SCRAT’S NUTTY ADVENTURE: NINTENDO SWITCH

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We were compensated for reviewing Scrat’s Nutty Adventure, but our opinions are genuine – we want you to trust our reviews. If you think we’ve missed anything, get in touch! This post contains an affiliate link.

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ICE AGE MOVIE NOSTALGIA

Remember Ice Age? I still remember the first film being released just a few days after my birthday in 2002 and I fell head over heels in love with a little acorn obsessed sabre-toothed squirrel called Scrat. Since then, we’ve seen all of the films as a family and so this week we got really excited by our emails.

ICE AGE ON THE SWITCH, XBOX ONE, PC AND PLAYSTATION 4

Developed by Just Add Water, Scrat’s Nutty Adventure releases this month on Switch, XBox One, Playstation 4 and PCs. YES, a Scrat game.

So, if you love Scrat as much as we do, and you love 3D platform games [who doesn’t?!], we’ve got a treat for you! We’ve spent this week playing the new release from Outright Games. Have a read of our review and if you think you’d love to play too, there’s a twitter party on Friday 18th October, 1-2.30pm GMT where you can win some prizes! Follow us here on Twitter to stay up to date.

You can see what other Amazon purchasers thought and buy your own copy here. If you do, we get a small commision; this is an affiliate link.

THE STORY OF SCRAT’S NUTTY ADVENTURE

At first I was horrified to learn I wasn’t collecting actual nuts for Scrat to eat – so I had a read of the story behind Scrat’s Nutty Adventure. We join his personal squirrely quest for the Crystal Nuts and not real nuts, as a mysterious mechanism in an ancient Scratazon Temple has locked away the real thing – and the only way to reclaim them is by embarking on an ambitious quest root out four legendary Crystal Nuts. There are also tablet pieces and statues to collect, but we haven’t figured out why yet.

THE QUEST FOR THE CRYSTAL NUTS

These purple crystal nuts are scattered across a 3D action adventure spread over lands filled with grumpy and aggressive prehistoric creatures in a bid to return the missing crystal nut relics to their rightful home. Some of them are cute and vicious, some of them are mean looking. As Scrat passes by the crystals, they get collected in a magnetic manner. The top right hand side of the screen shows Scrat’s health and crystal count.

ON LOCATION IN THE ICE AGE SET

The game begins in the Forgotten Temple – but there are a whole host of classic Ice Age locations in the game, where as Scrat you can spring [and grunt in a sabre-toothed squirrely kind of manner] from tree stump to rock or icicle to icicle, you can furry butt-surf wild geysers, leap heroically across burning lava steams whilst reaching for impossible sparkly purple heights, all with the same adorable and fractious acrobatics that have had us as Scart fans rolling with laughter. I can’t see him without thinking of the Ice Age Christmas video they did where he was the nutcracker. Anyhow….

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS ICE AGE MOVIE FRIENDS

Along the way, you can apparently spot some familiar Ice Age friends littered throughout the game. So far we’ve seen Manny but we couldn’t get to him and kept drowning. Squirrels are not good swimmers. We’re hoping to see Sid and Diego soon.

HUNT FOR SPECIAL POWERS

From the few times we’ve played so far, it seems that as you explore each different adventure-packed location, you discover treasures that unlock special powers. These powers help Scrat to jump higher, grab heavier objects and find every last treasure his little eyes land on. In the beginning he can jump, kick, run and climb. Later on we got the throw and the double jump. And whilst we’re on the subject of jumping…

KUNG FU SCRAT HAS SKILLS

Scrat’s Kung Fu moves are something to be admired. He’s relentless and hands out spinning kicks like they’re sweets. So far we’ve kicked boxes for crystals and cute little bowls with hearts on to get more health – but we’ve also laid the smack down on large stag-like beetle things that keep attacking us. The boys were in hysterics and thought this was the best game ever with Scrat’s attack capabilities.

SO WHAT DID WE THINK?

It’s a one player game – which normally creates arguments over when the time to swap over should be – when a person dies in a game, at a certain point, after a particular length of time…you get the idea. However, Scrat’s Nutty Adventure has been agame that they’ve enjoyed watching being played as much as playing and so it hasn’t become an issue yet.

The graphics are fun and very sweet, and the details are superb – like Scrat’s little footprints in the snow as he goes around fighting the crabs we met recently. Scrat is very Scrat-like especially when he discovers pieces of a tablet for instance and gives a little whoop or he shrieks at his horrendously bad luck, and his movement is just as you see him in his films. He’s gorgeous and we’re all besotted with him.

YOUNGER PLAYERS

It’s easy for younger children to follow the game – the crystals are clearly laid out ahead of Scrat as a crystal-crumb kind of trail. Hero loved Scrat’s parkour as he bounced from wall to wall and rock to rock.

OLDER PLAYERS

On the flip side, throughout the game we’ve played so far, we’ve located secret areas with bonus crystals which older and more experienced players will discover – this makes it more interesting for Jensen.

THE ONLY ISSUE WE HAD

The controls on the Switch make it difficult to play at times and the camera for Scrat seems a little slow in catch up when he’s fallen off a rock and needs to see where he’s going again.

We’ve enjoyed playing the game after school sat on our bean bags and enjoying snacks – and you can read more about the game and pre-order at Outright Games. Father Christmas is going to want to put these in his sack this year!