal nuts, but it is not an easy search.  There are dangers everywhere! Scrat must look out for fierce wolves, insidious insects and prehistoric bosses.  He has to do all this whilst also overcoming his own seemingly endless bad luck! 

The backdrop for the game, is of course, the fabulous world of Ice Age.  So, it looks amazing!! The game has a really fun feel with Scrat jumping from icicle to icicle, riding raging geysers and leaping across burning lava.  All of this is done with his won crazy, hilarious, acrobatic style.

The boy’s verdict

Since starting the play Ice Age Scrats Nutty Adventure the boys have been enthralled.   They tell me that it is a bit hard in places especially trying to defeat the prehistoric bosses.  The hardest part was (I am told) an encounter with Rhinos. They took ages to work out how to win that battle, but they did eventually crack it.  Both of the boys have been laughing lots whilst playing and I can see why. Every time I have gone into the playroom Scrat has made me laugh.  Scrat really is very funny. The way he falls and the sound effects are perfectly timed and add to the amusement.

I asked them both what they thought of the game and my youngest son just said:

 

“Its Sick!!”

(I am told that this is a great thing)

My eldest wanted to tell you all himself what he thought so check out his IGTV video for his opinions. 

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Mummy’s Verdict

I am not a gaming expert (that’s the husband’s job) so I judge games for the kids on how much fun they have playing them, how easy they are to play and an educational value.

Ease of play

This is important to me as a mummy.  Let’s be honest if I have to sit with the kids helping so that they can play a game there isn’t much point for me to have it.  We do lots of stuff together and for me the games are something my kids do whilst I am perhaps trying to make dinner or put ironing away.  So, something I really like about Ice Age Scrats Nutty Adventure is that they were able to get started straight away. The game play is very intuitive and they are guided through the game by the crystal nuts so they could just get on with it really. 

There is some reading involved where the player is essentially given the purpose of a level.  However, there isn’t a lot and as the game play is very intuitive my son, who struggles with reading, could just ignore the words and play.  This is perfect for him as he does get quite down on himself when he can’t read things. 

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I may not always want to be sat with the kids whilst they play games on the Xbox, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to join in…. So I also had a go and despite being really rubbish at this type of thing *I agitate the boys as I am so bad* I could play.  In fact I even worked out how to climb a cliff face that my son couldn’t work out.  I had fun!!  I also had fun watching them play which is not something I often say about their electronic games.  Scrat is so funny when he falls that I was really laughing.

Educational Benefits

I must say that when my kids are playing on their electronic devices education isn’t always my top priority.  Fun is the top priority! However, I am of course not going to complain if there is some learning to be done.  Within Ice Age Scrats Nutty Adventure I could see that my children were problem solving and working as a team. Only one of them was playing at a time, but they were working together to determine how to do some of the more complicated things in the game.  There is also the hand eye coordination benefits of using the controllers and combining movements to achieve tasks within the game.  This is where I often struggle when I play!!  An interesting benefit that I have seen is also the opportunity to read with my son who finds reading really tough and hates it!  As I said above there isn’t lots of reading within this game, but there is some and I found that by sitting with my 6-year-old when he played I could encourage him to try and read the game play instructions.  He was way more enthusiastic to do that than he is to read about Biff, Chip and Kipper….

Fun

There is an awful lot of fun here!!  What I love about this game is that whilst there are critters to defeat it is all so family friendly and amusing that there is an overarching feel of fun!   We have all laughed whilst playing this game and have really enjoyed it.  So, it is a total winner for me!  I feel very confident in leaving the kids playing this game upstairs whilst I prepared dinner as it is just so light-hearted.

If gaming isn’t your kids thing or you just want to give them alternatives to the screen then check out Coding Critters

Available platforms and where to buy

Brace yourselves I am going to say the ‘C’ word, but I thought I should as I do think this game would make a great Christmas present.  It is available on multiple platforms so its easy to get the one your kids or friend’s kids need.   We have been playing on the Xbox one, but Scrats Nutty Adventure is also available for PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch. 

The game is available from various retailers including Smyths Toys and Game

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Final Thoughts

This is a great family friendly, fun game that is easy for kids to play and enjoy.  The graphics are fabulous, Scrat is hilarious and my kids have been loving it.  We totally recommend this game for families.  I hope you have found our Ice Age Scrats Nutty Adventure Review useful.  If you have any games that you think we should try please do leave a comment!