The game's plot loosely follows that of the movie: a melting glacier threatens the valley that is home to Manny the mammoth, Diego the sabre-toothed tiger and Sid the sloth, and they must find a safe haven before the impending flash flood wipes them out. In a refreshing turn of events, however, developer Eurocom has departed from your run-of-the-mill movie tie-in formula by casting one of the minor 'comic relief' characters in the main role, rather than employing the main characters and adhering religiously to the movie storyline.

Manny, Diego and Sid do feature in the game, in scenes from the movie as well as cut scenes and mini-games; but they all take a back seat to Scrat - that twitchy, prehistoric squirrel creature with an insatiable appetite for acorns and a disastrous track record for acquiring them.

Scrat's aim in life is singular: to accumulate as many acorns as is squirrely possible. While he never manages to achieve this in either of the Ice Age movies, in the game there are literally hundreds of them scattered around on ledges, in caves - even buried underground... and not just plain brown acorns either. Green ones are more valuable but scarce, and the golden acorn is the most elusive nut of all. Chestnuts and walnuts can also be picked up, along with a number of other useful collectibles.

The acorn tally serves to unlock bonus material which includes celebrity interviews, however to advance to the next level Scrat must collect a predetermined number of walnuts on the current one. Some of these are in plain sight, but the hidden walnuts must first be sniffed out before they reveal themselves. Scrat's image on the HUD will change when he needs to engage his olfactory senses, or dig for buried goodies.

Obstacles in Scrat's path include other prehistoric creatures - some of which must be beaten in a mini-game challenge in order to progress - while others simply require a good clobbering or pelting with stones. Scrat has a number of combat moves at his disposal; one or two are quite impressive for a little fella. A health gauge lets you know when he needs some medical attention, with flower petals being the Ice Age equivalent of first aid kits. Of course, there's no blood and gore in the game - this is a kids' title after all, but you're guaranteed to see plenty of action on every level, and some of the creatures are quite fearsome to behold.

The levels themselves are well designed and of an appropriate size for the younger set, with different types of challenges on each. In one section Scrat must solve a 'scrambled eggs' puzzle, transporting eggs to their correct nest whilst avoiding territorial mother birds as well as enemies and other obstacles along the way.

In another he must defeat a nightmarish spider, then use its body as a stepping stone to reach an impossibly high ledge. Yet another involves sneaking through a cave to collect acorns behind Diego's back, and having to play dead when he glances over his shoulder.

Some actions - such as 'play dead', are only available during specific segments of the game; and some moves - such as 'jump', are unavailable when carrying out other actions. Throw in the occasional time limit and you've upped the excitement factor considerably.

Having said that, there are a few places in the game where you'll experience some major frustration. It's no fun having to retrace your steps over and over again because you keep falling off that same tricky log or miscalculating that same crucial jump. The only other major drawback we found with Ice Age 2: The Meltdown was that there's no multiplayer option (a common trend for movie ties-in). It is single-player only, which could cause some friction between impatient siblings.

The game looks and plays very much like an animated movie, which is no less than you'd expect. The scenery is very attractive, with some eye-catching snow and water effects. Also, plenty of attention has been lavished on character animations - particularly Scrat, whose every movement is entertaining. Some of those facial expressions are priceless.

Stars from the movie have lent their voices to the game characters, which is another selling point. What's more, the actors actually sound like they're enjoying themselves.

While Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is essentially a standard platformer, and a kids' one at that, it manages to successfully incorporate some of the movie's best elements with some original, better-than-average gameplay and graphics (plus a good dose of humour), into a quality game that should provide plenty of enjoyable entertainment for its target audience.