I’ve been a huge fan of Garfield ever since I was a little kid back in the 80s.  Newspaper comic strips like Garfield were a big part of my childhood.  You might even say that I liked Garfield almost as much as Pac-Man.  And if you know me, that’s saying a lot.  So I’m always on the lookout to review Garfield video games.  Unfortunately, they haven’t had the best track record in recent years.  So how does this new one stack up?  Pretty well, actually.  In the game, Garfield accidentally takes a bite of vegetable lasagna and the shock causes him to pass out.  Now he’s got to escape his dream while dealing with Chef Monday and Garfield’s other nemeses like Nermal the cute kitten.  All the while getting help from his friends like Jon and Arlene.  Garfield: Escape from Monday is a 3D platformer and is available on most current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

Garfield can run and jump and perform a kick attack to swat away food based enemies.  He can also do a dash move, wall jump with claws, and a butt stomp.  Typical 3D platform hero stuff.  In some levels, Garfield can don a costume to give him other abilities.  Like a turkey suit to help him fly for a short while, or a surfer outfit so he can glide on water and grind on rails.  Aside from attacking enemies and avoiding obstacles, Garfield can collect food items and hidden pieces of lasagna.  Collect enough and you can unlock furniture you can customize back at Jon’s house.  You’ll travel through all sorts of levels, like a vegetable farm, lasagna factory, and dessert island.

I loved how they really captured the ‘feel’ of Garfield in the game.  Even the enemies look like something Jim Davis would draw (I wish I could meet him).  Garfield always has a snide comment to say as you’re playing.  I cracked up when he complained about having to be jumping around in a 3D platformer and would rather be in a party or kart game.  Which is funny since the last two games he was in was a party game and a kart game, which I reviewed.  It’s also a pretty long game, too.  For only 40 bucks, you get a lot of game!

I did have a few nitpicky problems with this game, though.  It can be a little buggy at times.  Not game breaking or anything like that, just annoying.  The game gets slightly repetitive at times, the goals are sometimes a little unclear, and it’s not the most terribly original game in the world. I didn’t like how the dash move worked and used it sparingly because of that.  And while I like the cel shaded look of the characters, the other graphics look like something that could’ve been done on a console from a couple of generations ago. But the worst offender is the voice they gave Garfield in this game.  It’s too whiny and high pitched.  I know they couldn’t get Lorenzo Music to do his voice since he passed away a long time ago, but they could’ve done at least a bit better than this.  I could imagine a lot of other game reviewers would bash this one, but I dunno.  I still kind of liked it.  It’s just a fun little simple 3D platformer that I think fans of Garfield might enjoy.

Kid Factor:

Garfield: Escape from Monday is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  You can smack cartoony food enemies off the screen and kick bombs into robot tractors and candy pirate ships.  If you’re OK with your kids watching the Garfield cartoons and reading the comic strips, they’ll be OK with this one.  The game is pretty easy.  You get three hits before you lose, but they get refilled every time you pick up a food item, and those are everywhere.  Falling into pits is what gets you, but even then you start pretty much where you lost most of the time.  So younger gamers may need help with some of the trickier obstacles and jumps.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary just to play since it’s mostly fully voiced.  At first I thought no kids today would like the fat orange cat, but both my nephews love him, so I think this is a great game for kids.

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children, Television